Serving God in Tedium

"So Moses listed them, just as the LORD had commanded." Leviticus 3:16

Have you ever felt like God asked you to do something unreasonable or tedious? Has there ever been something that seemed illogical or just plain ridiculous? That's what I think of when I read this passage.

God asked Moses to list the names of all the members of the tribe of Levi by their families and their clans. This was a whole lot of people! There were three clans of Levi (descendents of his three sons). In one, there were 7500 males, in the second 8600, and in the third 6200. That's approximately 22,300 people Moses had to write on a list. Just in case you were wondering how many exactly is a whole lot of people.

I wonder why this was so important. I mean, the Levites were a special people. They were called to be priests for the Israelites. But do we really need all their names?

Yet, God saw it as important. So it doesn't really matter how we view this task. He certainly had a purpose for it. It may have been the process. It may have been to acknowledge these people He set apart from the rest of the Israelites.

Then I ask myself, have there been things God called me to do that I didn't see as important, but He obviously had a reason to give that task to me. I'm sure there've been more than I'd like to admit.

At times, I didn't see spending time in His word every day as that important. (I mean REALLY spending time in His word, not just reading a devotional or listening to 20 minutes of preaching while getting ready for the day.) Yet, as I have cultivated this habit, God has taught me more and more about Him, myself, and other people. He has also grown me and drawn me closer and closer to Him.

I also think about how this applies to my relationship with food. As a diabetic, for a couple weeks before I go to the doctor I'm to keep track of everything I eat so we can see what my body's doing and what it needs in the way of insulin. I usually do okay at this, but always miss a few days.

Sometimes, I even decide to do it on my own to keep track of what's going on. However, I never seem to stick with it. It falls by the wayside when other things crop up that seem more important.

How much stick-with-it did Moses need to write down 22,000 names? A whole bunch. If only I could be that faithful.

It's adventurous to follow God. He allows us to be a part of some great things. But sometimes He also calls us to do small, detailed, every once in a while even tedious things. We aren't as excited about these, but just as recording the names of the Levites was equally important as leading the Israelites across the Red Sea, we are to be faithful in everything God gives us.

This can even relate to our health. If keeping track of what we eat helps us to be healthier, then it's worth it. If keeping an exercise log keeps us accountable, it's worth it.

God gave us these bodies to serve Him and sometimes we abuse them without thought. Maybe being more faithful in the small things toward our goal of health will help us be better equipped for serving Him. It may be about the process or it may be about discipline or it may be about the actual record-keeping. Either way, what is God calling you to do today - health related or otherwise - that will take you on the next step to faithfulness?

Healthy and Strong

This is what I'm working on right now. I feel like I've been working on it a long time. Or maybe I'm just working on it again. It's like a roller coaster, this life of trying to eat healthy, be healthy, and lose weight. I'm sure many of you have been on the ride. While I have had ups and downs with my weight, what's more concerning to me is my ups and downs emotionally. Today I'm motivated. Right now I'm motivated. I might not be tomorrow. I might not be even tonight. When I sit down to dinner. Or it's quiet after all the kids go to bed and there's nothing that has to be done at that moment. That's when I want to remain strong. I want to remember my goals. Remember that I CAN DO IT.

I know I can do it. I've done it in the past. So, why am I not able to do it now? How come I haven't been able to do it for the last 5 years?

Because I want to do what I want and live off my emotions, wants, and desires, and still get the results I want. However, I know it doesn't work this way. I can't in my almost 40-year-old body eat like I did when I was a teenager. Metabolism does change (no matter how much we don't want it to) and our bodies change. My head knows this. Yet it hasn't seemed to get the message to my hands and mouth.

Because I want to do what I want to do. And get the results I want.

Maybe I need to tell myself this is a myth every day. Every meal. Every hour. Even though I already know it. I just need to be convinced.

I also need to convince myself that the sacrifices and self-discipline needed to reach my goals are WORTH IT. And I AM WORTH IT. I can improve my life, my health, my energy level if I'll SACRIFICE.

I know it. Now I just need to live it. Will you live it with me?

Stopping the Flow

"the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Aragah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho." Joshua 3:16

Water gives life. The flow of a river is what helps keep it alive and fit for life. The ebb and flow prevents stagnancy and helps measure and keep the rhythm God created. (Have you ever seen a pond that just sits? Gross.)

In this particular passage, we are getting the account of the Israelites FINALLY crossing the Jordan River into the promised land. After 40 years of wondering, complaining, learning about God, they are about to step into what was promised them decades and a generation before. Just as they had escaped Egypt and the Egyptian army via crossing a river on dry ground, God once again challenges the courses of nature He Himself set in motion to bring forth a promise to His people. I wonder why we don't talk about this parting of the waters as much as the first? Is it because walking across a riverbed on dry ground is old hat on the second go round?

Aren't we all like that with God's promises and His greatness? I know I am. I am so unfaithful to the Lord. Perusing the previous devotions for 3:16 I read things that I need to read again. things I fully believed at the moment, but didn't hang on to. Why is that? Why am I so weak? So faithless? So inconsistent?

I know part of the answer is my human sinfulness. However, I am a new person in Christ. The Israelites were God's chosen people. Yet I, like them, often overlook God's miracles and power even when they are right in front of me.

That's why I'm grateful for the opportunity to sit, read, meditate and reflect on passages like this. I blow by them too often, losing the full impact. It is a great reminder of the awesomeness of God. The love of His character. The grace He pours out when the river dries up.

I highly recommend you go back and read the full section of this story - found in Joshua chapters three and four. And that you reflect on and pray over what God is revealing about both Himself and us in these passages. Then let those truths sit in you and change you.

"He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your GOD." Joshua 4:24

Tracy

Boundaries - Ach!

But I also gave part of Gilead to the tribes of Reuben and Gad. The area I gave them extended from the middle of the Arnon Gorge in the south to the Jabbok River on the Ammonite frontier. Deuteronomy 3:16 

The above verse is found where the Israelites are getting ready to finally leave the dessert (after 40 years of wandering) and cross the Jordan River into the Promised Land. The Israelites had conquered land where they were and Moses divided the lands they’d taken between some of the tribes. The boundaries were clear and detailed. And they had a purpose.

While this might seem as far as we can get from food and eating issues, the truth is boundaries are talked about consistently throughout scripture and we can learn from them, even when they’re talking about land.

God always gives us boundaries for our good and His glory.

In the case of the Israelites, God gave them boundaries so each of the tribes would have their own space and be able to live freely to worship Him and be able to grow and prosper.

In the case of putting boundaries around our eating, we have the opportunity to live free of negative consequences of bad eating and be blessed with energy and strength to grow and prosper – emotionally, spiritually, and mentally.

I was talking to a friend yesterday about a time when I could eat anything I wanted and was losing weight. That’s really what my flesh wants – to have what I want when I want and still look how I want. The problem was what was happening on the inside during this time. My pancreas had shut down and while I might have looked good, by body wasn’t able to use what I was giving it and was slowly being destroyed. That is not worth being the size I’d prefer to be.

Once we figured out what was going on and I was put on insulin, I gained weight and had to put some fairly strict boundaries around my eating, but I felt a world better!

Our health is never a sacrifice worth making. The costs to every area of our lives are too high.

But that knowledge doesn’t always make staying within our boundaries easy. That’s because boundaries aren’t easy. They are difficult, just as most things with a reward are. Sticking with a diet can work for a while, but we generally have a “short-term sacrifice” mindset. This will only give up short-term results.

A lifetime of appropriate boundaries is the only thing that will give us lifetime results.

What boundaries do you need in eating? Have you prayed about it? Have you asked the Holy Spirit to heal the parts of you that turn to food instead of Him for comfort, rejuvenation, relaxation, and/or fulfillment? Have you asked God for strength to live within your boundaries so you have the physical wherewithal to live abundantly for Him?

These are decisions and prayers that would benefit us, and sometimes are necessary every day. I’m not sure how often I’ve made a commitment to do better, to live better, to be successful this time. Usually in my own strength. But today (and maybe tomorrow, and the next day and the next) I’m asking for God-centered boundaries and God-infused strength on this food journey. Won’t you join me?

The Key to Better Choices

So Moses registered them in obedience to the LORD as he had been commanded. Numbers 3:16

I would love to be obedient to God all the time. I mean, my spirit would. My flesh, on the other hand, usually wants to go its own way.

And all too often I give in to my flesh.

Chores waiting to be done around the house? I too often choose to chill out, relax, and/or play.

Work needing to be done? I frequently put it off until the last minute.

Quiet time with God? If I can actually drag myself out of bed in time, I will.

Eating what’s healthy and nutritious? Maybe. Sometimes. But so many other foods attract my attention.

I wonder, do some people just have what it takes to be obedient? To make the right choice most of the time?

But then I remember, there are times when I’m able to exercise self-control and my spirit (or The Spirit) overrules my flesh and I am obedient.

So why am I not all the time?

Because it’s easier to do what feels good, is effortless, or more fun. In other words, I often trade off the long-term reward for the short-term payoff.

But I don’t have to. And neither do you.

There’s no magic to it, no trick to make better choices. It’s just a matter of determining to do so and then acting on that decision one choice at a time.

Burning Fat

Then the priest will burn the food on the altar, as a fire offering for a pleasing aroma. “All fat belongs to the LORD….” Leviticus 3:16

         

Oh, my goodness. Did you read that last line? In case you missed it, let me write it again:

“All fat belongs to the Lord.”

The next verse is even more interesting: “This is a permanent stature throughout your generations, wherever you live: you must not eat any fat or any blood.”

First, I’d like to say that I know that we are not bound to the law of the Old Testament. Jesus came to fulfill the law and show us the full light, of which the Old Testament was a shadow presentation for God’s people. However, I don’t believe God ever set arbitrary boundaries. People do, but God has a reason for everything He’s ever told us to do or not do.

Now, that doesn’t mean this verse doesn’t make me cringe. Almost hurt, actually. Because honestly, the little bit of fat on a steak or rib or in a hamburger makes it better. Juicy, moist, and absolutely delicious. But, should I reevaluate how important fat might be?

I’m not even getting into other fats – butter, oils, avocadoes, etc. I’m just talking about the fat from meat. After all, that’s the only fat these verses are talking about.

I am not an Old Testament expert, or a Jewish heritage expert. Nor do I think we need to allow ourselves to look at verses like this and slip into legalism.

But I strive to know God and understand His Word. And I wonder what would happen if we were willing to offer all fat to the Lord as an offering.

And not just the fat in our eating. But the fat in our lives. You know, those excess things that distract us, weigh us down, and are unhealthy. The fat of guilt, the fat of wasting time, the fat of hurt, the fat of regrets, the fat of toxic relationships. What would happen if we burnt those things as an offering to the Lord? Truly giving it up permanently.

Because when it’s burned, we can’t pick it up again. We can’t gravitate towards that item again, pulling us away from being fully devoted to the Lord.

I wonder, what fat would He want me to lay on the alter as a burnt offering? Hopefully I won’t forget the question before I can carve out some quite time to seek His will here. Because I’m sure when I do, it will be a pleasing aroma to Him and I will be able to draw closer to Him and fill up to overflowing with His perfect gifts and blessings.

Tracy Wainwright

One Destination, Multiple Journeys

“This Jesus is: the stone rejected by you builders, which has become the cornerstone. There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people, and we must be saved by it.” Acts 4:11-12

While there are many who would argue this point, scripture is very clear that there is only one path, one way to arrive at the final destination of spending eternity in heaven with God: repentance from our sin and faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior. That’s it. There are no b, c, or d options.

However, the journey on that path looks very different for people. For one it may be a life steeped in sin for decades before coming to Christ. For another it may begin in childhood and consist of fairly consistent growth and obedience. Yet someone else may struggle with faith, and/or have periods of great growth and other times that seem more dormant.

For one person, God may call them to leave everything known and comfortable and live a life on a foreign mission field. Some are called to be pastors, teachers, worship leaders, children’s ministry directors, youth leaders, or women’s ministry chairs. Others are called to speak, write, start ministries, support ministries, own businesses, be faithful employees, or stay at home full time. The goal, though, is the same – a life submitted to Christ while waiting on the promise.

But the journeys can look very different.

The same is true for the journey to good health. For one, they may feel led to run, join a dance class, buy a bike, attend water aerobics, or use a storehouse of exercise videos. We’re not all called to run a marathon. (Thank goodness!) Someone may feel led to cut out sugar or all carbs, while another’s goal may be to eliminate anything not organic, processed foods, or meats. The journey to health could be the one of Paleo, Maker’s, Trim Healthy Mama, Weight Watchers, vegan, vegetarian, or any other assortment of healthy eating options available.

It’s between you and God what your journey looks like. And it’s between everyone else and God what their journey looks like.

Just because something works for you doesn’t mean it’s the way everyone else should do it.

We have to remember, in this journey of all-out pursuit of God and striving to live healthier, there are many variations in how that looks. And each person deserves respect on theirs.

No one should ever walk away from a healthy lifestyle conversation feeling bombarded, criticized, or condemned for their choices. The goals should always be to share, encourage, and uplift.

We should all be careful of this. I’m sure we’re all guilty, even me. We love to share what works for us or information we’ve attained that we feel like everyone should know. But, we want to do so in loving ways, recognizing that another may not feel led to make those same choices.

Notice I didn’t say convicted to make the same choices. Because, in most instances, we’re not talking about sin here. We’re talking about good, better, and best choices. Food only becomes a sin when we idolize it above God. It in itself, I do not believe, is sinful. Even if it’s packed with fat, sugar, and artificially produced items. (And yes, I know there are some who’d argue with me on this point.)

So, as you continue on your journey, I hope you will join with others with a mind of sensitivity, gentleness, and a heart full of praise for the Lord.