"Staying Focused"

"Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips." (Psalms 16:4) As I was praying about this mornings post, I pictured a cone shaped diagram on a board, much like a drawing board; and above this cone was written "priorities". It may just be a recollection of something I was taught once; but it seemed to be different that the ones that I remember, because it moved from top to bottom, as if it was trying to correct it's self. In a world that is filled with all sorts of pleasures, and things that challenge our human abilities, we are constantly being pulled into a dirrection that can lead us upsidedown in our priorities. Our number one priority should be to God, for in Him do we find our strength for anything else; and our second priority should be to our family; after that, we want to place ourselves in that number three position, and most of us do, although we call it work. There is nothing wrong with work, it is what we must do to support our families and to be able to give to our church or those that might be in need; but when our work becomes who we are, that's when we have an issue! We must stay focused on God, keeping Him as our number one priority. All the other things will fall into place, if we just focus on Him first; even work will be easier and not so ruling over our lives, if in everything we do, we do it as unto the Lord. In this verse, David seems to devert from the message about having confidence in God; but if you stop and think about what is being said, you can see it more as a check and balance; whereas, we are to focus in on the One True God, so that any other god that we might be serving will be revealed. I know, you are most likely thinking to yourself, I don't serve other gods! But a god is an idol; and an idol is anything that we place between us and God; which can be a whole assortment of things, from entertainment to work, reading books to viewing pornography; anything that can get between you and God, causing you to place Him anywhere else but first in your life. In the first portion of this verse, we see a few words that can give us help in understanding what is being said; "hasten" is the first I would like to look at, because it speaks of being anxious for something, as in rushing after. This may help us understand what it is that we are excited about doing, or what it is that gives us the most joy in our hearts; is it fellowship with God, or is it something else? Another word to chew on, is the word "multiplied", as in, "their sorrows shall be multiplied". This takes us to a place of understanding what price we pay in giving way to idols, for there are multiple sorrows that we will suffer by so doing; being accountable unto God is one, and the great disapointments we shall experience by trusting in another god for our peace and security; or even for our joy! The second part of this verse has to do with association, as in staying clear of being taken in by anything, and considering it something to repent over, if you catch yourself doing it...