Stop Staring at Your Belly Button

Navel-gazing: self-indulgent or excessive contemplation of oneself or a single issue at the expense of a wider view.

Ah! This has been me as of recent. Life had hit me hard with circumstances, which brought me low. I realised my gaze was on myself. Unfulfilled desires, issues, uncertainties and set backs—it all felt too much for me to bear, that I was in despair. Have you been there? Low in your woes, struggling to give thanks due to circumstances/seasons you are in which you do not want?

It is so easy to have a ‘pity party’, and to be honest so many circumstances can seem so harsh or so unfair that we feel like we deserve to moan and groan. Think about Job; in a short space of time his children, his livelihood and his health were all taken away. His friends were accusing him of sinning against God, and saying that was why he was in misery. What does he cry out to them?

‘Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends,
For the hand of God has struck me!’ – Job 19:21

Did you see that? Job is crying out for a pity party and can you blame him?! My circumstances haven’t been the greatest lately, but they are definitely nothing compared to Job’s. Even then, though we may feel low in our feelings, and though the burden of circumstances may have us so weary that like Jeremiah we might resent the day we were born (see Jeremiah 20:14), God tells us fix our gaze not on ourselves or our woes, but to Him!

‘Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.’ – Hebrews 12:2 (emphasis added)

At times we can be so low in our feelings that it’s hard for us to look to God. Maybe because our view of God has been blurred or skewed by the dark clouds of our circumstances or the weight of disappointments and burdens. I believe God understands this and so He often gives practical tips in the Bible for our struggles.

Look up!

‘Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars,
The One who leads forth their host by number,
He calls them all by name;
Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, Not one of them is missing.’ – Isaiah 40:26 (NASB, emphasis added)

It’s easy to read the words of the scripture above and to not apply them practically. I would encourage you to go outside and look up! Marvel at creation. You might not be able to see the stars, but look at the clouds, sunrises and sunsets, the moon. Your God created all these things! Not only did He create them but He sustains them! He knows the number of stars and calls them all by name. If He is able in His power and strength to do this, can’t He also handle your burdens and circumstances? O ye of little faith! (Matthew 14:31)

‘When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him?’ – Psalm 8:3-4 (emphasis added)

We are so small compared to the vast galaxies and universes and the rest of His creation, and yet He is mindful of us! He cares for us! (1 Peter 5:7). Maybe your circumstances or trials make you feel forgotten by God. The nation of Zion felt a similar way, but what the Lord said to them He also says to us as His adopted children:

‘But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,
And my Lord has forgotten me.”
“Can a woman forget her nursing child,
And not have compassion on the son of her womb?
Surely they may forget,
Yet I will not forget you.
See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;
Your walls are continually before Me.’ – Isaiah 49:14-16 (emphasis added)

God cannot forget about you! He sees you and your name is inscribed in His hands! Let that truth sink in and encourage your heart today. Take your inward, woe-is-me gaze and lift it up and remember the Lord your God. He is why we can count it all joy when we face harsh circumstances (James 1:2); He is our comfort and peace despite our circumstances!

‘Learn to look away utterly from your own weakness, and, putting your case in His hands, trust Him to deliver you.’ – Hannah Whitall Smith

Please don’t think that I have it all together and that’s why I am writing this post! Ha! No, it’s a daily fight for me to look up and remind myself to rejoice in Him and not in my circumstances. So just know you are not alone, and feel free to share in the comments below ways which help you to fix your gaze on God, not on your woes.

‘Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.’- Psalm 42:11 (emphasis added)

Selah.