A thought by
Larry Osborne, (2009-04-04) from his book, Ten Dumb Things Smart Christians Believe (p. 147). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle
Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book)
There are different
valleys that come into our lives and there are different responses to them.
Larry says, “God sent me here valleys always call for
hanging tough. Wiggling out or running away is never a good option. That's a
lesson Jonah learned the hard way when he tried to avoid a dreaded assignment.” In this Larry says, “Never judge the
appropriateness of obedience by the short-term or even lifelong results. Judge
it by eternity.” Keep being obedient no
matter what.
Then he
says, “I messed up valleys call for a
completely different response. They call for a serious change in direction. If
a wrong turn got us there, it usually takes some major retracing of our steps
to get us back where we need to be.” He
says, “Thankfully, most I messed up valleys don't last a lifetime. But they are
almost always impossible to get out of until we do two things: (1) take
personal responsibility, and (2) make some serious changes.”
He goes on, “I've
seen lots of people who were sorry for the mess they created, and wished it was
different, but were still not willing to change the behaviors that got them
into hot water in the first place. The irony is that, for many of them, the
longer they stayed in their self-created valley, the angrier at God they
became, not realizing that I messed up valleys never get better as long as we
blame others (or God) and keep messing up.”
He says, “Fact
is, there are always two ways out of every trial: the enemy's shortcut, which
always involves compromise or disobedience, and the way of escape God promises
to all who walk with him. The enemy's shortcuts usually work well in the short
run. But they never work well in eternity. The Lord's way of escape (a pathway
called faith and obedience) sometimes works well in the short run. But it
always shines bright in the light of eternity.”
So what will
be your response?
Comments
Post a Comment