Grounded
1 Chronicles 16:8-12 | July 15 - 21, 2023
What grounds us? Let me rephrase, what are the things that bring us back to Christ? We live in a world today of distraction and compromise. For a lot of us, we don’t even see how off-track our life has become. Our life is meant to be grounded in Jesus, but I fear we have uprooted the foundation. We have added worldly desires in place of Christ-like foundation. How do we get back to Jesus being our ground? It starts with thanks and praise and seek and remember.
One of the biggest ways to ground ourselves in Jesus can be found in the first part of 1 Chronicles 16:8-9. David gives thanks and praise to the Lord. Shifting our focus, as David did, to see the things that God is doing allows us to take the focus off of ourselves and our so called “greatness” and accomplishments. For so many of us one of the most difficult things is to see God moving in our life. The act of giving thanks and praise makes us take time and slow down so that we can recognize how HE is moving in our life. This is our first step in getting back to being grounded with Christ.
The second part is seen in verses 10-12; to seek and remember Him continually. Our life is wrapped up in the things that we seek. The things in our life that we seek naturally become the most important to us. How do we seek God continually in a world that constantly begs us to look elsewhere for love, peace, comfort and so much more? A couple elements come to mind. First, memorize the word so that it is at the forefront of our minds. When scripture becomes a part of our daily life God moves into sight. Next is for us to journal. Writing down what we are asking God, and ways we are seeing God helps us in times of hardship or distraction. We can go back to our journal during these times and see the work of God. Lastly, we have to take an inventory of the things that consume us. It is so easy to get off track being consumed with things that move us off of our path with Christ. Sometimes it might even result in us having to cut out those parts of our life that pull our attention away from God.
As we pursue a life of being grounded with Jesus it starts with praise and thanks, and continues with seeking and remembering who God is and what HE has done/will do in your life. We have to keep our eyes focused on Him and continue to praise His name.
David's Song of Thanks
8 Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name;
make known his deeds among the peoples!
9 Sing to him, sing praises to him;
tell of all his wondrous works!
10 Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!
11 Seek the Lord and his strength;
seek his presence continually!
12 Remember the wondrous works that he has done,
his miracles and the judgments he uttered,
