What's Wrong With Me?!! Part 3

So, let's recap the last couple of posts.

When I get discouraged, there is a wrong and a right way to respond.  I think that Psalm 119 is among the many Scriptural texts that speak to the proper response of a believer in the midst of discouragement.  It is more than a simple statement of facts regarding obedience to God's Word, it is an emotional response to some spiritual experience.
Whenever life points out our inadequacies or failures, the answer is not to focus on ourselves in inappropriate pity asking, "What is wrong with me?".  The answer is three-fold.

First, ask the right question.  Knowing God is sovereign and allows or initiates all things, ask,
"How do I respond to God's Sovereignty in this?".  This accomplishes two things:  I t will always drive us back to God's Word for Truth, encouragement, direction, and counsel.  Second, it will always lead us to a place of praise for who God is and what He is doing.

The second step is to purposefully and actively wait for God's re-appointment.  Whenever God let's disappointment into the life of a believer, He always re-appoints them for His intended purposes.  The great thing about His purposes is that they are always "good, perfect, and pleasing" (Romans 12:2) to Him and us for His glory and our fulfillment.

The third step is this:  Take account.  The life of the believer is about putting off the old and putting on the new.  We have been secured in Christ, made a new Creation, and given a promise of hope that will not disappoint.  But we are still disciples, and thus, we will still undergo discipline.  So I label this third step (which may be many smaller steps itself) Holistic Faith.
 It can happen to the most mature believer.  Why?  Because we're not perfect yet.  discouragement can come and can turn the sinful flesh to focus on the wrong thing or expect something that is not right to expect.  We should only expect what God has promised.  Many well meaning people expect things they believe the Bible should promise implicitly, but the reality is it simply doesn't.  A good way to take stock of this in your own life is to see if your expectations are found in scripture first.  If it's not, but you think it may be implied, then test it against these two questions:
1) Is it eternal in perspective?
and
2) Does it glorify God primarily?
This isn't foolproof, but I believe that under humble prayer (which usually follows discouragement), it will bring you into clearer focus.

When we take account of our life biblically after discouragement, we should be taking stock of how our faith is played out in all of our life.  Where has it suffered?  Where does it need nourishment and fortification again?  What areas of life has faith become a scapegoat or a crutch instead of the foundation we walk upon all-together?  As we strive to accomplish and see God's work in our lives, we must be striving to live out His Image Bearing righteousness in every area of our life, not just the immediately affected area.  This gives us plenty to work on and trust Him with, and leaves us little time to dabble in the fleshly mental beatings that sometimes accompany discouragement.  And once again, it drives us into the arms of our Savior and Lord.

I hope you find comfort and encouragement in this.

With you for His glory-

What's Wrong With Me?!! Part 2

Yesterday, I started with the idea that discouragement often can bring us to a place where we ask, "What's wrong with me?"  The author of Psalm 119 kinda got there, but he shows us a different way to respond to those feelings.  He looks at himself and sees he falls short of the ideal saints that he could compare himself with.  But instead of asking the wrong question, he asks, "How do I respond to God's sovereignty in this (any) situation?"
His answer: Focus on God through His Word.  This will lead us to Praising God.

This helps us on our way out of discouragement, but it doesn't fully deliver us.  I think there at least two more steps for someone to take out of such a place when life gets them down.  Today, on step two, I want to talk about re-appointment.

2) After disappointment, always comes re-appointment.

There is not a single story in scripture about the people of God where disappointment is not followed by God's re-appointment.  Every single time their is a disappointment in the life of a believer or of a hopeful individual, God re-appoints that individual or people to His design for them in the first place.  It is always better.  It is always good.  It is always more fulfilling.

This is short, because it really is that simple.  When I feel discouraged and want to ask, "What is wrong with me?"  I need to turn my focus onto God's Word and say, "Regardless, how do I respond now to God's sovereignty in this situation?"  In order to know the answer to that, I have to focus on the truth of God's Word about the circumstance.

Maybe it's not as bad as I think.
Maybe it's worse, but about something different.
But regardless, God is sovereign and He wants me to respond to His Truth correctly starting now - regardless of how fouled up I may have been before.

Eventually, this will lead me to praise.

When it does, I can now humbly submit to God by saying, "I will wait on you Lord, for I know your ways are best!  You are in control.  You are good.  And I know You love me.  With all this, that can only mean your good for me in your perfect time according to your perfect plan."

Now I am waiting on God's re-appointment.  I am trusting in His best, while doing what I am supposed to do regardless of my circumstances or feelings about myself.

And now I am ready for step three, which I will talk about in my next post.

With you for His glory-

What's Wrong With Me?!!

Have you ever wondered this thought before?

Maybe something happened suddenly to make you question your competency.
Maybe someone said something to make you question your character and/or worth.
Maybe something didn't happen to make you question your understanding of yourself and your relationship with God.

I think, if you live long enough in this world, everyone eventually thinks this.  I have several times in my life.  The question is:  How do you respond to it?

I have not always responded the right way.  Sometimes others don't know how to help the right way.  (Sometimes others offer their opinions too freely!)  Sometimes, we bypass the question too quickly, and sometimes we linger to long on the question.

Is there a right way to respond to this question?  I think the answer is yes.  I believe the Bible gives us a right way.

I read through Psalm 119 several times this last week.  That led me to consider Job and the nation of Israel during their initial spiritual wanderings through the desert after their exodus.  I remembered the early church and the first apostles, and what it must have felt like to be one of the disciples immediately after the death of Christ.  I have several observations from Scripture that I would like to share in response to the question.

1)  There is a different (correct) question.
2)  Disappointment always leads to re-appointment.
3)  Holistic Faith.

I'll explain one of these each in the next three posts.

1)  There is a different (correct) question.
This week, I read Psalm 119 and realized that the proper response to questioning myself begins by evaluating my focus.  Psalm 119 appears to begin by extolling the righteousness of one who follows God.  However; once we look at verses 5-8, we see that it is actually a comparison against the authors frustration with his own lack of completeness.
" ¹ Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
   who walk in the law of the LORD!
²Blessed are those who keep his testimonies,
   who seek him with their whole heart,
³who also do no wrong,
   but walk in his ways!
⁴You have commanded your precepts
   to be kept diligently.
⁵Oh that my ways may be steadfast
   in keeping your statutes!
⁶ Then I shall not be put to shame,
   having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.
⁷I will praise you with an upright heart,
   when I learn your righteous rules.
⁸I will keep your statutes;    do not utterly forsake me! "


But he responds to this frustration immediately by turning his eyes to the continuing purposeful focus of his life, not simply the circumstances of the moment.


" ⁹How can a young man keep his way pure?
   By guarding it according to your word.
¹⁰ With my whole heart I seek you;
   let me not wander from your commandments!
¹¹I have stored up your word in my heart,
   that I might not sin against you.
¹²Blessed are you, O LORD;
    teach me your statutes!
¹³With my lips I declare
   all the rules of your mouth.
¹⁴In the way of your testimonies I delight
   as much as in all riches.
¹⁵I will meditate on your precepts
   and fix my eyes on your ways.
¹⁶I will delight in your statutes;
   I will not forget your word."


It is my understanding that the purpose of our life is to glorify God in whatever we do.  The only way we can do that however is to stay focused on Him by staying focused on his Word.  Is it possible to stay focused on God without being focussed on His Word?
I don't think so.  If the purpose of being focused on Him to glorify Him, then I have to be focused on what He says about Himself in any and every circumstance and situation of life.  That includes good times and hard, sickness and health, richer and poorer, popularity and dismissal, clarity and confusion, calm and crisis, etc., etc., etc.  God's number one testimony in Scripture through the prophets, Christ Himself, and the Apostles is that He is Sovereign.  That means he is in absolute authoritative control over everything that happens anywhere, anytime, no matter what it looks like.

Even the bad stuff?  Even the worst stuff.  He doesn't make it happen, but He allows it and He says when, where, and how much.

So the first thing I learn from these meditations is that bad stuff happens.  It may be my fault.  It may not be.  But once it is done, there is only one appropriate question to ask.  Instead of what is wrong with me, the question to ask is:

"How do I respond to God's sovereignty in this?"


It happened.  He allowed it or caused it.  So now what?  Is the spirit convicting me of sin that I need to repent?  Do I need to stop something?  Do I need to continue in something?  Do I need to start something?

The point is that I can't focus on what is wrong with me.  Number one, I could always find too many answers to that question than are possible for me to address even if I had the means to do so.  Second, Psalm 119 reveals to me that God desires a heart that responds out of faith and obedience through any situation, good or bad; and here's the kicker - focusing on responding appropriately to God's Sovereignty through reflection on His Word

ALWAYS

leads to praise.

When I come to a life circumstance that leads me to initially ask - out of frustration, despair, or discouragement - "What's wrong with me?"  The answer is not to say, "Jesus loves you, nothings wrong with you!"  The answer is to  look up to the hills from where my help comes from and reflect on the truth found there in His words about how to respond in the midst of His sovereignty.  When I ask this question:

"How do I respond to God's sovereignty in this?"


I am led to praise the Sovereign King, and then I am ready for the second realization:  Disappointment always leads to re-appointment.
I'll talk about this in my next post.

God Bless.


With You for His Glory-