One things that we have done most of the evenings with the family during the quarantine time is watching films.
Long films. Films like The Hobbit, Star Wars, Avengers series etc.
All these movies have a good story line and are excellent at showing clearly the war between evil and good and the triumph of the good ultimately.
We were watching The Hobbit the other day, the last part of the Trilogy, right in the beginning there is this scene where Smaug the dragon attacks the people of Laketown with fire and destruction. Nothing is working in destroying the beast, all hope rests on a single black arrow that father and son (Bard and Bain) inherited from their ancestors. Resting the arrow on his son’s shoulder Bard takes his aim, but Bain is afraid. He is young and the sight of a fire approaching dragon can shake even a powerful man.
Bard, the father asked his son to focus and look at him, not on the dragon approching, not on the noise coming from the town in flame, but on him, on his face.
As father and son lock their eyes together, the black arrow flies from the father’s hands while being stabilized on the shoulder of the son, taken by the help of the wind straight into the dragon’s heart. The beast falls lifeless bringing an end to his destructive power.
“I keep my eyes always on the LORD. With him at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.”
Psalms 16:8 NIVUK
We don’t face fire breathing dragons these days, but we do face many problems with devastating effects. We doubt and we wrestle with issues that scare us and shake our faith and confidence.
Doubt comes to divide us in two, and divided we can’t win any battles. Faith on the other side is a single focus on God, which fills us with confidence to conquer and overcome all we face.
LD
If we keep our eyes on the Lord always no matter what we face, we will be unshakable people. Yes, stuff will come to shake us and uproot us but with God in our gaze, we will be unmovable.
Where we focus while facing crises is very important. Because where we focus we follow, where we keep our eyes on, we drive our lives to.
LD