** this blog didn’t turn out how i thought it would but it turned out to be just what i needed to hear lol funny how that happens.**
So I read this verse today “But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.” 2 thess 3:3. I focused on the protect you part most when i read this verse and the fist thing that popped into my head is ” Well ya but you first have to listen to what he is telling you to be protected.” I cant count the amount of times i have found myself in a situation that i could have avoided all together if i just would have listened.
My relationship with God is one where most of the time i think of him as father. That parent who wants the best for you, does what they can to protect you, hurts when you hurt, but also stern when you make a mistake, but always loving and always forgiving. In true parent child relationship i am the rebellious child. I know God has the absolute best in store for me and i know there are consequences when i do wrong buuuut i do them anyways and deal with the pain and regret (total side note does anyone else thing of that snikers commercial whenever the see or hear the word “regret” lol) later. In that moment or moments however long you stay in rebellion your “happy” or so you think you are. But the happiness that we feel is temporary because rebellion isn’t in Gods plan. But he is a patient and loving God and he will wait for you to realize you messed up and he will be there to listen to all the sadness and watch and hurt as you cry yourself to sleep at night. The thing with all of this is it is all avoidable the pain the sadness all of it we are protected if we just listen when God says “don’t do it”. I find myself sitting here thinking of all the pain i could have avoided if i would have just listened and stopped trying to be happy and content with things that God never meant me to be happy and content with.
When we go after the things that we want, the things that we think are best of us, we are settling, we are falling into complacency. I find it easiest to compare this to relationships, the thing most of us want more than anything is a spouse someone that is all ours and no one else. We meet these people out and about and we start to get those cute little butterflies and they are so sweet and just perfect and you are taking time to thank God for that person, but did you stop to ask God if that was THE person. Probably not, because we get so caught up in those good feelings that we don’t realize Satan can come in the form of something you want. Matter of fact that is the case most of the time. Satan comes in the form of this things you want most the things you desire and he wraps them up in these pretty packages and sets them in front of you just waiting for you to deny God and chase after your own wants a desires and give into flesh. Then we do and by the time we realize this is not THE person we are so far in that it hurts like hell to walk away from that person. And all of it could have been avoided if we would have just stopped and asked God what he wanted for us. Now this is just the most basic example and just something i think that people can relate to. But it can go for anything in our lives. What we want the things the flesh desire are SO basic, they are the surface of things. What God wants to give us is so much more than we could ever hope for. But we have to stop and listen and let him protect us!
I heard a sermon one time that hit me like a bag of bricks. So you know the verse seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you. (i am paraphrasing and i think its in Matthew but i’m not 100 on that) Now what you have to think about is if you are seeking God and his will and his way, his wants become your wants, his dreams become your dreams your heart aligns with his heart and everything changes. This legit hit me like made me take a step back and look at the things that i want and made me think about the things i am truly running after and listening to. Am i taking the time to let God protect me or an i running around like chicken with my head cut off looking for that next temporary happiness?
Let God protect you, let him be the parent! We have no idea what the future hold but i promise we would probably be a lot happier and avoid a lot of tears if we just took a min to listen to the one who knows whats coming and knows the path that leads to happiness.
