I had an exchange with a friend just yesterday that involved me asking him a question about something I was confused by (specifically my confusion was regarding if I heard from someone else what I thought I had heard). His response confirmed what I'd known all along, which also confirmed that I could basically throw out what I wasn't sure if I heard or not.
I'm being cryptic for confidentiality's sake.
I'd had a rough few days, in part because of my confusion that dated back to the beginning of the week, which led into temptation over those few days. Both the confusion and temptation, however, were broken once I heard from my friend what had been true all along. As I was driving home, I started praising Jesus by repeatedly declaring: "I declare that Jesus is bigger than my circumstances!" "I declare that Jesus is bigger than my fear!" "I declare that Jesus is bigger than my worries!" Because, especially during the day yesterday which had a bunch of little things happen that stirred up my fear of lack of security in my life (and especially for my future), and activated my desire to control every little thing around me. And I was angrily yelling at Jesus basically the opposite of what I finally declared at the end of the night.
So why is this an oldie but a goodie? Because while I was thanking Jesus, I repeated a verse that has been inscribed in my mind and heart for almost a decade now: "Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away." James 1:14, New Living Translation. (It's hard for me to prove it, but this passage I typed from memory, unlike most that I post. Usually I go to Biblegateway.com and copy and paste the verse from there.)
Furthermore, when I went on Facebook, one of my friends posted as his verse of the day the verse that immediately preceded it: (this one I will copy and paste from Biblegateway.com) "When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;" James 1:13, New International Version. (This one I did look up.)
Often when I have experiences like this where I come across one Biblical truth from one source, and then shortly after hear the same thing again from a different source (or something similar), it's a clear signal that that's Jesus was and is trying to get my attention.
Not many verses are written in my heart where I know it verbatim (or close to it) plus book, chapter number, and verse number. There are many where I can approximate the gist of the passage and then a vague reference like "it's in the Gospels somewhere", or "it's in Psalms somewhere", etc. The origins of this section of the book of James (James 1:12-18) came from a time basically a decade ago when my own obsessive desires were affecting my life to the point that they were beyond unmanageable. Specifically, I had a friend who was the object of said desires who I visited (she lives in a different part of the country from me), and in my time there I experienced a lot of fear, anxiety, and pain. In the end it was clear that, as a key early step in God's restoration project that was my mind and heart, she needed to be removed from my life. The passage from James 1:12-18, specifically about temptation, about the fact that our own desires can and often do lead us into sin, and if we take it far enough, to spiritual death, spoke directly to that. It hurt. A lot, I might add. But it was also an opportunity for Biblical truth to be rubber-stamped in my being.
As a side note, the other verse that was stamped into my being at the same time was Romans 5: "not only so, but we rejoice in our sufferings, for suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. And this hope is not in vain, for God poured out His love in us. And while we were still His enemies, He sent Jesus to die for us. You may or may not die for even a good person, although you might if that person was especially good. But Jesus died for us while we were still sinners."
I'm pretty sure that isn't verbatim. But it's close. Because I don't want to misrepresent the Bible in any way, below is the exact passage:
Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:3-8, NIVKinda-sorta. It has been a while since I last came across this verse. I'm glad I posted the correct version. But even with my so-so-at-best take on it, you can see how certain seasons when certain verses are used for my growth, I'll remember the at least the important parts.
The story continues. Even since last night, I've had two interactions, one last night and one this morning that I'm bookmarking and keeping my eye on. Potential signs that may or may not answer the "now what?" question that often accompanies periods of temptation and confusion.
No comments:
Post a Comment