Send out Your light and Your truth; let them guide me. Let them lead me to Your holy mountain, to the place where You live. There I will go to the altar of God, to God—the source of all my joy. I will praise You with my harp, O God, my God!  Psalm 43:3–4 (NLT) 

English mystic, Julian of Norwich:

Know well that Love was what He meant… God loved us before He made us; and His love has never diminished and never shall. All His works were done in this love; and in this love He has made everything for our profit; and in this love our life is everlasting. We had our beginning when we were made; but the love in which He made us was in Him since before time began; and in this love we have our beginning.

Today’s devo from Lectio 365 helped guide these thoughts of mine. So, I want to give credit where credit is due. The Psalm and quote came from there.

This can really be a part two to Troubles which I posted a couple days ago. Troubles was a work in progress for months.

1 John 5:19 tells us two things: 1. For those of us who have faith in Jesus and claim Him as our Savior and Lord, we are children of God. 2. The whole earth is under control of the evil one. aka: the devil

When we consider all that is happening in the world, it can draw our attention horizontally and take over the bulk of our attention, focus, and energy. But as the scripture listed above in Psalm 43, we really must be intentional and ensure we look to the hills, vertical gaze, from where our help comes from. Read Psalm 121. This is a beautiful reminder of the faithfulness of God. If we are not feeling His presence, it is not He that turned His back on us, but us that is failing to feel and see His presence. Read Hebrews 13:5. The beginning of this verse lets us know, that we may be distracted and not paying attention. Now, to be transparent, there are seasons that are dry, and God maybe pruning us or encouraging us to press into Him more. That is between you and Him. But, from my experience, it is me who has turned my back or altered my gaze which in my short sightedness, makes me feel like He isn’t present.

Enter the worldly drama. The news is overwhelming. There are famines. There are wars. There is civil unrest. There are fires. Earthquakes. There are murders. Pick your trauma, it is there for us to find. Read. Take in.

We must guard our heart. We must ensure we are not doing harm by reading, listening, or watching all the drama. Yes, I do believe we need to be knowledgeable of world events, as well as local, but not to the extent it negatively impacts our walk with Christ. Yes, we are called to support justice, but there is a fine line between supporting justice, and being part of the drama, adding to its negative impact.

So let me ask: How’s your joy?

Read Acts 13:44-52.

52 “And the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.”

We have a choice with what we fill ourselves with.
What is your choice? Do you need to make a change?