I have been struggling lately with ideas on what to write about for this blog and felt like I was definitely having a 'desert' experience. The well of creativity had run dry, my mind was like the Israelites – wandering around in circles, and the possibility of reaching the promised land (or writing a new post) were as remote as landing on Jupiter.
So I shot off a quick "why God, why?" message, (He know's my attention span is limited so tends to tolerate short yelps and mini messages) and responded with a quick "BECAUSE IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU!" Now trust me, I didn't hear a booming voice or anything like that, just had this conviction that this was what I had been doing wrong – making the post about me! My idea, my feelings, my thoughts, when in reality it is and always has been about God.
I realized then that the reason the Israelites had to wander the desert was because they also kept making everything about them! God had performed miracles and rescued them out of slavery. It wasn't long though before they started complaining about the heat, lack of water, food choice, and just about everything else you can possibly think of! It became about them and not about the Awesome God who was present with them every day, who provided for their every need, who had saved them from centuries of slavery with miracles that the might of Pharaoh and all his magicians and armies could not stop.
Unfortunately, that is what we do in our lives as well. We lose sight of God and focus on our little day to day problems. We forget that all that we have comes from God and every breath we take is a gift from Him. If we realize that its' all about God, that we live our lives to bring glory to Him, then we will find that we are no longer wandering dry, dusty, lonely desert roads of life but adventuring through the lush lands of milk and honey that God has promised us.
I must admit that looking at the two men, if I had been God, I would have chosen Aaron! Which is probably why God is God and I'm just little old, flawed me. And that's exactly what Moses was – flawed – just like you and me. Aaron also had his faults, but Moses certainly appeared to have the lead in the number of flaws he possessed. Therein, I feel, may be one of the reasons that God chose Moses. He was flawed. He had a speech impediment, self-esteem issues, a hot-temper, in fact, he was a regular guy and God was able to use him. He used him to manage one of the biggest, most important events in the history of the Israelites and yet he was just like you and me.
I cannot claim to know the mind of God, but I do feel that one of the reasons that He chose to use Moses, was so that we could realize that He can use us, with all our hang-ups and problems, to do His work. That we cannot excuse ourselves, because when He calls us, it is because He can use us just exactly as we are – flaws and all!
Eph 3:16-17 'I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources, He will empower you with inner strength through His Spirit.'
Being strong, independent, self-sufficient, are all characteristics that present day society applauds. Successful business people are lauded for being "self-made" men and women. The focus is always on financial success or super-stardom, never on the person's true character or moral values. In fact, if they do tend to be people with questionable morals and the personality of a villain, it is viewed with amusement or admiration. How the person achieved their success is also very often overlooked, particularly if their methods were unscrupulous and dishonest.
So why do we all strive to be what society wants us to be? God has created us with limitations and weaknesses for a reason. It is through our limitations, our inability to be "superman" that God's amazing power will shine through. This will give Him the glory, and not us. People will realize that if God can use someone as limited as we are, then He can use them to. Through our limitations we learn to depend on God and trust Him for the things that we, on our own, cannot do. This strengthens our love for Him and deepens our relationship with Him.
Consider how puny man is up against the forces of Nature – who can deflect a tornado, stop an earthquake or put out the fires of a volcano? Not one of us, and yet, God created all of these things! Shouldn't the very power and wonder of the world around us make us realize that He is far more powerful than us, but that since He loves us so completely, we can trust Him to give us His strength in troubled times.
Matt 6:34 'Don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today.'
I don't know what it is about this time of year, but it seems that just when we should be winding down and getting ready for the end of year festivities, people seem to be hit by all kinds of difficulties. My mother has been told that she is going to have to have a knee replacement operation; a friend has just discovered a growth on his kidneys, another has just found out that their new-born baby nephew is very ill, and the list goes on. However, the more I've thought and prayed about it, it really isn't the time of year, it's life! We all have constant challenges to face, difficulties that often seem insurmountable, but in reality, there is no problem too big for God.
God made us weak so that we could learn to depend on Him. He is our strength, if we allow Him to be. He made our lives short so that we could yearn for eternity. He gave us the ability to love, laugh and cry so that we could give our hearts to Him and show others the joy of knowing Him.
No matter what you are facing, ill-health, broken relationships, financial difficulties, just lay it all at His feet and trust that He knows what is best for you. It may be that through your financial struggles your direction in life changes so that God can use you more effectively. Perhaps through your ill-health you learn to slow down and spend time with your Saviour. I personally found that being bed-ridden for a while gave me ample time to pray for others.
To complete the phrase that I used to as this post's title: Worry is like a rocking chair ….. it gives you something to do but it doesn't get you anywhere!! Turn your worried thoughts into prayer – its far more effective!
2 Cor 5:17 'Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone, a new life has begun.'
You are God's work of art – in process! A magnificent masterpiece that He will mould, shape and refine through life's up's and downs to make you the person He want's you to be. To have you reach your fullest potential and be all that you can be in Him!
The thought of God moulding and shaping us can be very upsetting to a lot of people, particularly those who see themselves as 'self-made', independent and strong. The thought that they are in need of change, that they may have to grow emotionally, spiritually and or mentally can be a severe knock to a person's ego and they will so often resist any thought of changing.
On a personal note, I can only tell you that God has, in so many ways, changed me for the better. Certainly, when I gave my life to God I felt that I was a good person, raising my sons on my own, strong-willed, independent and capable. What I was not prepared for was the things that I suddenly saw in my life that I realized were not pleasing to God. My temper for one thing! For such a tiny slip of a person (5'4" and only 58kgs), I was a force to be reckoned with when I got mad!! I remember having fetched all the children from school one day and my step-daughter commenting to me that my road-rage had gone! Then the others all started commenting on how previously I would have screamed at the car that had just cut in front of us, how I wasn't even swearing anymore! Wow!! I hadn't even noticed these things myself, but their comments certainly made me think about my behavior.
I know that the incident I have described above is rather small and inconsequential, and perhaps many of you have had more radical transformations than that, but it was that moment that was the turning point for me. It was this moment that made me realize that God had, already, without me being aware of it, started to transform my heart and, with this knowledge that He could change me without my conscious participation in the process, how much more could He do if I allowed Him to work in my heart?
I must admit that the process of allowing God to change me was not (sorry, IS not) always easy, but it is certainly worthwhile. The changes He has brought about have allowed me to release all my anger and bitterness, to learn to love myself (certainly the hardest battle) and to slowly start seeing that His plans and purposes for my life are far superior to any I may have had. I know that I am still taking baby-steps in my walk with the Lord, and that He still has LOTS of moulding and shaping to do to get me where He wants me to be, but I do know that I can trust Him through the process.
Jeremiah 23:24 '"Can anyone hide from me in a secret place? Am I not everywhere in all the heavens and earth?" says the Lord.'
When you truly understand that God knows all the secrets hidden in your heart, and yet loves you anyway, you will find that your desire to do things that are pleasing to Him will increase. Having God as your main accountability partner will help prevent you from doing things that you may later regret. However, it is also important that we make ourselves accountable to others as well. Temptations are all around us, every single day of our lives, and Satan loves to see us trip over them! None of us are so pure that we do not have to fight temptation and those who think they are above reproach are only fooling themselves.
Making yourself accountable to others forces you to be more responsible in your actions and to avoid giving in to temptations. Millions of dieters throughout the world have found that having an accountability partner has helped them resist breaking their diet and helped them remain focused and motivated with their exercise routine. In the same way, having a friend who can pray for you and with you, and help you to stay focused on living your life to please God, makes all the difference to your spiritual walk. Of course, your accountability partner does not know everything about you and will only know what you confess to, but if they are walking alongside you they will soon get to know you well enough to know when you are hiding something from them!
I personally have grown to find it incredibly comforting to know that God knows everything about me. That He knows what I am going to think, say or do even before I do! The reason that I find this comforting is because it means He cares. Our heavenly Father, who created the infinite Universe, loves me so much that He is concerned with my every thought! And when I make a mistake, get angry and lose my cool, say something I shouldn't, I know that He still loves me.
It takes strength to hold one's self accountable to others and to God. Making yourself vulnerable and admitting to your weaknesses is one of the most difficult things that human's face. We all like to feel that we are strong enough to handle things on our own and yet that is not the way that God has created us. He has created us for community and a certain level of interdependency. That is why we are told that we are all a "part" of the body of Christ! We are not an independent body, fully self-sufficient and not needing others in any way. No, we are all unique with our own particular gifts and abilities that we bring to enrich and strengthen our Church community in order to make it more effective in doing God's work. Who do you hold yourself accountable to?
Luke 6:45 'The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart …. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.'
Every day God presents us with opportunities to impact the lives of others. We do not have to travel to foreign countries to make a difference in this world. We just have to touch the lives of the people that we encounter in our everyday lives. A kind word to a colleague or the lady at the till in the grocery store can impact them more than we may ever know. Often we feel the urge to say something nice to someone but then shyness or the fear of rejection overcomes us and so we say nothing. When we have these urges, it could be God prompting us to do His work and by not doing so we have missed an opportunity to bless someone else.
One of our biggest failings is to let down our 'guard' when we are with the ones that we love most – our families. They often bear the brunt of our unpleasant day as we take our frustrations out on them or allow their actions to annoy us to the extent that we snap out at them in anger. We say things to our families that we would never say to someone else! It is so important for us to remember that they are the ones whose lives we influence the most, particularly our children. However, we are all human, we all have good and bad days and there are times when we will be angry or frustrated. The joy of families is that they know you well enough to know when your behavior is out of character and as a result of things going wrong.
What we say and how we say it is also an indication to others, who may not know us well, of our character. Don't allow anger and frustration to take control and cause you to mistreat someone. Rather let the goodness of your heart make an impact on someone's life today in such a way that they are encouraged and uplifted. Remember that, as a child of God, you are also His representative to the world around you. Let His goodness, love and mercy shine through you today.
