“The spirit of complaint is born out of an unwillingness to trust God with today. Like the Israelites, it means you are spending your time looking back toward Egypt or wishing for the future, all the while missing what God is doing right now.” Priscilla Shirer in “One in a Million.”
After going through a weight loss class titled, “Exodus out of Egypt” I learned a lot about what she called, “escaping out of “Egypt.” It was a lesson she learned herself on how to escape that place of bondage. It didn’t matter what the bondage was whether it was overeating, bad attitudes, fears, smoking, money, sex, alcohol, drugs and everything else under the sun you could possibly name.
She taught us how to de-throne ourselves and live with God in the position of King in our lives. We not only had to learn how to break away but how to stay away as well. Looking back to the old habits, the old ways, the way we were was going to get us about as far as Lot’s wife. Remember her? She was the one who was told not to look back when they were on their escape route but she did. The end result for her was a pillar of salt. The end result for us will be entrapment once again to the things that held us in bondage in the first place.
Too often we think the journey is way too hard. Those bad habits begin to look not so bad. We compare now to then and think we didn’t have it so bad. It’s exactly what the Israelites did on their journey and all it did was add on years to an already long trip complaining all the way.
Hanging tight to the pendulum as it swings to the other side of the extreme we jump off on the other side where we like to live. A place of always looking towards the future to the point we miss the present. As good as it is to plan for our future we don’t need to stay there. Forever looking forward wondering if I’ll ever be skinny, will I ever have money, am I going to be single forever, is my marriage ever going to straighten up?” gets us absolutely no where.
Forever complaining about where we were and where we are going is what takes away from our present. We were meant to live in the present. The past is gone and the future isn’t here yet so it makes sense to live for today. I didn’t say, “Live for me.” That is the way our thinking has gone. It’s all about us and we think complaining our way there is going to give us all we desire. Hate to burst any bubbles out there but it doesn’t work.
No we need to keep ourselves in the present by setting aside our complaints about our past and worries about our future and trust God. Trust Him with our past that follows us and the future that is ahead of us so we can relax and watch Him hard at work in our present.
Currently we are traveling through a construction zone. We need to heed the signs that say, “Caution, road work ahead. God at work.” We can either go through slowly and peacefully trusting what God is doing out there on our road or we can grumble through the construction zone all the way. One way gives us an ulcer and the other gives us peace of mind. Which way do you want to travel?
My favorite button I had when I was a kid was one with these letters on it, PBPWMGINFWMY. Does anyone know what that stands for? I should hold you in suspense to see if you can tell me!.............okay I’ll tell. It’s, “please be patient with me God is not finished with me yet.” If I hadn’t wore the button out over the years I should still be wearing it in my 50’s because God is far from being finished with me yet. He’s working in my present. My past is just that, past! Praise the Lord! My future will be my present tomorrow if I’ll just be patient and trust God to meet me there. The end for today but my beginning tomorrow!
After going through a weight loss class titled, “Exodus out of Egypt” I learned a lot about what she called, “escaping out of “Egypt.” It was a lesson she learned herself on how to escape that place of bondage. It didn’t matter what the bondage was whether it was overeating, bad attitudes, fears, smoking, money, sex, alcohol, drugs and everything else under the sun you could possibly name.
She taught us how to de-throne ourselves and live with God in the position of King in our lives. We not only had to learn how to break away but how to stay away as well. Looking back to the old habits, the old ways, the way we were was going to get us about as far as Lot’s wife. Remember her? She was the one who was told not to look back when they were on their escape route but she did. The end result for her was a pillar of salt. The end result for us will be entrapment once again to the things that held us in bondage in the first place.
Too often we think the journey is way too hard. Those bad habits begin to look not so bad. We compare now to then and think we didn’t have it so bad. It’s exactly what the Israelites did on their journey and all it did was add on years to an already long trip complaining all the way.
Hanging tight to the pendulum as it swings to the other side of the extreme we jump off on the other side where we like to live. A place of always looking towards the future to the point we miss the present. As good as it is to plan for our future we don’t need to stay there. Forever looking forward wondering if I’ll ever be skinny, will I ever have money, am I going to be single forever, is my marriage ever going to straighten up?” gets us absolutely no where.
Forever complaining about where we were and where we are going is what takes away from our present. We were meant to live in the present. The past is gone and the future isn’t here yet so it makes sense to live for today. I didn’t say, “Live for me.” That is the way our thinking has gone. It’s all about us and we think complaining our way there is going to give us all we desire. Hate to burst any bubbles out there but it doesn’t work.
No we need to keep ourselves in the present by setting aside our complaints about our past and worries about our future and trust God. Trust Him with our past that follows us and the future that is ahead of us so we can relax and watch Him hard at work in our present.
Currently we are traveling through a construction zone. We need to heed the signs that say, “Caution, road work ahead. God at work.” We can either go through slowly and peacefully trusting what God is doing out there on our road or we can grumble through the construction zone all the way. One way gives us an ulcer and the other gives us peace of mind. Which way do you want to travel?
My favorite button I had when I was a kid was one with these letters on it, PBPWMGINFWMY. Does anyone know what that stands for? I should hold you in suspense to see if you can tell me!.............okay I’ll tell. It’s, “please be patient with me God is not finished with me yet.” If I hadn’t wore the button out over the years I should still be wearing it in my 50’s because God is far from being finished with me yet. He’s working in my present. My past is just that, past! Praise the Lord! My future will be my present tomorrow if I’ll just be patient and trust God to meet me there. The end for today but my beginning tomorrow!
© 2011 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing
4 comments:
I really love this post, bless you.
Hi, Karen
Thank goodness, He isn't finished with us yet. For many years I had a little sign on my office wall that said, "Choices create habits, habits determine my success or failure, the choice is up to me."
Joshua said, "Choose you this day whom you will serve" - not tomorrow or yesterday. Heaven help us to make good choices. God bless you - Marsha Y. at http://spotsandwrinkles.blogspot.com/
Karen, I love how you shared from this viewpoint. The graphic was excellent! Old habits die hard and how easy it could be to look back. I'm so glad He isn't finished with me yet!
Thank you for participating. I always enjoy reading your IOWT posts.
Blessings and love,
Debbie
GREAT post Karen! This really blessed me. Thank you.
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