"Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways." Pslam 119:37
After reading this verse a few times the other day, I started thinking about what it would really looked like if I lived by this. When you really think about it, most of what we surround ourselves with (namely, material things) and most of what we worry about are utlimately worthless. In the grand scheme of things, our brief period here on earth is miniscule compared to eternity, and there are very few things, especially those that you can touch or feel, that we will be taking with us once we go.
Written long before Jesus was on earth, this verse reflects one of Jesus' main messages:
Therefore do not be anxious, saying, "What shall we eart?" or "What shall we drink?" or "What shall we wear?" For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." Matthew 6:31-33.
What the Psalmist and Jesus are saying is that there are so many things we worry about that just simply are not as important as the Kingdom. There is something more important than being anxious about things that don't really matter.
Side note: I've seen a lot of people take what Jesus says in Matthew 6 WAY out of context to make it say sometihng completely different than what he meant. "All these things will be added to you" does not mean "everything I worry about and everything I want will be added to me if I just seek his kingdom and righteousness." If you read the whole statement, the whole chapter, what Jesus is really saying is God will provide for you what you NEED, not what you want or think you need. In the end, God knows you don't need to be anxious about all of this other "stuff" that's going on. Our eyes need to be FIXED on him and his purposes for us.
Psalm 119:37 makes me think about horses and how they have blinders covering their side-to-side vision, or their "periphery." Their eyes are totally focused on where they are going and the path that leads them there. For race horses, they do not need to be worried about anything going on around them. All they think about is getting to that finish line as quickly and faithfully as possible.
Maybe we should put on some preverbial blinders. Or at least maybe we should start understanding what we should be putting first, and what we should fix our eyes on over anything else. How would our lives be different if we had blinders on, with no distractions or things to hold us back?
