Pathetic excuses, hard hearts, and compromise

Bear with me, I'm waxing eloquent today...

Pathetic Excuses
God doesn't accept our pathetic excuses. When He says, "I need you to do this", no reason in the world why you canNOT is good enough. Moses had some pretty good excuses, and he uses the same one over and over again..."I have feeble lips". It took a while for Moses to realize that God was more interested in his availability than his ability. Besides that, God provided Moses with everything he needed for his challenge; God didn't expect Him to do it in his own strength. My personal lesson is that God can't really use me until I get my eyes off myself and lose all the excuses, even if they seem valid. And my timetable is different than His. I may think "This would be the perfect time for God to use me here", when, in fact, God often calls me when I'm unprepared. This really has been the story of my life. I was going to finish law school by age 20 or so. But that wasn't to be. Instead I had to quit that program and finished the paralegal program instead. I was unprepared to meet and fall in love with my husband, but it was perfect timing with God (and of course, I eventually didn't mind either ;P). Didn't plan on having a troubled pregnancy with Brilla, almost losing her. But God brought us through that and now we have a beautiful toddler. I didn't plan on having a kids Bible club at my house on Monday nights, but His Holy Spirit kept knocking on our hearts until we did. I thought the best time for me to have students was last year when I was ready and willing. But did they come despite all my craigslist posts and telephone-pole-signs? No. Instead, God has brought several all at once right around the time of Amelia's stillbirth. Is God's timing twistedly off? No. I believe I don't have to know all at once what God's plan is, I just have to hang in there for the ride with His strong right arm upholding me all the way. One thing for sure, in all of God's unexpected plans, amidst the pain at times, He's given joy with no sorrow added to it. Someday in hindsight at heaven's gate I will know why. "Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."

Hard hearts
Every person is born with a hard heart, God is in the business of softening them. We don't just wake up one day and think "I'd like a soft heart today". It just doesn't come naturally. We are selfish beings at the core. There are actions we can take and decisions that we make which result in our heart softening, but the end result is truly the work of the Holy Spirit. We can't come up with the beautiful work of God in our lives on our own. I've decided that I want to be a woman that asks God to soften my heart, make my heart willing to accept His commands. If you could see my heart, oftentimes the view isn't pretty. The word "harden" in Hebrew means to twist, like twisting a rope or squeezing a sponge. When God hardened Pharaoh's heart, He was just squeezing out what was already in there. As we see, it was full of pride and selfishness. I thought, "How could Pharaoh be so stubborn?", but I was reminded that Pharaoh was a thoroughly modern man...blatantly disobedient, bargaining with God, insincere, and convicted without commitment. Remind us of anyone? Yeah, maybe ourselves. Oh God, soften our hearts!

Compromise
Satan wants to get at us through the cracks. He knows right where our weaknesses are. One of those is compromise. He has been a liar from the beginning, always giving truth with a little error mixed in. Or vice versa. He'd really like you to quit the Christian life. It's so restricting, ya know? But since he can't get us to quit, the next best thing he'll settle with is for us to compromise. Sometimes it's obvious, but usually it's sneaky. One of the ways is he wants us to be borderline Christians. Worldly Christians. One foot doing God's way and one foot doing what the world wants. But God wants total access to our lives. You know how our microwaves are often the last thing we think about cleaning? Well, He even wants our microwaves. Another lie Satan speaks to us is to not force our beliefs on others. Or to let our kids believe and do what they want, then when they get old enough, they can decided for themselves what they want. Hello? God has given us our children for a reason, to train them in the way they should go. If they have their way and do what they feel all the time, they will grow up to be adults doing just that...doing everything their way, not God's. It's not our fault if they choose to rebel, but it's our fault if we don't be their guideposts in His ways.

I promise, only a bit more.

Another of Satan's lies to us is to hold back: You can commit almost everything to God, but don't be a sellout; have a fall-back plan if things don't work out. The truth is that we walk by faith and not by sight. Often when following God, there are bumps and even ditches on our journey. But all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. No earthly scheme could hold a candle to the amazing finish God has in store. Don't substitute your short-term plan for God's eternal blessing. Be an all out woman or man of faith in God!

I'ved shared with you everything I've been learning in my study of God's word this week. It has been an awesome lesson. I just can't hold His truths inside...hopefully you gleaned something from it like I have :)