Wednesday, August 20, 2008

"I'm supergirl, and I'm here to save the world... what I wanna know is who's gonna save me?"

OH MY GOODNESS! Once again, I am SO thankful for my Elizabeth Elliot bible study book. For maybe a year now, I have been struggling with something. It makes me SO frustrated just trying to think about it!

God promises he will save us, and protect us and always be with us, and so on and so on. And still, bad things happen. Today I could die in a car accident - and that would be all good and well, because it's God's plan, and I'D get to be with him! YEAH!

But what about the little things? What about the first day of school? What about having an unbearably hard day at work? God may be with me, but he sure isn't offering much help. At least, not to my small eyes.

I spent weeks crying over this last spring. I wanted to go to AFLBS, and I knew it was what God wanted, but I was going to be ALL ALONE. I knew He for sure wasn't going to keep me from embarrassing myself, from going through hard, difficult, and first-time things. So why in the WORLD would I want to go to something like that, when I can stay at home with my family where it's safe and comfortable?

I just did the study for today, and I'm finally understanding. It sent me to Psalm 106, which talks about how God saved the Israelites from the Egyptians for His name's sake, to make His mighty power known. NOT because he felt bad for the Israelites, or he figured they'd had enough, or he was sick of the Egyptians being mean.

And he won't save me from falling flat on my face a few times because he feels sorry for me, or thinks I need a break. What a revelation!

Even in Psalm 23, something I've read many times, it says "He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake."

Then it sent me to Psalm 143:11, where David asks God to save him. "For your name's sake, O Lord, preserve my life; In your righteousness, bring me out of trouble."

Duh. How did this not click before? God 'rescuing' me has not much to do with how I'm feeling, and everything to do with His Glory!

Last, Elizabeth Elliot asks, "If God guides you for His name's sake, who is glorified whenever your prayers for guidance are answered?"

HELLOOO! That was when I REALLY got it. Now if I can just keep concentrating on this, and remembering it when I get nervous, it should be much easier to transition into life without my family around!
Now my question is, so when exactly does God rescue me, like he says he's going to? Hmm...

2 comments:

Andrew Clarke said...

I can see what you mean here, but at the same time the Word tells us that God loves us and feels our pain, too. Sometimes we have to learn through pain. Still, I believe God knows when we've had enough. Good post. Blessings.

Savannah Nichole said...

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