Look to Me, and be saved . . . —Isaiah 45:22
Do we expect God to come to us with His blessings and save us? He says, “Look to Me, and be saved . . . .” The greatest difficulty spiritually is to concentrate on God, and His blessings are what make it so difficult. Troubles almost always make us look to God, but His blessings tend to divert our attention elsewhere. The basic lesson of the Sermon on the Mount is to narrow all your interests until your mind, heart, and body are focused on Jesus Christ. “Look to Me . . . .”
Many of us have a mental picture of what a Christian should be, and looking at this image in other Christians’ lives becomes a hindrance to our focusing on God. This is not salvation— it is not simple enough. He says, in effect, “Look to Me and you are saved,” not “You will be saved someday.” We will find what we are looking for if we will concentrate on Him. We get distracted from God and irritable with Him while He continues to say to us, “Look to Me, and be saved . . . .” Our difficulties, our trials, and our worries about tomorrow all vanish when we look to God.
Wake yourself up and look to God. Build your hope on Him. No matter how many things seem to be pressing in on you, be determined to push them aside and look to Him. “Look to Me . . . .” Salvation is yours the moment you look.
Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord,
“Look to me and you are saved” … sounds to me like the message we have been hearing … “Get connected and stay connected.” Looking to you means connection. How could it be otherwise? How could I look to you and not be connected. So I see here one aspect of connection … Where I am looking. The devo points out that prosperity and blessings sometimes obscure or detract us from looking to you, the source of the blessings. It then becomes a self regulating system where we focus too much on the blessings and forget the blesser. This will always lead to reduced blessings, which then leads to more seeking of the blesser … which then leads to more blessing. This is probably too much analysis and things never fit neatly in boxes like that.
It’s true I will never fit in your boxes. But the concept you mentioned has some truth to it. Things like this are good to keep as context and background for your thinking. Not for specific pointing the finger at a situation and blaming me or the person. That is above your pay grade and not your job. The Pharisees did that.
I think the verse for me for today … after my favorite, Jeremiah 29:11 is Proverbs 30: 7-9
7 “Two things I ask of you, Lord;
do not refuse me before I die:
8 Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
9 Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.
That verse in Jeremiah 29 is being so helpful to me
11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
I know I am ripping it out of context, it was written to a people in exile in Babylon and it has timing and conditions attached … but regardless, it points to your character and desire to bless. It has been a rock for me to stand on. Thank you for making sure it got “In The Book” Perhaps there are parallels between living the life of prosperity in 21st century America and living the life of captivity in Babylon ???
It might even be easier to “Look to me” in the real Babylon compared to the Babylon of prosperity that you live in. The Hebrew people of that time didn’t have all the distractions. Fighting distraction and learning to “Just Say No” is a major skill that you must develop. Come to me and I will help you. If you listen to the still small voice, you will hear things like “Turn it off” and “Not that channel” and “Come away and spend time with me”
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