I am reminded that our God is a jealous God.  (Ex. 34.14)  His command to “have no other gods before me” includes anything that can rival our single focus on Him.  Nothing is out of bounds—anything can become an idol when it supplants God as our first priority.

I often have to discipline my children.  Kids get excited and rambunctious.  It’s hard to get them to focus when they’re in that energetic play-state.  What I do to focus them in is to have them come to me, put their hands in mine, and have them look me in the eye.  Then I know I have their attention. 

This technique is something that our heavenly Father does for us. His voice calls to us.  He calls us to run to Him, to place our busy, rambunctious hands in His hands, and to look Him in the eye.  Our focus on the stuff we need can take our eyes off of the King.  In short, the issues of life can become an idol, a god.  We need to regularly refocus, in order to make sure that Jesus’ hand is still on the rudder of our lives. 

We need to dethrone the idols of the material world, the distractions that make God #2.  “Let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the proper time (Heb 4.16).”  With God in first place, the elements of our lives on Earth can harmonize with His will.   

“Open up the sky/Fall down like rain/We don’t want blessings, we want You.       
Open up the sky/Fall down like fire/We don’t want anything but You.”