One of my New Year’s Resolutions for 2009 is to read through the Bible this year. All of it! Well, I’m at the end of Deuteronomy now. I’ve gone from Creation to the Israelites standing on the cusp of entering the Promised Land. Joshua is about to take over from Moses and lead these people into war to take over this land that God has promised to them. Through all the reading of somewhat monotonous counting, repetition of bloodlines, etc, I’ve come across some remarkable ideas.
God puts up with so much from His people. They (I) disobey Him, flat out ignore Him, turn away from Him, try to BE Him. Eventually, though, He has to put His people in time-out so they will learn a lesson. We do the same things to our kids. We take a little disobedience or sass and warn them…they do it again…warning…do it again…”Go to your room until you can behave!”
In the desert, when the Israelites were walking toward the Promised Land, they didn’t trust God to take care of all the Canaanites. “Those people are HUGE and they are scary. We could never defeat them.” Never mind the fact, that God parted the Red Sea or sent manna from heaven or made water come out of a rock. God says…”If you won’t obey me and trust me, Fine. Have it your way. Hang out in the desert for a few more years!” These Israelites had to go through a 40 year time-out.
Same thing a few hundred years later. Israelites are still not obeying. They don’t acknowledge God as their One and Only God, so He has to put them in time-out again. This time they are taken captive to Babylon for 70 years! Mind you, He sent them several prophets (see Amos, Obadiah, Jeremiah, Isaiah, etc) to remind them of what was right, to warn them of what would happen if they didn’t change their ways. After 70 years, they were finally desperate enough to beg his forgiveness. They were finally ready to “behave”. (for a little while anyway)
Now I’m left wondering. Do I need a time-out? Am I trusting God in my every day life as well as in the larger decisions that will affect my future? Am I obeying when God tells me to do something? Am I listening enough to know that He’s telling me something? Or am I doing my own thing and He’s going to let me get to a point of desperation so that I’ll call out to Him to rescue me?
Everyday, I’m faced with conversations that could and should make a difference in someone’s life. In my quest to have the “perfect words” or in my fear of “what if I say the wrong thing”…I think I miss a lot of conversations. Many times, I feel like I should say something to someone and I hesitate. Why? I’m talking myself out of it. That is Satan on my shoulder telling me lies. I’m sure you’ve heard them before too:
“I’m not good enough.”
“No one would believe me if I said that”
“I don’t know enough scripture to say anything”
“What if they don’t like me any more”
“I want to be their friend so I shouldn’t say anything”
“I can’t say anything…look at me…I’m a total wreck myself!”
This is WRONG. I truly believe that when I am prompted to say something to someone, I should say it. God will use me to make a difference in these lives. Even if my words aren’t eloquent. Great quote tonight from someone close to me “Through my imperfection, the perfection of Christ will be revealed.” I can only hope that the Perfection of Christ might shine through all of my imperfections.
By His Grace I Am Saved!
Monica
