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Tuesday, December 10, 2013

DESTROY PRIDE & BE STILL

2 Kings 2 23-25 is a very odd passage of Scripture in terms of its placement. I was reading through 2 Kings and this paragraph didn’t seem to fit the storyline.  It seemed a little “off the cuff” and I even re-read it to make sure I wasn’t missing anything.  After I re-read it, I still did not understand its relevance and once you read it, you might not either.

From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered at him. “Get out of here, baldy!” they said. “Get out of here, baldy!” He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys. And he went on to Mount Carmel and from there returned to Samaria.

Pretty violent story huh? Well the Old Testament is full of violent stories which I am slowly finding out J  Shortly after I read this passage I continued on with my day & it was brought to my attention that I too was being “jeered” at only behind my back. It was not anything major, but internally I got very upset & frustrated. (The NKJV actually uses the word “mocked” instead of “jeered”) I could feel my blood pressure rising although I managed to give the appearance that it didn’t bother me.  Truth is = I was fueling inside!!  Why did this bother me so much? Why was I so upset over this when I know people thrive on gossip & when I know the story was misconstrued!

Have you ever experienced this? Has someone ever made fun of you, or talked down to you, or have you ever had a conversation with someone and you know the minute you walk away they are talking about you?! I’m sure we all have or do experience something like this. It just eats at you and you can’t shake the feeling.
Thankfully, the passage of Scripture that I mentioned above is what came to my mind at that moment. “Ah-ha”  - J  Now it made sense.  You see, when I read the story about 42 boys being killed by bears for simply making fun of Elisha, I thought, “man, that’s kind of harsh”, “poor boys”, but what I failed to do was look at it from the other perspective.  This story demonstrates the lengths God will go to in order to protect those who love Him. It displays His great power that can be utilized in the lives of His children. So instead of letting myself say “poor boys”, I now say “Great God”. God handled Elisha’s battle…even our smallest battles God can handle.  Not only is He able, He WANTS too.  Nowhere in the Bible does He say “You shall fight your own battles and do the best you can and THEN I will step in and take over”.  Instead it says “THE LORD WILL FIGHT FOR YOU, YOU ONLY NEED TO BE STILL” (Exodus 14:14). 
So while I was sitting there absorbing the words I just heard about what occurred behind my back, I re-read this passage & everything clicked. I prayed and asked God to relieve these horrible feelings of retaliation that I had. (In my mind I was already making up what I was going to say when I saw these people). Within a couple of minutes the intense feelings started to subside, and I realized that God was going to take care of things for me. I realized that none of this even mattered.  “Who cares?” I thought. “God knows the truth & that’s all that really matters”. An amazing thing happened during those few minutes. A true peace came over me, and at this very moment, I can laugh at the situation. “How petty” “How petty”. 
 

Another thing I realized was that the main thing that was causing those bad feelings to rise up, was my pride. Yes, I said it, Pride.
 
I didn’t want people to think something bad about me, especially if it wasn’t true! I didn’t want people to develop a false idea of who I am. This was really what was bothering me. It was the root cause of all of my emotions. (Interestingly enough Pride has been something I’ve been battling with anyway & praying about). Hmmm..maybe this was Gods way of helping me overcome it.  Either way, it worked.  Not completely of course because I’m still human, but it helped me learn to take a step back, and let God do what He does best: fight my battles for me & take care of my enemies.

With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles. (2 Chronicles 32:8)

Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord.
(Rom 12:19)

Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
    you preserve my life.
You stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes;
    
with your right hand you save me.
 (Psalm 138:7)

Do not fret because of those who are evil
    or be envious of those who do wrong;
 for like the grass they will soon wither,
    like green plants they will soon die away….

The wicked plot against the righteous
    and gnash their teeth at them;
but the Lord laughs at the wicked,
    
for he knows their day is coming
(Psalm 37: 1,2,13)

Psalm 37 is a great Psalm I encourage you to read! It provides many verses about how God will care for those who are saved & trust in Him & how He will take care of our enemies.

I hope you were encouraged by this blog. God cares about even the smallest things in our lives & I encourage you to keep a couple of these verses handy so you are prepared the next time your pride or character is threatened. Remember, Don’t React....let God Act.
 

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