Don't lose your vision of Jesus.
Keep your eyes ever on Him
Many precious beloved ones have lost their way
For they lose their vision of Him.
This song expresses part of the message of today's liturgy. We should never ever lose sight of Jesus, our Redeemer, Saviour and protector.
We are urged to remember once again that as Christians, followers of Christ our journey is not going to be an easy one. Since our Master passed through such, we should be ready to do such.
This is quite evident in our first reading of today. Elijah had just defeated the prophets of baal proving that he serves the only Living and Mighty God. He had also killed all the prophets. He was indeed a wonderful and true prophet of the Most High.
But now, his enemies are demanding of His life. A friend of God who just showed that God is wonderful and Mighty. Why should he be passing through something like this. This is a storm in his life. So he ran to where? To a mountain and waited on God. God told Him to stand still there and he did.
My dear people of God, when trials come your way and tribulations come to you, how do you handle them? You don't need to start complaining why is this happening to me? I am serving God with my whole heart everyday why is this still happening to me? No. God has not promised us an easy journey but a safe landing and good ending. Don't worry it won't change your situation. Pray and let God worry. When God worry your worries and problems. You can be rest assured that all your worries and problems will not be stumbling blocks to you but stepping stones into holiness.
When trouble comes where do you run to? Many will first of all try to settle it on their own. It is only when they cannot handle it that they turn to God. Dear friend, God should never be secondary in your agenda or plans. He should be first and primary. Not only first but He should be there all the time, all the way of your life.
When Elijah was in trouble, He ran up to the mountain. Mountains in the Bible are places of encounter with God. Recall Moses going up the mountain to communicate with God, he received the ten commandments there. Jesus was transfigured also on the mountain and so on.
Elijah ran up to the mountain. Which means He ran straight to God. He didn't put God as last resort or secondary. God was his first and primary focus out of his trouble. As he waited in prayer, patiently and persistently. He heard the sound of a mighty wind that broke rocks expecting God to be but He wasn't. An earthquake and fire followed but God wasn't there. Then a gentle breeze came and a silent one at that and there was God and Elijah recognised the presence of God in a gentle breeze.
Dear people of God, a very revealing fact about our God and which will continue to be true is that His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts. Elijah maybe expecting God to be in the fire which was what he used to defeat the prophets of baal. But God proved once again that He is God. He wasn't in the fire. Elijah was able to recognise Him in the gentle breeze because he was praying, he was patient, quiet, focused and he was persistent.
Dear friends in Christ, these are what we need in order to have an effective prayer and conversation with our Our Mighty Father.
We need to be patient. Isaiah 40:31 says those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. Often we take flight when we encounter a little trouble but the actual fact is that problems, storms, trials do not last. Only faith does. Be patient. God comes at His own time and in His own way.
While you are patiently waiting on God,you also need to be quiet. If Elijah was not quiet, he wouldn't have heard the gentle breeze, not to talk of recognising THE PRESENCE OF GOD in it. There are too much noise in our world today. Noise that are trying to distract us from God. Noise of Ebola virus, noise of sin and even in your hearts noise of thinking about what is not important and necessary. Let us remain quiet and silent. For to listen to God, we must be silent. Visit the Blessed Sacrament and sit quietly there and you will hear God talking to you.
Be focused and be persistent in prayer. Don't give up. Don't lose hope. God will answer you at the best time, because His time is always and remains the best.
Jer 6:16.
God bless you
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