Isn’t it fun when we get to practice what we preach? I did that last night in regards to this very blog post. I’ve written this entire post twice (before this current attempt). Then something happened and the whole thing disappeared as quickly as a dandelion in the wind. No action would bring it back. What was I to do? I felt frustrated and irritated until I remembered the quote that has been permeating my thoughts in regards to thinking the truth about my God…
If you are irritable, frustrated or depressed,
it is likely because you are believing a lie about either yourself or God.
If I truly understand that the Lord is in control and knows my desire to publish this post about thinking truth, then I can let go of my attempts and just rest in His timing and His ways. It’s really okay. The world will not fall apart because RefreshHer didn’t get a post up at six this morning! That is the truth and it brings rest.
As I’m making my way through Nancy’s book, Lies Women Believe, Chapter two reminded me that there are many occasions that Satan whispers lies to us about God, as he did to Adam and Eve. If we’re not replacing those false statements with truth, we will be in great danger, because our belief about God is fundamental to everything in our lives!
Our belief determines our actions and our actions determine our outcome.
The book goes into several lies we are tempted to believe about God.
- God is not good. We might think God is good to others, but we don’t see His goodness to us because of ___________________. A cruel action by others, a crime, a disaster, or a hardship happens and some are tempted to question the goodness of God because, after all, couldn’t He have kept that from happening?
The Truth – Of course He could have stopped it, but when Adam and Eve sinned, they plunged the world into sin and the result of that sin is everything I just listed. In His goodness, God sent His Son as the remedy! Titus 3:4,5 After that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. He provided an escape! He is good! - God doesn’t love ME. When we sin we may feel we’ve pushed the limits of God’s love. We are tempted to judge God’s love by how we feel, but we have to tell ourselves the truth, that no matter how we feel. God’s love is different from human love that is conditional and wavering.
The truth – Jeremiah 31:3 – I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. - God is just like my father. If a woman had a cruel earthly father she may feel God is in heaven waiting for the chance to knock her down. For the girl who could say what I heard a child say to me this week,I’ve never had a father love me in my whole life.This little child was only seven, but when you don’t know the love of a father, it can feel like an eternity. I had the joy of telling him that God loves him very much! I get the joy of telling you, too, my friend that God is a loving, caring Father!
The truth – Hebrews 12:9, 10 Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence; shall we not much rather be in subjection Unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. - God is not enough. We may be glad we’re on our way to heaven, but we believe the lie that we need a little bit of Jesus plus… It might be a relationship – a husband, or a child. Perhaps we think if we just had a few more cute outfits, a bigger house or more money, then we’d have all we need. One writer said,
When you get to the place where this is nothing left but God,
you find that He is enough.
Not many of us have absolutely nothing else but God, but one day we will all be in that place. As I recently watched a dear man in our church pass from this life into heaven, I got a clear picture of what it means to get to the place where you have nothing else but God. This man had peace in death. He had the joy of knowing he would see Christ soon and he stated that he was ready. He didn’t ask about all his stuff or his money. He was simply ready to go home.
The truth – Psalm 73:25, 26 Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee. My flesh and my heart fails, but God is the strength of my life and my portion forever. - God’s laws and ways are too restrictive. When we desire to go after something that God has said NO to, we may be like that toddler who is determined to put his hands on the things his loving mommy has put out of reach, like a sharp knife. So we “grab hold of that blade” and suffer the consequences.
Nancy brings out in her book a thought that was so interesting to me. She talked about how many women have issues with food. We don’t like telling ourselves No, and keeping a “good” thing from our lips, do we? Didn’t Eve’s sin deal with the desire for good food, too? Perhaps that’s why we, too, deal with food and eating indulgences that could be categorized as sin because we’re overeating or binging and purging, or not eating at all.
The truth – Joshua 1:8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shall meditate therein. Then shalt thou make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. God’s laws are for our protection and ability to succeed as a child of god! - God should fix my problems. We have a headache so we take Tylenol. We don’t like our boss so we quit and find another job. Our husband isn’t meeting our expectations, so we leave. We know how to fix those irritations and we think God should be ready to make everything better.
The truth – God is more interested in my spiritual growth in the midst of that trial than about getting me out of that difficulty. So many of these truths overlap. We have to remember God’s goodness, His love and His care as a father. II Corinthians 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh in us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
Let me close with this quote by Ken Collier of The Wilds –
You say what you say and you do what you do because you think what you think,
And you think what you think because you believe what you believe about God and His Word.
Everthing we do will come from our acceptance of the Truth – or lies – about our God.
What truth do you need to plant deeply in your heart today?
RefreshHer 