Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Guest Post - Let's Do Ourselves A Favor


Hello! I'm Reagan, otherwise known as the Hybrid Student. Let me start out by saying that I’m honored to have been asked to post for Epiphanies while Olivia is gone. I always enjoy reading her insights, and they always make me think. In keeping with the theme of her blog, I think I’ll share an epiphany of my own.

Things go wrong. I don’t think anyone would dispute this. Bad things happen, events don’t go according to plan. However, how we react when things don't go our way is really what's important. I think how we react to these situations says a lot about ourselves. They often reveal what really is the center of our lives, and this “epiphany” came to me the other night while reading Psalm chapter 16.





Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in You.
I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
I have no good besides You.”
As for the saints who are in the earth,
They are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight.
The sorrows of those who have bartered for another god will be multiplied;
I shall not pour out their drink offerings of blood,
Nor will I take their names upon my lips.
The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You support my lot.
The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me.
I will bless the Lord who has counseled me;
Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night.
I have set the Lord continually before me;
Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will dwell securely.
For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol;
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.
You will make known to me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.
- Psalm 16

I’m no pastor, but I’ll try to break this chapter down as I interpret it.

Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in You.
I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
I have no good besides You.”

God is our shelter. God will take care of us. We have nothing good outside of God.  Nothing good outside of God.



As for the saints who are in the earth,
They are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight.
The sorrows of those who have bartered for another god will be multiplied;
I shall not pour out their drink offerings of blood,
Nor will I take their names upon my lips.

This is an interesting passage. Here David is saying he delights in his fellow saints—other believers, yet he doesn’t associate with those who are not believers. He doesn’t even speak their names (harsh). Furthermore, their sorrows will be multiplied for serving another god. Remember this. Their sorrows will be multiplied for serving another god. I’m going to come back to this point.

The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You support my lot.
The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me.
I will bless the Lord who has counseled me;
Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night.
I have set the Lord continually before me;
Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

Okay, here David is saying that the Lord is all he has and all he needs. For an inheritance people usually like to receive lots of money, right? Well here, David is saying the Lord is his inheritance, and the Lord supports him, not money. Not only that, but the lines have fallen in pleasant places, he has not been short-changed by god. He hasn’t been cheated by life, and because the Lord supports him, he cannot be moved. He is strong.



Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will dwell securely.
For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol;
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.
You will make known to me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.

So, because of everything David just said, he rejoices. He can rest in security. He can be calm. He doesn’t have to fret or worry. With God, there are pleasures forever.

Is this true? Is it pleasurable following Christ? Do we rest secure? Is our inheritance of the Lord enough? Or do we want more? I don’t know about you, but I think I often have to answer “no” to these questions. If that’s the case for you too, then we have to ask the question, “why?” 

Is David not telling the truth? Is he confused? Delusional? No, of course not! David knows what he’s talking about. Everything he says is true. It’s true because God is at the center of his life. The Lord is his God. The question we have to ask ourselves is…is the Lord really our God?



I’m not talking about are our eternal souls going to Heaven or not, I’m talking about our lives here and now. What are we orienting our lives around? God? Or ourselves?

I know this is a common message. We’ve all heard it before. We have to die to ourselves and follow Christ. But that doesn’t sound very nice, does it? Dying?


Joe: Hey bobby, what do feel like doing?
Bobby: I don’t know, something fun.
Joe: Like what?
Bobby: Oh! I know! Let’s go die to ourselves!
Joe: Yes! Let’s do it! I can’t believe we never thought of this before! Dying is going to be so fun!


Sacrificing our own desires and conforming them to God’s isn’t easy. We’re sinful, and therefore predisposed to want to do wrong. However, NOT dying to ourselves is an even WORSE alternative.

I don’t think this is something that is talked about enough. Following Christ really is the best life we can possibly live, and David shows us how wonderful it can be in Psalm 16. So if we’re not resting secure in Christ, if worrying, if we get upset when things don’t go our way, that’s because God is not the center of our lives, it’s us—ourselves.

Why do we get upset when things don’t go the way we want them to? It’s because we are our own God. We think we deserve something, or we think we know what’s best for ourselves. What’s the result? We don’t feel secure. We get anxious, worried, depressed, angry. These are all terrible things to feel. Remember what David said?  “The sorrows of those who have bartered for another god will be multiplied.” When we replace God with ourselves, our sorrows are multiplied; however, it’s not God who brings these sorrows on us, it’s ourselves. We create our own strife by putting ourselves ahead of God. 

We do not make good gods. Life apart from God is far worse than life with God. God wants us to become the kind of people where He can allow us to do whatever we want, the only problem is, what we often want is bad for us.  But can you imagine what life would be like if things could go wrong, yet you could still rejoice in Christ? It would be pretty nice. This is possible. We just need to put our faith in God, not ourselves. We have to really believe in Him and live it out, not just say the words. 

When we pray for something, or desire something and don’t get it, we should rejoice because God is our shelter and our inheritance. It’s a good thing we didn’t get what we wanted, because what we wanted probably wasn’t good for us. God wants to give us what’s good for us. We need to learn to change our desires so that we want what God wants. In the meantime, if we haven’t reached that point yet, we still shouldn’t get upset when things go wrong, because God is in control of our lives, not ourselves.



Of course, everything I'm saying will take work. Change isn't going to happen over night. It takes time and practice to dethrone our will and replace it with God's. So don't get discouraged if you still throw temper-tantrums when life rains on your party. It's not about where you are now, it's where you're headed. Stay on the path. Living a life with God at the center is truly the most fulfilling and rewarding life you can live. God is the "good life."  

"In Your right hand there are pleasures forever." So, let’s do ourselves a favor and stop pretending to be God. 

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