Bad Decisions and Bad People

Note: This post will refer to Psalm 139.  I just did a check I have written about that passage quite a bit.  There is a reason for that.  Psalm 139 is key, in my estimation, for our survival through hard times and the hard people that tend to accompany those difficulties.  I skimmed through what I have written before, there will be a list of posts that expand or support this one at the end.

Are there things that you have done or that have happened in your life about which you are ashamed or wish you could change?  Are there people in your life that, if you had a magic wand, they wouldn’t be?

I had back to back conversations today that reminded me that, though I do not like it very much, God uses my bad decisions and people of which I am less than fond for his purposes in my life.  David wrote about this.

Look at Psalm 139:1 – 6, focus on verse 3.  God scrutinizes my path and lying down.  He analyzes our path as closely as a civil engineer would use a nested sieve to analyze aggregate in a concrete mix.  He knows all of our bad decisions before we make them.  He knows all of the “bad” people with which we will need to deal.  In fact He uses those bad decisions and bad people to form us for His purposes.  Remember Romans 8:28 and David and Bathsheba.  Not David’s finest hour.  But from his failure, Psalm 51.

We can either brood and regret the bad decisions or do the 1 John 1:9 thing and confess them and be cleansed.  Then we might ask the Lord to help us learn from those mistakes.

The bad people?  The fact that they are in our life did not sneak up on God.  He knew.  He put them there.  Intentionally.  He did that to prepare us for His purposes.  Might want to ask Him why.  Might want to pray for those whom He has intentionally placed in our life.

The list I promised:

• Examined
• Press On
• Dealing with the Uncertain
• Personal Trainer
• Rough Patches
• Release  
• The Real Trainer  
• Frustrated with the Limits
• Angry with God

Strength in Numbers

Each week I am involved in 4 Bible studies in three different books, Mark, Jeremiah, and Daniel.  The studies have a total of 20 men in them.  Each one of those men has been gifted by the Holy Spirit.  Each of their gifts differ.  Each of those men have had different experiences in their walk with God.  Each of those men bring that gifting and experience to the study.

So when we come to a passage together, each of us benefits from the other’s gifts and experience.

That happened again this morning.  In Daniel 2 one of the men noted that there was similarity between Denial's prayer in 20 -23 and “the Lord’s prayer” (Matthew 6:9 – 13; Luke 11:2 – 4).

I did not catch that.

That is why we need each other.  We need each other’s gifts and experiences as we dig into God’s Word together.

Familiarity Breeds…

…complacency.  Especially when one is dealing with familiar passages of Scripture.  You are reading along and come to a passage or story you know really well and you kind of go into auto pilot.  Next thing you know you are in the next section or chapter of the book.  You essentially fast forwarded through that really familiar passage.

I have done that.  You probably have too.

Not a good idea.

Assuming Hebrews 4:12 – 13 is true, and that John 16:13 is as well, the Word should be new to us each time we come to a passage, no matter how well we know the passage.

Today I was in Daniel 3.  It is a story I can tell without reference to the text.  I found myself doing just what I said, skimming, fast forwarding through the text.  I realized what was going on and stopped.  I asked God to slow me down to do a Psalm 119:18 on me…  He did.  I saw a couple of things that I had not ever seen or thought of before.

We are always in a hurry.  We have things to do, places to be, and people to see.  Epically important things, places, and people.  Hurrying through our time in the Word does not serve us well.

We need to slow down.  If you need help slowing down, click here.