Tale of Three Kings...Day 2

You know how the Lord says "confess your sins one to another"? He says that, because it no longer gives Satan a stronghold in that area and the change can begin. Well, don't worry I'm not about to air all my dirty laundry here! But this whole grumbling thing is about much more than a bad habit. It's sin. Ugggghhhh! I hate that. Some of us perfectionistic types just hate being confronted with our imperfections. We know they are there, but having them pointed out just ruffles our feathers - at least that's me. Nonetheless, it is good & necessary for us to face our "demons" if we are going to ever amount to anything resembling Christ.

So, here's the first line in Chapter 6, "What do you do when someone throws a spear at you?" You may want to pick it up and throw it right back, if you are anything like me. At least at some point in your life you have been the receiver of someone else's "spears", whether it's by a co-worker, boss, parent, spouse, child or stranger that nearly runs you off the road because they didn't bother to look to see if you were there (yeah, that one bugs me, but I guess that's unintentional spear-throwing). As I said in my last post, this book focuses on brokenness. King David was anointed to be the future king of Israel by Samuel and yet he spent the next 10+ years being chased by a mad man (Saul) whose only goal was to see to it that David never became king. If you have read The Dream Giver, you would probably say that Saul was a big border bully. (If you haven't read it, it's really good too!) With all that Saul did to David, David never attempted to put Saul in his place. Even when he had the opportunity to take his life, he walked away....because he realized that Saul was God's anointed. He was doing a lousy job as King, but he was still God's anointed and it wasn't David's place to remove him. That speaks volumes to me! It's possible and very likely that the people God places in our lives that challenge us and the trials we go through, big and small, are God's "anointed". Even a spouse can be the one anointed to refine you! Opposites attract right? Well they can also challenge! That's not to say that every challenging circumstance isn't one to be considered for a change (not talking about spouses here), but that I ought not to be so quick to grumble, and I need to be especially careful not to overstep my bounds regarding someone else's authority. Because in the end, it's not about them and the job they are doing, but it's about me and what God is doing to refine me. I need to let God be God in their lives and mine.