For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things” (Psalm 107:9). How do you respond to this promise? If you could ask God for one good thing that would help you to feel a deep and soul-filling satisfaction, what would it be? (Ch. 13, RQ 6)
I had a rough weekend. I knew it was going to be hard. Unfortunately, I forgot what I'm supposed to do when things get hard. I knew what not to do... I didn't blow my eating plan. Instead of talking to God about it though, I went shopping with my husband. We came so close to spending $3000 on TV equipment. Luckily, there were a few things we needed to check on before we could finalize our decision. I started thinking about how I am now praying over small food decisions and realized that God cares about my shopping decisions too. I don't know if we will get the TV equipment, but it was very clear to me that this weekend, I was doing it for all the wrong reasons. Replacing God with shopping is just as bad as replacing Him with food. The next day was rough too. And again, I looked to solve it my own way through shopping. This time my shopping craving was focused on a $3 set of colored markers. Hmmm... Although the prices of my prospective purchases were vastly different, the issue was the same. Where do I go when I need comfort? I actually had to say no to the markers two times. The second time I cried. I remembered Lysa describing herself sitting in her closet and crying. Now I get it. I wasn't crying over markers. I was crying because I finally had to face up to my pain and get real with God. Resisting the temptation to eat or shop forced me to actually feel my pain instead of running from it.
How does this relate to Psalm 107? God wants to satisfy me when I am hungry and thirsty. I need to let myself feel my hunger and thirst and then wait on Him to meet my needs. God didn't want me to try to meet my own needs this weekend. He wanted me to trust Him.
It reminded me of this passage in Revelations 3:
You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
If I could ask God for one good thing to help me feel a deep and soul-filling satisfaction I would ask Him to give me a closer relationship with Him. One where I will naturally turn to Him first and stop chasing after these other foreign gods. In fact I CAN ask God for that and I am asking for that right now. I want to buy God's refined gold, His white clothes and His eye salve. I want to crave God and not chase after TVs and magic markers and chocolate pudding.
My weekend was rough because it was the one year anniversary of an event that was so horrible I never even thought to worry about it before. As I was thinking through what God taught me over the weekend, I realized I have a whole house full of items I bought this year to help me deal with (or rather ignore) this issue.
God took me to Jeremiah 2 where I read about how the Israelites did the same thing I was doing. Now that I can see myself as one of those Israelites, I don't want to be that way anymore:
Do not run until your feet are bare and your throat is dry. But you said, ‘It’s no use! I love foreign gods, and I must go after them.’
There is only one God who can satisfy my deepest longings and I want more of Him!
Amen! Our Made to Crave journey focuses primarily on food but there are so many distractors in our life and it's not always food. Thank you for the reminder that shopping can also pull us away from the deep relationship we are seeking with God. Blessings, Mary!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! Thank you so much for sharing this. It opened my eyes to those little things I do that I so often write off. Blessings.
ReplyDeleteVery powerful to think how we are distracted by "things" instead of keeping our focus on God. He has all that I need and I should stop looking for food or facebook or other things to satisfy. Thank you for the encouragement today
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU for this sweet post. We will all have up and down weeks...but God never waivers! Have a blessed week! ~ Miriam
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post Marcia, I confess the one thing that is good if I do impulse buy something or buy to feel better is I can return the item and almost always do. I have always said when the food is going good I end up wanting to shop but years of not having much money really helped put the shopping down.
ReplyDeleteLike, like, like! My mother's name was Marcia, so like that, too!
ReplyDelete"I need to let myself feel..." Such powerful words. Imagine if we let our feelings be rather than trying to hide them or reframe them or deny them with silver linings before the silver lining should be seen? Imagine the freedom! Hang in there. God bless.
ReplyDeleteCheck out my #beneficial post at: http://www.groundswellministries.org/2014/02/19/on-that-which-is-beneficial/
Thanks for sharing, praying for you.
ReplyDeleteThis is just beautiful. It is so well written and clear and real--as I read I was completely drawn in to your struggle. Thank you so much for sharing this!
ReplyDeleteSandi Brewer, OBS Small Group Leader
Thanks to all of you for your kind and insightful comments. God meant this lesson for me and writing this post helped crystallize my thinking. I'm doubly blessed knowing He is also using it to encourage others. By the way, I ran across those markers last night at the grocery store and they didn't have near the attraction they did this weekend. I'll probably still get them sometime, but NOT when I MUST GO AFTER THEM!
ReplyDelete