Unseen

Many moments of my life I haven’t just questioned why, but I have questioned God. It feels harsh to type that out, it is a vulnerable raw  state of mind when doubts and questions are speaking louder than God’s truths. But I’m guessing that I’m not the only one in the world who deals with this. Some of my go to bible verses to cope with this struggle are Luke 10:38-42, we are met with the story of Mary and Martha. Mary is focused on Jesus and sits at His feet, hanging on every word He says. While Martha is serving, tending to all the meal prep and cleaning. She misses out on spending intimate time with the Lord. I look at that story and think ‘someone has to be preparing the house’ our reality has a lot of things that need tending to. Our seen world has dishes, laundry, bills, work, just an overwhelming amount of things that need us to address them. I knew great preachers touch on this Mary and Martha topic and couldn’t fully understand why Mary got such high praise for leaving her sister to do all the tasks. Until I took the time to dive in myself. I have two verses hanging on my living room wall that ended up refreshing and connecting this story to my soul.

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. ” 2 Corinthians 4:18 and “Set your mind on things above, not on things here on earth.”  Colossians 3:2

I get so caught up in our day to day tasks and everything that is seen. Which can directly relate to when I battle grief. When something hard happens and I haven’t already laid down the foundational truths of God’s word in my heart, then questions and doubts have the power to creep in and stay. My head is driven by what I can see, I see a death of a friend and can’t grasp how they are gone. I don’t think any good can come of it because all I see is what is here, where he used to sit, places he used to go, suffering and longing of his family, where did he truely go to? I have found a difference in questions creeping in and questions staying. Upon doing my last bible study I found this quote from Angie Smith that puts it perfectly, “I don’t question God because I want to prove he doesn’t exist. I question because I want to rest in unshakable faith”. As long as those questions and doubts are being fearlessly addressed to build up your faith, you are reading God’s word, seeking wise counsel, and meeting in prayer, I think it is heathy. But once those doubts are settling in, and you are distracted and overwhelmed by what is seen which causes you to not have enough ‘time’ to address them, that becomes a place of danger. Our spiritual lives deserve our main attention, this unseen world around us has the power to bring peace and joy, He restore our souls. How self inflicting is it to not pay attention to the unseen and allow the seen to overcome us. It is hard to get into a pattern or habit of spiritual connection with God, honestly when I think I need to read the word but I see a sink full of dishes more often than not I’ll address the dishes first. So I’m still working too, that flesh and seen world overcomes me more than I’d like to admit. This week I’m challenging myself to look upwards, when I doubt, when I grieve, when I think my seen world has more importance than God. I’m going to be like Mary this week and hang on every word of Jesus and let whatever comes of my chores and to-do lists come. I’m protecting my heart from lingering doubts and fears, by filling my heart with God’s truth until it overflows.