Jesus Set His Eyes On The Gold: God.

When You Can’t Find a Silver Lining, Look for the Gold

Copyright Debbie Taylor Williams

February 15 I attended a memorial service for my pastor, John Petty, who died of a gunshot wound to the head.  No foul play was involved.  As family and friends have grieved, a question begs to be answered:  What if you can’t find the proverbial silver lining when going through a dark Plan B time?

I don’t have the answer to many questions, I know the one who does: Jesus.  What did He do when no silver lining appeared visible, when He was tired, lonely, and grieved?  He looked up.  Go with me to the following places where a silver lining just wouldn’t do, so Jesus set His eyes on the gold: God.

In John 11:35 we find Jesus weeping over Lazarus’s death.  Jesus had already been charged with the accusation that if He had been there, Lazarus wouldn’t have died. What did Jesus do in the face of death?  He directed friends and family to look up to the glory of God.  “Jesus raised up His eyes and said, ‘Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.’”  (Jn 11:41) In this tragic incidence, Jesus said we have a Father in heaven.  He hears and is all powerful.

In Matthew 14:19 Jesus wasn’t confronted with a friend’s death, but rather a sea of 5,000 hungry people.  The place was desolate.  The hour late.  “Send the crowds away,” the disciples suggested.  However, Jesus had a different plan in the midst of this bleak situation.  Taking five loaves of bread and two fish in His hands He “looked up” and blessed the food. There may not have been a silver lining in the clouds that day, but God reigned and more than met their needs.

What did Jesus do when He wasn’t ministering to others, but rather, was faced with His own despair?  Matthew 26:38-41 tells us Jesus called friends to be with Him.  As the doom of the cross lay before Him, Jesus asked His friends to keep watch with Him.  He stated “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” so keep watching and praying. (v 42) Jesus fell on His face and “looked up.” He focused on the gold and praised God as His Father.

Jesus isn’t the only one who models setting our eyes on the gold when there isn’t a silver lining.  In 2 Chronicles 20:3 when Jehoshaphat was afraid and faced with an overwhelming enemy, he “turned his attention to seek the Lord…” … “O LORD, the God of our fathers, are You not the God in the heavens? …Power and might are in Your hand so that no one can stand against You. We are powerless…nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You.” (6,12)  “Then…the Spirit of the Lord came.”  (14)

What can we learn?  Knowing our spirit is willing, but our flesh is weak, we can follow Jesus’ and Jehoshaphat’s example.  We can ask friends to stay and pray with us. We can set our eyes on God and look to Him.  We can praise, “Our Father, power and might are in Your hands. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on You.”  Would you pray that with me now?

In Christ’s Joy,
Debbie

Debbie Taylor Williams
www.debbietaylorwilliams.com

Plan A Woman In A Plan B World, What To Do When Life Doesn’t Go According to Plan, copyright Debbie Taylor Williams 

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