This is the next entry in the series of quiet times from the Birmingham, England, church. This installment continues the theme of greed vs contentment.
1. GREED vs. CONTENTMENT V
PROVERBS 23:4, PROVERBS 14:30
I knew a faithful disciple once who was the personification of Prov 23:4: trapped by a tough life situation, as a young single woman she had the exclusive responsibility of raising a teenage sibling. She worked long hours at a financial brokerage, aiming for the 6-figure income and standard of living she believed she was destined for. She wound up so frustrated and depressed she attempted suicide. In her case, for that moment in time, God had not allowed her to become a rich woman.
- Make a list of 5 things that are most important to you in your life. (if you want to see my list, after you make yours, it’s at the bottom of the page)*
- Is there any one of these top 5 that you need to focus on more? Pray about it and make a decision to take a baby step in the right direction in that area today. (I went to the flylady.net website — many of you are familiar with it — and saved it to my bookmarks bar on my computer so I can open it more easily and prayerfully get in the habit of looking at it more regularly for some helpful time management ideas!)
- Identify one thing I do — or make a list if several immediately come to mind — that distract(s) me from the top 5 (could be watching TV, Facebook — for me it’s a lack of discipline, spending too much time on one “good” thing when I should have already moved on and be focusing on something else). Pray about this and make a decision to resist this distraction today!
2. GREED vs. CONTENTMENT VI
HABBAKKUK CHAPTER 2, especially 2:4 -6, 9
- What comes to mind when you examine your heart for “desires that are not upright?” How about “arrogant, and never at rest?” Do I “pile up stolen goods?” (My heart convicts me about wanting to steal time from God to do the things I want to do: cutting short my time with God to answer e mail or clean the house; having a hard time stopping my charging through my list of “to-do’s” when it’s bedtime and I know what my body really needs is rest.)
- How are my spiritual financial priorities and financial self-discipline at the moment? Am I giving sacrificially to God’s church? Am I content with my pay (Luke 3:14) or am I paying overdraft charges and seeing credit card debt grow? (if you are worried about this PLEASE GET HELP immediately! )
I heard a great proverb from one of our African brothers this week: a rough paraphrase would be, “cut your garment from the cloth you have.” In other words, I need to accept my limits (the cloth I have in my hand, the time available to me, the money in my bank account) and not be rebellious toward God by trying to do something more than God has allowed me to at the moment because of my own lack of faith or selfish ambition.
3. EXHAUSTED or ENERGISED
HABBAKKUK 2:13; DANIEL 8:27; LUKE 22:45
When I hit the age of about 45, God started sending me signals, through the amazing design of this human body I live in, about my spiritual life (which I stupidly ignored and was unable to read for a while): extreme tiredness and exhaustion was one of them.
These verses talk about 3 different situations when a person or people were exhausted, for different reasons.
- What are they? (writing notes or answering questions really helps learn the word of God and understand what God is trying to say to us. Even just copying out scriptures word for word is a way of silently meditating on the Word which will help us grow in faith and intimacy with God)
- Write: What usually exhausts me? Sometimes there is very good reason for us to be exhausted — sorrow, for example.
- Pray through Psalm 23. May our cup overflow with His love and grace, His protection and direction, no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in today.
4. JOY
PSALM 119:14; 16; 24.
- What brings the psalmist joy? I’m working on joy and contentment this year (can you tell?!)
- Your statutes are my delight. Is this true for me? (A statute is a law or decree made by God. The word decree is from the Latin “decretum” or “something decided” ** — I think about things God decided that affect my life: when and where I was born; all the quirks of my genetic makeup; my age right now; etc)
- If I can’t say, today, honestly, “Your statutes, God, are my delight!”, then write down what I’m feeling as I read that.***
GENESIS 4:1-7
- Did God say there was no time for Cain to have a second chance to make things right? What does God say in v.7? Did Cain listen? What did he choose to do? (see v.8)
- What sin is crouching at my door, desiring to have me?
- What “right thing” should I do today, to ensure I will master it? (My decision: to focus on learning God’s statutes better and meditating on his statues, decrees, limits in my life. I want to give my whole self to learning how to delight in them. I want to make God’s decrees, laws, limits, my counselors, listening to them gratefully instead of rebelling against them. This requires a bit more time in God’s word and deeper study and more time for prayer. )
5. RIGHTEOUS DESIRE
PROVERBS 10:28; 10:2; 10:24
- Write down the prospects that the righteous have, to look forward to.
- What are some things I dread?
- Make a list of the righteous desires of my heart. Is there anything I can do today to focus more on these righteous desires than on the things I dread?
- Pray through all of this.
* Here’s my top 5 list of things most important to me: relationship with God; with husband; with children; acquiring and practicing more time management skills so I can fit in all the things that are important to me that don’t fit in my top 5; deepening and growing in friendships on all different levels
** New Oxford American Dictionary
*** I wrote: I guess I don’t belong, God. There’s something wrong with me. I feel hurt, pushed away.
