Well, I've been trying to whack these thoughts away and I give up - I'll write it down already!
I'm participating in an online bible study thru www.proverbs31.org We are walking our way thru the book "Made to Crave" by Lysa Terkeurst.
It's an amazing book full of great truth. It's about satisfying your deepest desire with God not food (or work, or alcohol, or t.v., or drugs, or whatever else you may be giving your undivided attention to). Each week they suggest topics to write a blog about and "Truth" was one of the suggestions for this week. What truth do we live by and whose truth do we believe.
Well, I've been thinking about that word and it has been rolling around in my head for a few days now. I hadn't really formed any concrete, specific thoughts - just had it sitting there in the back of my mind. Then today I was reading a passage in Exodus (totally unrelated to the Made to Crave study but rather part of a one year bible reading plan that I'm doing) and I came across Exodus 14:13-14:
Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” - NIV
And that's where Whack-A-Mole comes in - the thought wouldn't leave me alone....
Untruths are like the Egyptians. Truth - God's truth - is like the deliverance, the Lord fighting for us. We are the Israelites - we're supposed to stand firm and stand still.
Some untruths/Egyptians are out and out lies but most of the time, if you think about it, the untruths that we let sit in our minds and on our hearts have a grain of truth in them but it turns into a pursuing Egyptian when we let the grain of truth lead us to a mountain of untruth.
Let me try and explain:
Grain of truth = I should lose a few pounds.
Egyptian = I should lose a few pounds. I'm so ugly and weak and unlovable. Why did God make me this way? I'm useless and worthless. I wish He would have made me to be like her or her.
How many Egyptians have we let pursue us? How many untruths and lies are we going to believe before enough is enough? We need to stop, stand firm and stand still! Notice that the passage says both stand FIRM and stand STILL. Why? Why does it say both?
Firm means to have a solid, almost unyielding surface or structure; strongly felt and unlikely to change ; to make physically strong ; in a resolute determined manner.
We are to stand firm on God's Truth! On His solid, unchanging foundation! When an Egyptian approaches we need to stand firm and measure him up against God's truth.
Grain of truth = I should lose a few pounds.
Egyptian = I should lose a few pounds. I'm so ugly and weak and unlovable. Why did God make me this way? I'm useless and worthless. I wish God would have made me to be like her or her.
Standing Firm = Genesis 1:27 - I was created in the image of God ; Psalm 139:13-14 - I was knit together with purpose. I was fearfully and wonderfully made and ALL God's works are wonderful ; Luke 12:7 - God numbered the very hairs of my head and I am valuable to Him
We also need to stand still. That same passage, Exodus 14:13-14 in The Message is this:
And that's where Whack-A-Mole comes in - the thought wouldn't leave me alone....
Untruths are like the Egyptians. Truth - God's truth - is like the deliverance, the Lord fighting for us. We are the Israelites - we're supposed to stand firm and stand still.
Some untruths/Egyptians are out and out lies but most of the time, if you think about it, the untruths that we let sit in our minds and on our hearts have a grain of truth in them but it turns into a pursuing Egyptian when we let the grain of truth lead us to a mountain of untruth.
Let me try and explain:
Grain of truth = I should lose a few pounds.
Egyptian = I should lose a few pounds. I'm so ugly and weak and unlovable. Why did God make me this way? I'm useless and worthless. I wish He would have made me to be like her or her.
How many Egyptians have we let pursue us? How many untruths and lies are we going to believe before enough is enough? We need to stop, stand firm and stand still! Notice that the passage says both stand FIRM and stand STILL. Why? Why does it say both?
Firm means to have a solid, almost unyielding surface or structure; strongly felt and unlikely to change ; to make physically strong ; in a resolute determined manner.
We are to stand firm on God's Truth! On His solid, unchanging foundation! When an Egyptian approaches we need to stand firm and measure him up against God's truth.
Grain of truth = I should lose a few pounds.
Egyptian = I should lose a few pounds. I'm so ugly and weak and unlovable. Why did God make me this way? I'm useless and worthless. I wish God would have made me to be like her or her.
Standing Firm = Genesis 1:27 - I was created in the image of God ; Psalm 139:13-14 - I was knit together with purpose. I was fearfully and wonderfully made and ALL God's works are wonderful ; Luke 12:7 - God numbered the very hairs of my head and I am valuable to Him
We also need to stand still. That same passage, Exodus 14:13-14 in The Message is this:
Moses spoke to the people: “Don’t be afraid. Stand firm and watch God do his work of salvation for you today. Take a good look at the Egyptians today for you’re never going to see them again. God will fight the battle for you. And you? You keep your mouths shut!”
Standing still is putting a period on that grain of truth. It's shutting our mouth and our thoughts and letting God's truth do the fighting for us.
I'm not saying we are to ignore the grain of truth. It could very well be coming directly from the Lord. He wants the best for us. He wants us to live a happy, healthy and fulfilling life. If He is prodding you to lose some weight (or stop drinking, or work on controlling our temper, or turn off the t.v. or whatever), then listen to the prod. He will help you accomplish the goal. He will make a way if you just ask Him. What I am saying is that God never condemns. He never shames. He never tears down. So when those types of thoughts come into the picture - those are Egyptians - cut them off at the pass. Stand still and stand firm!
If you read the rest of the story in Exodus, God parted the Red Sea for the Israelites and they walked across on dry ground. Then He let the water loose and flooded out the pursuing Egyptians. The Bible says that not one survived. God did the fighting, He made the way. He was the way of Victory over the Egyptians. He'll do the same for you and for I. Let God's truth fight the untruths - the Egyptians - He is the victory over them. We just need to stand firm and stand still!
Thankyou for encouraging words. I love the verses from Exodus. It reminds me that we CAN win this battle as we have God on our side, as long as we rely on Him. Blessings, Fiona (group 50)
ReplyDeleteAmen! That's the key - relying on Him! Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog :)
DeleteWow!!!!! I loved that, "Stand firm and stand still!" and "Let God's truth fight the untruths" Thank you!
ReplyDeleteYou're so welcome! Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog :)
DeleteThis is excellent! So deep! Thanks for sharing! I learned from you and what you wrote! It is so awesome that in our writing our blogs and sharing from our hearts that we can teach and learn from each other! May God bless you!
ReplyDeleteThank you for stopping by and reading my blog! It is so awesome how God can use something that He is speaking to us to speak to someone else too! God bless!
DeleteYou made me remember another verse that Lysa writes about in chapter 11. It's Deuteronomy 2:3 “You have made your way around this hill country long enough; now turn north." Let's go north! Stela - OBS Small Group Leader
ReplyDeleteThank you for stopping by and reading my blog Stela! I love that verse too! I'm ready to go north too! :)
DeleteThis is a great blog, Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with us. I really like the statement "Standing still is putting a period on that grain of truth. It's shutting our mouth and our thoughts and letting God's truth do the fighting for us." :) You have given me much food for thought. I plan to print it if that's okay with you. God bless you richly!
ReplyDeleteThank you for stopping by and reading my blog Cindy! By all means, feel free to print it. I'm honored that you would like to do so. God is so good to reveal to us and bring us to the nuggets of truth that we need right at a particular moment :)
DeleteYou have been blessed with a wonderful insight into God's Word and the talent to put your thoughts into words to share with the rest of us. Thank you so much for this. I love the analogy of comparing untruths to the Egyptians. Those untruths can bring us right back to our bondage in a heartbeat...food or whatever it is. Your words have truly touched my heart and given me added insight as well into how and why God works so wonderfully in our lives if we let him. The "how" comes only when we remain quiet and yield ourselves to his will and just let him do his thing...growing us through the experience. The "why" comes only from God's unfailing love...the kind of agape love that sent his own son to the cross to die for our sins. That's how much he loves us and wants us to be successful in whatever we do. May everyone's journey be blessed with God's grace and peace as we travel this road together.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right - those untruths can totally chase us right back into bondage! Thankfully we have the Lord to fight for us! Thank you so much for stopping by and reading my blog and for your encouragement! I appreciate it!
DeleteLove your analogy Denise and how you tied it into our M2C journeys. Thank you for sharing #truth with all of us. Yes, we may need to lose a few pounds, but we need to let God "whack" & conquer the lies that we're pursued by along with it. Great reminder!
ReplyDeleteKatrina Wylie (OBS small group leader)
Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog Katrina! I'm ready for God to whack away :)
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