Whose Mind is Stayed on You

A devotional on Isaiah 26:3-4

3You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.
4Trust in the LORD forever,
for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.

As I read this passage today, I was reminded of how often I fail to keep my mind on God. I recently read Brother Lawrence’s The Practice of the Presence of God and was moved by his dedication to keeping his mind and thoughts on God at all times. Brother Lawrence said that if we were in the constant presence of a close and beloved friend we would not dare to ignore them or act as if they were not there, but that is what we do with the constant presence of our Savior.

A sure sign of my inability to remain focused on God is the absence of perfect peace in my life. Anxiety and fretfulness constantly haunt me and they disrupt my life on a daily basis. But if I had a good grasp on the benevolence, faithfulness, and omnipotence of God, fear would be cast away from my life. My God is an everlasting rock-and He is the only One who is. I am not a rock, my career is not a rock, no other human being is a rock, so why would I try to stand on anything but my God?

My mind needs discipline and training. I need to work at keeping Christ at the forefront of my thoughts and actions at all times. I need to train myself, with the grace of the Spirit, to see all through the lens of Christ and Scripture. The views I espouse and the positions I take about things in this world and about the things of God should begin with God.