It's What Got Us Here

It's What Got Us Here                                               08-12-16

2 Timothy 2:4 (ESV) ⁴  No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.

This verse from last week's blog ambled around in my mind all week. I could not shed the idea of the danger and ease of becoming entangled in this life. It's sooooooooo easy isn't it? Hear me out please. 

I have watched, on ESPN, countless interviews with coaches and players as a particularly big game approached. Invariably the reporter/interviewer will pose this question. " How do you intend to deal with (fill in the blank), do you intend to do anything differently?"   And just as surely as the question being asked, this is almost always the coach's or player's reply. "Well, we don't plan to do anything differently, THIS IS WHAT GOT US HERE." They weren't going to change their game plan, it was working for them.I was talking with my friend this week and that very phrase came up in the course of our conversation. "It's what got us here." Now there's a spiritual truth lurking around those words isn't there? Those words have a positive AND a negative application to our lives don't they? And herein lieth the lesson.

You know how it goes don't you? Here you are, you have been faithfully supporting God's work with your pocketbook and God begins to bless you back. All of a sudden you have plenty of money because you can't outgive God can you? Oh no,no,no.You begin to pay off all your bills, you don't have to check the restaurant menu to see how much that entree costs, life is good. One day you look around and discover that you are in the best financial shape of your life. You can't really put a finger on it, all you know is that as you committed to giving, God started giving back. Praise God let the God times roll!! When interviewed by friends and family as to how you attained  this lofty estate, all you can reply is," Well, I don't really know how it happened. I started giving and God blessed me. IT'S WHAT GOT ME HERE!"

Now let's fast forward a little bit in our lives and if we are not very careful, this is what we will find. That person, who just a short while ago had the world by the tail, is in a mess. What in the world happened? What transpired to bring him or her to this lowly estate? Here is what so many times is the answer. "Well, God blessed my socks off. I had all that I needed or even wanted. If I wanted something, I just went out and bought it. Donald Trump didn't have anything on me! But, all of a sudden the one or two year old car didn't satisfy. I had to have a new one every year. Then the one or two year old SECOND car wasn't good enough. I had to have a new one every year. But, you know something, driving those new cars around lost it's glitter once the "new" wore off. For some reason they just didn't satisfy me anymore. Then, all of a sudden, the house that I had been living in lo these many years began to shrink. It just wasn't big enough anymore.  So, I went out and bought a bigger one. And on, and on, and on......Until one day I woke up and the bills were piled to the ceiling. I was working myself to death just to stay even. I even had to pick up a part time job. There wasn't enough money to go around and now I can't afford to give to God's work anymore. I abused God's provision and got greedy. THAT'S WHAT GOT ME HERE!" 

Look at this.The most precarious seed.

 Matthew 13:22 (ESV) ²²  As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

Sound extreme? Maybe, but personally I don't think so. The point ,brothers and sisters, is this. Rarely does the sky fall on us. Now, it sometimes happens, but that is the exception rather than the rule.Most times we become entangled and enslaved gradually, almost imperceptibly. It's like being in the clutches of a python. I watch those animal attack videos all the time. The python wraps itself around it's prey and simply waits. As the prey struggles and struggles the python simply tightens it's grip until eventually the poor animal can't breathe anymore and suffocates. I have seen these snakes kill a lion like this.

That's our danger isn't it? Normally, we don't get run over by a truck, we just get ourselves into predicaments that squeeze the life out of us. It doesn't have to be money, it can be almost anything. Job, school, whatever.How do we break free? I will close with this anecdote from my own life.

Some years ago I had allowed myself to become entangled. I had gotten off track and was struggling. Literally, as I was driving down the road, distraught over my circumstances the Lord spoke these words to my heart. "Go back to where you left off, and do what you know to do." That is an exact quote and even now I can remember perfectly riding down the road that day. I got alone with God and He showed me where I had gone wrong and what to do about it. It wasn't a great revelation. A simple act of obedience actually. But, that disobedience had slowly but surely strangled the life out of me. IT WAS WHAT GOT ME TO WHERE I WAS!!

IF you are hurting, struggling, entangled etc., get alone with God and find out what got you there. It could be that you are right where God wants you and He wants to encourage and strengthen you. Or it could be that you have derailed yourself and the life is being pressed out of you. At any rate what is important is finding out what got you there.  Amen?

Psalm 119:71 (ESV) ⁷¹  It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.



God Bless