Take Ownership
Psalm 7:3-5. I have not fully read through the Book of Psalm yet, but this chapter jumped out to me in my head. I read the chapter until I came across something that would be interesting to write about. While reading, a few verses jumped out to me. I had to get some background on them so that I didn't misunderstand what was being said. Here, David is speaking to God. He says, "O Lord my God, if I have done this, if there is wrong in my hands, if I have repaid my friend with evil, or plundered my enemy without cause, let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it, and let him trample my life to the ground and lay my glory in the dust." David lets God know "if" I have done something wrong to his friend or done wrong to an enemy for no good reason, then he says let them overtake me and trample my life to the ground. I like that David even looks at himself saying "if I" where many of us would not. There is no "if I have done wrong" in many arguments, disagreements, and issues in our lives. It usually is finger pointing. When, not if, but when you go to God for your troubles, open up and give Him the chance to show you if you have done others wrong. Maybe the trouble that you are experiencing is due to something you have done, not everything everyone else has done. Be honest with yourself and allow yourself to take ownership for your own problems.
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Avoiding Hurts Doesn't Help
Have you ever heard the saying "hurt people, hurt people"? It simply means that people who have been hurt and are still hurting emotionally will go about hurting other people. In essence it creates a domino effect of hurt. I get hurt by someone and then I go on and say or do something to someone else that hurts them. The cycle continues. But, I ask you, is that the life God wants from you? Does God want you to go around being hurt? Does He want you to go around hurting others? Or does God want you to heal from that emotional pain?
One thing avoiding hurt does is it can eat at us. It can gnaw away at who we have become in Christ and slowly evolve us into someone else that has seemingly forgotten what Christ means to us. When carrying a hurt we can overeat, drink alcohol in excess, use drugs, even go on shopping sprees. All of these things (and others) can serve as band aids to the hurt that we feel when we think of that person, that time frame in our personal history or what was done/said that hurt us. When you break a bone, you don't put a band aid on it, you get surgery if necessary or at least a cast. But a band aid to a major problem does nothing. God wants you to stop putting band aids on your hurts. God wants us to come to Him for all things. We see that truth in Matthew 9:20-22. The woman who had had a monthly flow for 12 years believed that if she just barely touched Jesus's clothes that she could be healed. He acknowledged her when she touched his clothes and told her that her faith has made her well. Jesus wants us to reach out to him when we are hurt emotionally or sick physically.
Tell God what is going on with you. Tell Him about what happened. You can complain to God. He can take it. He wants to hear from you the same way you want to hear from your own children (if you have them) if they have some hurt in their life. God wants to comfort us and heal our broken hearts (Psalm 147:3). Write down what bothers you. Put it in a journal if need be. For things in the past, try to remember that they are not still happening to you. Stop reliving that hurt too. Be around people who encourage you to do and be what God wants from you. Thinking about it often or all the time doesn't help to heal you which means you cannot be who you need to be for God's Kingdom. Be well, be with God.
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Giving Up Control
This may seem like a topic that I have exhausted or even just touched on last week in Friday Focus #7, but I wanted to share an idea from another perspective that can give more clarification.
Years ago I saw an image, I cannot remember where, that really gave some perspective to how we hang on to things too long. We hang on to the way we used to be. We hang on to relationships that make us feel good. We become co-dependent on the things of this world. We try to control too much. We don't see the beauty that exists when we give our life an d all parts of it to Christ. When we let go of the control and put it into the hands of Jesus as we walk the path that God has laid before us in His will, it changes EVERYTHING. You have NO IDEA what God has in store for us if we would just LET GO.
Proverbs 19:21 tells us that we can make as many plans as we want to, but God's plan will prevail. We may as well give in to His plan any way.
There is strength in giving in to God's will. His will won't fail us. It doesn't mean life will be perfect and we never have problems but you understand that God is teaching you something and letting you be used to teach others. Let go and let God.
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