Repeat, Remember, Review

I don't always need something new to learn, I need to apply and live what I already know.

This week has been really full, full of good things and hard things. It's been a lot to take in. I have felt overwhelemed. That's always a signal that I need to step back and examine my thoughts. That led me to re-read a part of my own book. I needed this today.

I needed the repeat. I needed to remember what I'm doing and why. I hope it helps you too.

Excerpt from Steadfast Through Psalms:

I’ve been reading and praying over this story from the life of David found in 1 Chronicles 21. (It’s worth a read for the whole story.) As the chapter begins, David is considering counting the fighting men of Israel, and he is discussing this move with the commander of his armies, Joab.

“Now Satan entered the scene and seduced David into taking a census of Israel.” That’s verse 1 (msg), or as I like to call it, step one.

I find myself echoing Joab’s response the way it’s phrased in The Message:

“Why on earth would you do a thing like this?” (v. 3).

I mean, seriously, David, you are a man after God’s own heart—why would you put your strength in numbers?

David knew better, but he went ahead and shifted his trust from God’s very broad shoulders to his own via his army. David’s shift in confidence from God to numbers left grave consequences for him and for his people.

I find myself in this story. I spend a lot of time counting things that don’t count. Sometimes I count likes on a social media platform, sometimes I count doubts, sometimes I count wrinkles. Whenever I shift my confidence from God to myself, I feel like I need to add up to something. That’s why I start counting, but when I add incorrectly, I end up with the total resting on me, or my efforts, instead of on God. I’ve never been great at math, and a lot of what I’m counting doesn’t add up to anything in eternity.

What we count inevitably becomes what we count on. We need to choose more carefully what we add up or assign value to. Is it what God counts?

How do you find yourself taking inventory in your life?

Are you counting what really counts?

Satan incited David to count things that didn’t count. He wants to distract us from our actual purpose and all God has for us. He will incite us to inventory our lives in such a way that it subtly shifts our dependence from God’s shoulders to our own. This shift always leaves us feeling the weight of trying to define ourselves, and sometimes paying high consequences of anxiety where we could have enjoyed peace.

God doesn’t want us counting on ourselves because He knows it leaves us empty. He just wants us to remember that we are valuable to Him. He counts us as His own. That is the sum of our worth. Nothing else adds up no matter how many times we count it.

I love David's perspective in Psalm 131:

"O Lord, my heart is not lifted up;

my eyes are not raised too high;

I do not occupy myself with things

too great and too marvelous for me.

But I have calmed and quited my soul,

like a weaned child with its mother;

like a weaned child is my soul within me.

O Israel, hope in the Lord

from this time forth and forevermore."

I don’t need to occupy myself with things too great and marvelous for me; I don’t have to worry about numbers or seasons. I just have to keep my trust placed in God.

The Message phrases verses 2–3 in a powerful way:

"I’ve kept my feet on the ground,

 I’ve cultivated a quiet heart.

Like a baby content in its mother’s arms,

 my soul is a baby content.

Wait, Israel, for God. Wait with hope.

 Hope now; hope always!"

Father, help me keep my feet on the ground and cultivate a quiet heart. Show me when I start counting things that don’t add up to Your glory. Help me lay down my attempts to assign value to myself. Keep me content in Your arms as Your child. Let me rest my identity in being Yours. I will wait in hope for You. In Jesus’ name, amen.