Devotion #30
Hi, Everyone.
TGIF [Today God Is First]! Today's devotion is from my personal journal dated May 8, 2007. I pray it will bless you, in some way. Have a great weekend, and I'll be back on Monday, Lord willing.
I'm disappointed that I am not farther along in my weight loss, which affirms to me the need for the topic that the Lord has been bringing up to me over and over today: contentment.
One of my two accountability partners, Debra, sent me an email response to my journal entry from yesterday. Debra is a dear friend, but she is definitely a "straight shooter." After reading her email, I was "in my pity pot," as my grandmother used to say.
I kept mulling over Debra's email, and every time I did, a verse kept coming to mind: "Godliness with contentment is great gain" (I Timothy 6:6). The Greek word for "godliness" means "holiness," and the Greek word for "contentment" means "self-satisfaction." That tells me that holiness is key to feeling satisfied, in myself and in my cir****tances.
Here I've been doing exactly what I can't stand in the Israelites, when I read in the Old Testament about their constant murmuring. I found the story where the children of Israel wept, asking, "Who will give us meat to eat?" and they remember all the good food they had in Egypt [not an accurate memory, I'm sure, since they were slaves there], much better than the manna they were having to eat. (Numbers 11:4-6)
God gets His holy fill of them and tells Moses that the people WILL have meat, nothing but meat, for a whole month. I wonder if the saying, "Be careful what you pray for" originated with the Israelites. (Numbers 11:18-20) A "wind from the LORD" brings quail, lots of it, and "while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD struck the people with a very severe plague." (Numbers 11:31-33) Nothing is said about thanking God for His provision. Not good.
Numbers 11:34 tells what happened to them. "The name of that place was called Kibroth-Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had been greedy." I looked up Kibroth-Hattaavah," and it means "graves of craving." Yikes!
I don't think this is so much about food for me, although I totally recognize that my cravings nearly had me in a grave, but I believe the Lord is gently dealing with me about a discontented heart. Lately, I have not been contented with God's provision in my life. I want things to happen MY way and in MY time. I have not been satisfied. I realize that now. I had not realized it before.
Debra's email, as difficult as it was to read, made me take a good look at myself. I went back and thought of my times of prayer. Many of them have been short on thanksgiving and praise and long on petition and requests. Perhaps when I learn to be content in my cir****tances, God will be free to intervene in my cir****tances.
Today, take your "godliness with contentment temperature." Is it high [great contentment and satisfaction] or is it low [great grumbling and dissatisfaction]? Prayerfully listen to Micah Stampley as he sings, "Take My Life." The words to the chorus are, "Take my heart and form it. Take my mind, transform it. Take my will, conform it to Yours, to Yours, Oh, Lord."
http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=30e6bb115ee6e5 50059e
Blessings,
Mary
TGIF [Today God Is First]! Today's devotion is from my personal journal dated May 8, 2007. I pray it will bless you, in some way. Have a great weekend, and I'll be back on Monday, Lord willing.
I'm disappointed that I am not farther along in my weight loss, which affirms to me the need for the topic that the Lord has been bringing up to me over and over today: contentment.
One of my two accountability partners, Debra, sent me an email response to my journal entry from yesterday. Debra is a dear friend, but she is definitely a "straight shooter." After reading her email, I was "in my pity pot," as my grandmother used to say.
I kept mulling over Debra's email, and every time I did, a verse kept coming to mind: "Godliness with contentment is great gain" (I Timothy 6:6). The Greek word for "godliness" means "holiness," and the Greek word for "contentment" means "self-satisfaction." That tells me that holiness is key to feeling satisfied, in myself and in my cir****tances.
Here I've been doing exactly what I can't stand in the Israelites, when I read in the Old Testament about their constant murmuring. I found the story where the children of Israel wept, asking, "Who will give us meat to eat?" and they remember all the good food they had in Egypt [not an accurate memory, I'm sure, since they were slaves there], much better than the manna they were having to eat. (Numbers 11:4-6)
God gets His holy fill of them and tells Moses that the people WILL have meat, nothing but meat, for a whole month. I wonder if the saying, "Be careful what you pray for" originated with the Israelites. (Numbers 11:18-20) A "wind from the LORD" brings quail, lots of it, and "while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD struck the people with a very severe plague." (Numbers 11:31-33) Nothing is said about thanking God for His provision. Not good.
Numbers 11:34 tells what happened to them. "The name of that place was called Kibroth-Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had been greedy." I looked up Kibroth-Hattaavah," and it means "graves of craving." Yikes!
I don't think this is so much about food for me, although I totally recognize that my cravings nearly had me in a grave, but I believe the Lord is gently dealing with me about a discontented heart. Lately, I have not been contented with God's provision in my life. I want things to happen MY way and in MY time. I have not been satisfied. I realize that now. I had not realized it before.
Debra's email, as difficult as it was to read, made me take a good look at myself. I went back and thought of my times of prayer. Many of them have been short on thanksgiving and praise and long on petition and requests. Perhaps when I learn to be content in my cir****tances, God will be free to intervene in my cir****tances.
Today, take your "godliness with contentment temperature." Is it high [great contentment and satisfaction] or is it low [great grumbling and dissatisfaction]? Prayerfully listen to Micah Stampley as he sings, "Take My Life." The words to the chorus are, "Take my heart and form it. Take my mind, transform it. Take my will, conform it to Yours, to Yours, Oh, Lord."
http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=30e6bb115ee6e5 50059e
Blessings,
Mary
"Don't tell God how big your storm is; tell your storm how BIG your God is!"
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