Learn how to keep your focus on Jesus when you are hurt and disappointed to maintain your hopes and dreams!
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
All Christians begin their journey with God strong, with hopes and dreams of a magnificent future – until troubles come – and stay – and sometimes they seem to last forever. It is easy to get distracted by disappointment and lose our hopes, dreams, and promises.
It is easy to lose focus on hopes and dreams when we are entangled by hurt and disappointment.
As Israel came out of Egypt and traveled through the dusty wilderness, they became impatient with the long journey.
They let hurt and disappointment with the journey steal their excitement, hopes, and dreams about their promised land.
From their tiredness and disappointment, they grumbled, complained, and spoke against Moses and God. As a consequence, God allowed an infestation of serpents that caused fiery pain and death.
However, God heard Moses’ prayers for the people and instructed him to make a bronze serpent and nail it to a pole and raise it so that all the people could see.
They were instructed to look at the serpent pole if they got bit, and they would live and not die (Numbers 21:9).
And so those who were bitten “looked” toward (The original Hebrew means “look and believe.”) the uplifted symbol and were healed.
The Power of Faith
The serpent pole was not intended to be an idol. The pole was not intended to be a superstitious lucky charm to ward off evil.
It was to represent their problem—the serpent—nailed to the cross.
It was a means of healing, a means of redemption, and hope, and a reminder of God’s gracious forgiveness. The symbol represented Jesus who was lifted up on a pole for all to see (John 3:14).
The symbol reminded the people to look up from their problems and look to the provision of God.
They looked in hope, having faith in the merciful God of all, who holds the power of life and death. They looked up and forward in faith by God’s mercy and grace.
- Those who focused on the bronze serpent lived.
- Those who focused on their hurts and wounds died.
Just as the people in the wilderness looked to and believed on the symbol of the cross and lived, today those who continue to focus on, and believe in, the power of the cross will receive the fullness of His good promises in their lives.
Keep your focus on Jesus even when you are hurt and disappointed.
Stop focusing on your disappointment. Stop focusing on the past. Look up. Look forward to the awesome things God has planned for you.
If your hopes and dreams are shattered, ask God for new ones!
I am not saying to pretend your problems do not exist.
The spiritual principle is that we are to focus on Jesus as the answer, and not on our problems themselves.
Look to the cross and see your problems already judged righteously in the broken body of Jesus. He took our sorrows and bore our sickness.
God will righteously take care of whatever wrong was done to you in His time. Trust his righteous judgments.
He asks that we not focus on the problem but keep our focus on Him instead.
What we focus on is where we put our faith.
We have a friend who is a cattle rancher. The problem he had when he first bought his land, many years ago, was that he couldn’t drive onto his land until he first built a bridge over a ravine.
At that time a company was selling flatbed train cars, so he put a flatbed train car in that ravine. Then he was able to drive over the top of it to get to his land.
Even today, driving over the top of that train car is the only way to get onto his property.
I was frightened the first time I drove over the top of it, but I remember He said,
“Don’t look at your car. Don’t think about where your tires are. Look to the end. Look up ahead. Focus your eyes farther up ahead where you are going.”
I made it across without ending up in the ravine and so have many other drivers through the years including drivers of cattle cars, feed trucks, and construction equipment.
I learned a valuable lesson for keeping my focus up ahead.
It is so easy to forget our focus when troubles come.
Peter forgot this principle when he was stepping out in faith.
Jesus came walking on the water to the disciples’ boat one stormy morning! Amazingly, Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water to get to Him.
When Peter let his gaze drift the smallest bit, he became frightened of the circumstances and began to sink.
As soon as Peter cried out for help, Jesus took his hand and they both got immediately into the boat. And the wind stopped (Matthew 14:22-36).
Keep Your Focus on Jesus for Life and Peace
We, as humans, have trouble keeping our focus on Jesus.
Our mind wanders here, there, and everywhere. (Just think of distracted drivers wandering all over the road.)
God told the people of Israel in the wilderness to look up and focus on the hope of their redemption.
The Scriptures exhort us to look to Jesus and fix our eyes on Him who is the author and perfecter of our faith, who Himself looked to the glory ahead of Him to endure the cross (Heb 12:2).
Whatever we focus on is established in our lives.
We are to set our minds on things above rather than the earthly things—the earthly ways of seeing and doing things.
For the mind that is set on the flesh is death, but the mind which is set on the Spirit is life and peace (Col 3:2; Rom 8:6).
When all the winds and waves of life come to knock us over, we must keep our minds focused on the truths of God’s love and promises of hope, health, provision, and a purposeful future.
Troubles come to everyone. Keep your chin up. Focus on Jesus. Ask for help.
He will bring the answers that you need, and He will bring comfort to your heart and strength to your soul.
When Jesus is our focus, we will arrive at our hopes and dreams, plus more than we can possibly think or imagine!
My Prayer for You:
Dear Lord, I pray for this dear reader. I ask that you surround them with Your presence and bring comfort, and I pray for You to impart Your enabling grace that they could raise their head to see your face instead of their troubles.
I ask you to bring answers to their questions and healing to their pain. Give them strength, encouragement, and peace! I thank you, my dear Lord! Amen.
Action Steps: God Skills to Develop:
How to keep your focus on Jesus when you are hurt and disappointed:
✔Jesus died to carry your burdens. Whatever your problem is, imagine taking it and physically putting it on the cross of Christ. Or think of putting it in Jesus’ hands. Tell Him you give it to Him.
✔Ask for forgiveness for carrying your own burdens, when He died to carry them. Ask Him for insight, understanding, encouragement, and solutions. I do this, and it really works.
✔Deliberately take five minutes out of your day to think on Him. Think of His goodness and mercy to you. Reflect on His love. “Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth” (Col 3:2).
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You may also want to read How to Have an Anchor of Hope in Life’s Ups and Downs.
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