When the Israelites entered the Promised Land, the first thing they did was have to march around the walls of Jericho for days to knock it down. It's too bad they couldn't have setup camp and celebrated first. No, they went straight into battle, and continued for a long time to claim this land they finally arrived in.
On top of that, nothing in this life is perfect. No person, no job, no place, no circumstance. Duly noted. And actually it's a GOOD thing that none of those things are perfect because then we would be tempted to put our peace and trust in that instead of God. Even still we let the good things become idols sometimes, or distract us or use them to try to satisfy us. So even if something was pretty close to perfect, that would be a bad thing because we might rely too heavily upon it. The only perfect thing is God.
"He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end." - Ecclesiastes 3:11. So of course we have this desire for things to always be good, and for something to be as close to perfect as possible. There's always this moment of disappointment that comes when something bad/sad/hard happens in a good thing because you were hoping it just wouldn't happen. Or that maybe your expectations were just too high. Other times it's the enemy trying to bring you down and not appreciate what God did for you, or not allow your joy to infiltrate those around you. Even if the circumstances are good, satan tries to attack at your peace, filling you with fear or anxiety over things that are hypothetical or temporary or meaningless. Or sometimes they actually are important things, but you have to stand your ground and allow God to be what drives your heart and emotions and nothing else.
I have only listened to a few podcast in the car because sometimes I just want to listen to music, sometimes I've stopped podcasts halfway through because I don't like them, etc. But one I listened to this week that I really liked talked about how Jesus got in the boat with the disciples knowing in advance that it was going to storm and that He was going to stop the storm. And then, the second time around, Jesus sent them on in the storm alone, and He walked on water to them. But both times He knew that there would be a storm. It seems like the second time the disciples would have been better at it right? But no, they weren't. There are so many times when God has calmed my storms, and yet when the next one comes up I panic again.
Or when I'm on a metaphorical boat, knowing the destination but it's nowhere in sight, and God's even the one DRIVING the boat... I'm that kid saying, "Are we there yet? Why can't I see the land? Why have we stopped to fish - really? Ew, worms - I don't like this, can you just do it and not me?Can't we just keep going? Can we just GET THERE ALREADY??" "Jesus responded, 'Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!'" (Matthew 8:26) I don't have little faith that He knows where we're going, but moreso on the timing of it. The impatience. The fear of what's between now and then. The years that go by. But I will continue to attack the doubts and fears and lies with the Sword of the Truth. I will continue to combat the impatience and anxiety with continually writing down what I'm thankful for, how He has answered my prayer before, and how He will answer them for my whole life. I will continue to throw off the old self and put on the new.
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