Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Delighting in Obedience

I have to confess… this week has been back to the same old "run to food and eat as much as you can" kind of week.  It has been hard… it has been depressing… it has made me feel like a failure yet again… and the lies creep in and get another strong hold in my life.  I hate it.  I hate this battle with food.  I hate the control that it has over me… the way I just mindlessly eat whatever I can shove into my mouth, even when I am to the point of being beyond full.  I hate how it makes me feel like I have to sneak around and shove food into my mouth before anyone sees what I am doing and the mess that I am in.  And I keep coming back to "who really cares?"

And then I come to Chapter 8 in Made to Crave.  In the chapter, Lysa Terkeusrst talks about "defining your week by obedience, not by a number on the scale."  Obedience… something that I can actually tangibly see and feel.  I have not been obedient to God.  And God does care!  He cares that I am obedient to him.  He cares that I am faithful.  Yes, he knows that I will make mistakes, but he also cares that I succeed!  He wants me to be obedient, not because it is good for him, but because he knows that it is best for me.

I have been an athlete for most of my life.  I played college volleyball.  And let me tell you how I feel about obedience.  YUCK!  I don't want to be obedient!  I don't want to do what someone else is telling me to do!  And yet, when I look back at the times that I have had to be obedient in my life, they have always been for my good.  Yes, obedience requires you to put your full trust into someone else, but shouldn't God already have my full trust?

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11).  God has plans for me!  Good plans!  Plans that will not harm me.  Plans to prosper me.  Plans to give me hope.  Plans for a future.  And if I am not obedient, those plans can't happen.

This year, my focus is a change of heart.  And here is one of those changes of heart that I need to have. I need to delight in obedience!  I need to delight in knowing that my actions with food is me being obedient to God.  I need to delight in the plans that he has for me through my obedience.  I need to delight in my obedience instead of focusing on what I can't eat, or what the number on the scale says.  I choose now to delight in obedience!

4 comments:

  1. Love your post! I have struggled with some of these same issues... like the scale doesn't change no matter how healthy I eat so what does it matter if I eat that chocolate bar.... I am learning to turn to God and not look at the numbers on the scale. Thank you for this inspiring post....
    Cindy ~~Made to Crave Group 30

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  2. Absolutely love your post--it's honesty and transparency are an inspiration to me. I choose to delight in obedience with you and together, with God, we will be what God created us to be....His victorious children :)

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  3. Cody- thanks so much for visiting my blog because it allowed me to find yours! I LOVE this post. It takes guts to post the truth...the REAL truth.

    We have all had those weeks. Maybe not recently and maybe not again...but we wouldn't be on this journey if we were not all struggling with self-control and self-denial. In fact...I actually wrote a song recently about another verse that expresses that struggle between flesh and spirt. The verse was Galations 5:17 – “For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.” It’s not the same without music, but the song lyrics are:
    —————————————————————-
    TITLE: Galatians 5:17
    AUTHOR: Miriam Lind

    On days like this
    When the sun outside is hiding
    My skin feels damp
    It’s cloudy in my soul

    And I hate this stupid dance
    Two step forward another back
    Round and round in circles I go

    You said You’d purified me
    But I still feel so ugly
    Don’t like the reflection I see
    In the mirror

    I know You’re always at work
    But Your fingerprints they start to blur
    When I get mixed up in myself
    Mixed up in myself

    I guess that’s how it boils down
    A choice between You and my own crown
    What kind of obsession
    Will I foster?

    And I know I’ve sung it all before
    Less of me and more of You, Lord
    But each time I stand
    I fall again.

    It’s a push and pull – a tug of war
    A battle raging in my core
    I feel like Adam and like Eve
    Or Eden bursting into weeds

    I know Your plan is to redeem
    But it takes so long I feel defeat
    Where’s the forest through these trees?
    Father help me…
    Father help me…

    Instrumental verse….

    It’s for freedom – he set us free
    It’s for freedom – he set us free
    It’s for freedom – he set us free
    It’s for freedom – he set us free..
    ————————————————–
    While I originally wrote this song about some other emotional struggles, God has been impressing it on my heart a lot during this Made to Crave study.

    Sorry to write so much. You just sounded like you could relate! Let’s keep each other encouraged. God bless!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much! Wow, your words to your song are beautiful and almost feel like words from my own heart! So glad to be on this journey with you!

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