Re-Aligning With Truth
Now the Lord is not slow about enacting His promise—slow is how some people want to characterize it—no, He is not slow but patient and merciful to you, not wanting anyone to be destroyed, but wanting everyone to turn away from following his own path and to turn toward God’s. 2 Peter 3:9
I have often felt that God is slow. So very very slow. I have said it out loud countless times… especially recently. Then this verse was flung at me on Pinterest this last week and I was stunned that I had forgotten it. I am the ‘some people’ from this verse who want to characterize God as slow. BUT this verse clearly says, ‘NO!’ to my way of thinking… So what do I do with that?
In the past, I would have just rationalized my way through it. Talked circles around it, looked up other verses that maybe say something more in line with what I would prefer. I also might have tried just to ignore it and place it far away in the back closet of my mind and tried to forget it. I definitely would have ruminated on my feelings and commiserated with others about it. All so I wouldn’t have to deal with it. But to be honest, for me, those were just my ways of NOT wanting to deal with a particular truth…
If you are struggling with a particularly hard truth… that is tugging deeper in your soul… then there are more steps that can be helpful in addition to what I am sharing here. I’ll share them in a later post. But this truth that I am faced with isn’t particularly deep for me at this moment… It's just me confronted with a straightforward truth staring me right in the face that I have forgotten and mislaid. So the Lord is reminding me to align myself with the truth, because I have gotten misaligned.
Getting re-aligned with the truth is pretty simple. It takes recognition, a little courage, and some straight-up honesty. In my case, the first step was recognizing that I have been declaring out loud the very opposite of what this verse declares as true. The truth stunned me and literally stopped me in my tracks this week. I need to own my misstep, because by believing the opposite of the truth means I was believing and declaring a lie about who God says He is. That very simply equals sin.
If your sin is easy to own… like mine was in this case… then the next step will also come pretty easily. Confession, then is what’s next, right out of 1 John 1: 6-10 (The Voice)
“If we say we have an intimate connection with the Father but we continue stumbling around in darkness, then we are lying because we do not live according to truth. If we walk step by step in the light, where the Father is, then we are ultimately connected to each other through the sacrifice of Jesus His Son. His blood purifies us from all our sins. If we go around bragging, “We have no sin,” then we are fooling ourselves and are strangers to the truth. But if we own up to our sins, God shows that He is faithful and just by forgiving us of our sins and purifying us from the pollution of all the bad things we have done. If we say, “We have not sinned,” then we depict God as a liar and show that we have not let His word find its way into our hearts.”
Confession is a beautiful gift. We get to unburden ourselves of what is weighing us down and keeping us disconnected from God and others. The Lord gladly takes it! Don’t let pride, or over thinking, or self-flagellation get in your way… none of that will help you! So, in my case, I very simply told God regarding my false accusation that He is slow, “God, I am sorry I called you slow, when Your Word clearly declares that you are not slow!!” This uproots the weed (lie) I allowed to be planted in my soul.
The next step is repentance, this is the turning away from sin and turning back to God. “God, I don't want to believe this lie anymore, I want to believe the truth… teach me to rest in what is true so that I might bring you glory, and teach others what is true!” This throws the weed out of the garden of my heart, hopefully never to grow again.
Then the last step the Lord taught me a few years ago, is to pray in the truth. “God, remind my heart that You are not slow, but that you are actually patient and merciful to me, and that I need to turn away from my own path - my own way of thinking - and turn towards Your way of thinking! Please Lord, by the power of Your Spirit, root this truth deep within me.” This last part is so valuable because it plants a new seed of truth in my soul, taking the place the weed once occupied, and then I pray or water into place that truth by the power of the Spirit.
I don’t usually like things with steps. But every now and again (especially when directed by the Lord) some step-by-step methods can be beneficial! This has served me and many people I counsel well! It creates a fresh ground for new truth to be planted and then watered… but don’t stop there!… It needs regular watering as you read, reread, repeat, remember, memorize, speak aloud, and share with others many times over before it will flourish within you. Also don’t forget the ‘walking-out’ part of repentance, which means walking in obedience the truth that God has called you to live in.
So try it out. It may seem forced at first, but eventually it flows out of you naturally. And your heart will be grateful and refreshed from the cleansing that comes from God and the truth of His Word. So don’t wait, try it, and if you find you have more weeds than you know what to do with, then ask for help. I am here to help.