Living the “Right” Way
I get to humble myself to you today. You see, God’s been revealing some things to me about myself. That’s what happens when you commit to let God be God and pray Psalm 139:23-24,
Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Yep, God loves that kind of praying—when we pray His own Word back to Him with a sincere and seeking heart. He’s been answering that particular prayer of mine for the last 15 years. Funny, after all this time, He hasn’t run out of “offensive ways” to reveal to me. Thank goodness for His infinite love and patience! Obviously, I’m a work in progress.
I recently started a Bible study exploring modern-day idolatry, Kelly Minter’s “No Other Gods.” I got as far as day 2 when God revealed the latest offensive way He wanted to remove. 2 Kings 17:7 served as the springboard for my revelation.
All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of Egypt from under the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt (emphasis mine).
I’ve taught often on the parallels between God’s deliverance of the Israelites from their captivity in Egypt to our deliverance through Christ from our own areas of spiritual bondage. Over the years, Christ has freed me from many things, but that day’s lesson offered a fresh look based on the wording of that verse. The commentary challenged me to consider anything that represented a “pharaoh” in my life. Did I have anything that exercised power over me other than God?
To be honest, I couldn’t come up with anything. So I did what I always do, knowing my deceptive heart will never give up its gods easily. I prayed, asking Jesus to show me if I did.
It didn’t take long for Him to answer. Five words surfaced clearly in my thoughts. “You need to be right.”
Well, doesn’t everybody?
I pondered the thought for several moments until realization slowly began to dawn. That “need” I had never been able to name had been a destructive factor in my life, displaying itself in several different areas. But the big one was this:
He showed me I felt so driven to be right that I feared ever being wrong. And that fear made me slow to trust Him.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve felt Jesus prompting me to take a step of faith and let doubt delay my obedience. Good and logical thought convinced me I needed to double-check with God to make sure I heard Him correctly. Like Gideon, I’d set out my fleece time and again to make sure He continued to give me the same answer. He would have to confirm His will to me several times before I’d finally move.
I thought my motives were pure. I wanted be in the heart of God’s will. I wanted to be certain the idea was truly coming from Him and not from me. I didn’t want to inadvertently step outside of His blessing and favor.
I didn’t want to be wrong.
So I would wait. And pray. And wrestle with my thoughts. And stand still.
Apparently, I’d rather remain in limbo than take a step in the wrong direction. Not so bad, right?
But God was trying to show me something. Inadvertently serving this need to be right interfered with my ability to serve Him.
I was behaving as if I didn’t have the relationship with Him that I have been building for the last 15 years. On several occasions in the midst of my doubt He has had to remind me,
“You know my voice.”
And I do. I’ve learned to recognize it. His quiet whisper penetrating the world’s noise has become my lifeline. I know it when I hear it.
Yet I still question it. My compulsive need to be right—my fear of being wrong— still makes me doubt it. It keeps me wrestling with whether I even heard it. So I don’t move right away when Jesus tells me to. And here’s the truth of it, my friend. Delayed obedience is sin.
I wonder how many times my refusal to move has kept me from a blessing.
2 Kings 17:41 reveals a profound truth:
Even while these people were worshiping the Lord, they were serving their idols.
Dear one, just like Israel, you and I can worship Jesus while serving other gods. I did. I was trying to follow Jesus while still serving my need to be right. The power that need maintained in my life interfered with me doing what God was leading me to do. Kind of gives new insight to Matthew 6:24:
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and ________________. “
What do you still serve, dear one, that keeps you from wholeheartedly following Jesus? Are you willing to let God reveal your hidden chains?
I’ll warn you. You may be surprised by what you discover. But if you’re willing to take the journey, you’ll find the path leads to peace.
Hi Kelly,
This is hard for me to do. Write and share so personally, but your Word today was exactly where I have been today.
As I drove to work today I spend this time in prayer. Today I felt overtly moved to focus on repentance. To ask God's forgiveness for the ways that I seem to make choices that I know grieve his spirit deeply. Sometimes I see these times coming and I deliberately make the choice to have my own way. Sometimes these sins are ever so subtle. Either way this sin causes a separation in the relationship between God and me. How much this must hurt and disappoint my God when I am disobedient. How ashamed I am of my sinful nature. But in the mist of this He drew me back to Him and refused to let me go.
I thanked God for His grace and forgiveness over my life and for knowing my heart and my desire to walk with Him through life. I prayed that the sincereness of my prayer would bring joy to Him. I am so thankful that God allows us the chance to be restored through communion with HIm.
As my thoughts settled on whether this prayer really did bring joy to God….God answered my heartfelt prayer. At that very moment on the radio came the song Better than a Halleluia! And I knew that this was God's gift to me. God wanted me to know just as the song says that as we cry out our miseries to Him he hears them as a melody. God WAS pleased. He doesn't want me to run from my sin but to run to Him and leave it at His feet. As the song says sometimes our cries to Him are….BETTER THAN A HALLELUIA. Tears rolled as I understood the unconditional love our Lord has for me.
As I read the opening words to today's devotional I felt God's love and understanding reinforced. God is so good and I feel so blessed at the way he sought me out today. God uses you everyday Kelly through your insight into His word and how His word is lived out in your life. Thank you for sharing His word and making a difference in helping others know Him better.
These words you wrote and the scripture you referenced is where God and I met today.
I get to humble myself to you today. You see, God’s been revealing some things to me about myself. That’s what happens when you commit to let God be God and pray Psalm 139:23-24,
Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting
A sister in Christ, Carol
Oh, Carol, I am so blessed by your words this morning! Thank you for sharing your heart. I can only imagine how you blessed your heavenly Father as well as you poured out your heart to Him yesterday. He does, indeed, delight in our authenticity! He treasures our heartfelt, honest moments with Him most… in those moments we actually reflect His character. After all, He is Light and Truth!
I thank you for the courage to share your struggle. When we stop hiding them and become willing to admit our need of God, our humility opens us up to His grace. May you experience a sweet outpouring from His Spirit, and may your testimony encourage others to do the same.
Love you sister,
Kelley
We are so blessed when the God of our understanding opens our eyes, and awakens our hearts. A very moving post that shines the light on not only the need to see the revelation, but to also work through it to fully understand and prepare for the blessing to come, that which pleases God.
Thank you for your post Kelley.
Kindest regards,
Janet
Thank you for your insight, Janet! You're so right…what we do with what God reveals becomes essential. We must let Him teach us how to apply it personally and then trust Him through our obedience.
Blessings,
Kelley