Have you ever had a moment or season in your life where you took such a heavy blow that the pain made you feel like you were just existing? You were tired and lacked the strength to be passionate about the things that were once important to you. You’re just here. I have and I think it’s pretty normal to hit this place in life sometimes.
The first thing we should do when we hit this place is to release ourselves from the shame and guilt for feeling this way. Sometimes, we place false burdens on ourselves as if we have to always feel like we’ve got it all together. However, it’s okay to realize we don’t, we’re weak, and desperately need to depend on God trusting him daily through especially tough places such as this. Below are a few things that we can do to help us get through the tough place of being simply tired and feeling as though we just exist.
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Talk to other Believers
Recently, I’d been praying a secret prayer to the Lord asking him to add something to my life that would make me appreciate where I am. Sometimes, we can hit such heavy pain that we do not appreciate the gems that we receive in going through the pain that God allows. We simply want it to stop. Heaven at that point seems like the best idea. We ask God why am I here? I’d rather be in heaven or not to have been born as Job prayed when he went through a hard time. But then, we talk to other believers who are going through the same things. We begin to hear their testimonies and it enlivens our spirit. We begin to wake up and realize there is more to life than our suffering and pain. This adds a little more strength to keep moving forward through the hard place of simply existing.​Over-saturate Yourself in the Word of God
This is super easy for us to do nowadays. We can turn on YouTube and find teaching for free on any subject. We can listen to the Bible on our phones, watch on television or pick up a handy devotional. When we’re in the place of just existing through our in; its hard to study the Word or find the strength to muster knowing what to read in the Bible. In those moments, technology comes in handy.

Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:8-9

Don’t Stop Seeking the Lord
Of course, the question is always lingering, “Lord do you see? Or what will the Lord make of all of this pain in my life?” There is that wonder of locating the Lord to hear what he will say or do. God always shows up in the hard places in life. However, its easy to place God on the back burner through the despondency of dealing with the present hurt at hand. We wonder if we can go on. We wonder if we’ll ever be as strong in our faith as we once were. God sees and begins to give us more grace and more strength. This adds strength to our faith and answers our hidden questions of whether its all been worth it to walk with the Lord and still go through such pain. We remember that this is simply a part of life that God has already given us the victory over. His strength is what pulls us through each trial and test and we grow in faith and in our seek for God. Allow your trust in the Lord to continue to grow through the circumstance knowing that God knows exactly where you are and his grace is enough for you.

​But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold Job 23:10

Wait on God
God knows how challenging it is to face a feeling of hopelessly existing through hard circumstance and pain. That is why he promises over and over again to show up for the humble, broken, and weak. It creates an expectation within us to be reverent of God being here with us and in our circumstance with us. God shows up providing affirmation, stability, security, and peace. We can expect these things from God’s presence. God shows up with strength for those who wait on him.

Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD! – Psalms 27:14

Count Your Blessings
​When we are in a cold hard reality, it’s hard to count our blessings. If its too hard to thank God for one area in your life; begin to thank him for another area of your life. Eventually, the hard place will become easier when we’ve begun counting our blessings. It helps us to find contentment, joy, and resolve as we walk out our journey with the Lord.

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kind. James 1:2-4

Keep Moving
Pain, hardship, and depression can all be immobilizing. They make us feel like giving up. That’s okay to feel like giving up, but we have to keep moving forward to see what the end is going to be. The hardship, pain, depression, or grief is not the end. It’s simply a hard place on our journey, but our journeys always get better if we stick it out to see how things will shift. I’ve been in a hard place lately, but God himself shines his light on my situation at times just to let me know He’s still there with me, and better is coming. Embracing our weakness, and our need for God is what gives us the strength to keep moving forward because God sends his grace at that point.

For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favor is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. – Psalms 30:5

When God starts to take things away; he is teaching us to trust him more. Pay attention, and submit to him, and then expect the miraculous. This is what stood out to me in my recent Bible reading time. I’ve been reading about Gideon, who I am excited to read about. I honestly don’t recall reading up on him much in the past. It’s always more exciting to get into an unfamiliar part of the Word of God for myself because I get so excited about what God will show me.

Anyhow, Gideon had been in conversation with the Lord. That is how he ended up at a place where God was going to deliver the Midianites into Gideon’s hand, but Gideon had too many men for God to do so. God told Gideon he had to let several men go or else they’d be able to take his glory. God wanted it to be clear that he was the deliverer and not man.
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After several men left Gideon that had been afraid; the men were still too many. God continued to eliminate men from Gideon’s army leaving only 300. It was with the 300, God promised to deliver the Midianites into Gideon’s hand. That is when the miraculous began to happen.

One, our communication with God goes to a new level. Communication with the Lord got Gideon to a moment of seeing God move in a unique way. Not only communication but submitting to God and following him. Actually, walking with God gets us to where we need to be. So many times, we attempt to follow the crowd of Christians, or pastors and leaders without seeking God for ourselves. I firmly believe we can miss out on some experience with God if we do not seek him for ourselves.

Two, our ability to endure becomes more resolute. Gideon did not quit when God began to remove what would have made him comfortable. Having tens of thousands of men in an army to fight with us while going to war is a strong form of security and protection. With such help, why should we deeply concern ourselves with trusting in the Lord? God is aware of this, and often creates discomfort and insecurity inducing awareness of our need to depend on him.

Three, We can only see the miraculous when we do so. Gideon was naturally afraid in a new situation of war. All of his security within the many men who were with him was stripped away. God saw Gideon’s fear and encouraged him to go down to the enemy’s camp with a servant of his. Gideon went down. At that point, he overheard one of the enemies of Israel, a Midianite, share about a dream he’d add. The dream entailed the Israelites overcoming the Midianites led by Gideon. God used Gideon’s enemy to show him the end. After this occurred, Gideon instructed his men to overtake the Midianites yelling a sword for the Lord and Gideon. The Midianites became so afraid that they began to fight each other.

Sometimes, I think about all of the miracles that Jesus walked around and did while he was on earth as a man, and I wonder how we can see those things on today. I always come back to the below scripture:

Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. – John 5:19

I can only ask myself in those moments, “what did God last say or last show me?” If Jesus could only do what he saw his father do, and the servant isn’t greater than his Lord; then I have to move in the same manner that Jesus did in order to see the miraculous and impossible in my life.

There is this name it and claim it theology in the body of Christ, but if we name and claim something God has not said or shown us; we are not guaranteed to have that. We are however guaranteed what God has said.

This was confirmed also by another scripture that came to my mind where Ezekiel was bought to a valley of dry bones. He was asked the question if the dry bones could live, and his response was to look to the Lord. That is when the Lord gave him the Word to command that the dry bones live and that the breath of God would enter into the bodies, and skin would appear on them.

The scripture goes on to state that the bones began to come together and form into men with skin and skeletons fashioned appropriately together. The result of Ezekiel’s obedience in declaring what the Lord gave him was a whole army of men that had formerly been dead. That is clearly the impossible becoming possible because a man was in a position to listen to and follow the Lord.

In life, we will face impossible challenges where we may not know how to proceed forward, and that is okay. We have to be careful in those times to hear the voice of the Lord and to follow what God shows us to speak and do because it’s God’s word that sets our expectation and allows us the strength to proceed forward.

So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone.  I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. – Ezekiel 37:7

In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. – I Thessalonians 5:18​

Everything that we have is a gift from God and that is why we have to always remain thankful (James 1:17). It’s God’s will for us to be thankful in all things and in all circumstances. This is actually a shield and protection for us to be thankful. It shifts our focus on the goodness of God in the middle of the circumstance instead of the weight of what is going on. It also adds to us the strength that comes from God. We can embrace that strength more easily with a thankful heart and spirit.

I recently had a convo with a bestie of mine who’s been struggling financially in her household for some time. She recently called feeling overwhelmed by what had just happened. Her husband lost his job while the company was being sold and laying off employees. She said she felt somewhat paralyzed by her hubs sharing the news and needed to call someone to pray with her.

I quickly encouraged her to count her blessings. One, her husband did not like the job. It did not pay enough, and now he was free to pursue better. Two, he was laid off and not fired, so he is eligible for unemployment during the interim of him job-seeking now. Three, she’s been here before and the Lord supplied her needs. The Lord is her source and not the job.

She quickly felt better as she began to shift her perspective to the promises of God and the opportunities to be had because of her circumstance instead of allowing herself to remain paralyzed by fear.

I shared with her also that I’d been going through my own circumstance of losing my dad a week and a half ago, and visiting my mom in the mental hospital almost every day trying to support her through this so she can get back into her sound mind. I shared how drained and tired I felt, but I was being intentional about thanking God.

I shared that I thanked God that he gave my dad 65 years. I shared an incident years ago when I used to stay w/my parents when my dad had a bad cough and I kept encouraging him to go to the hospital. Come to find out, he had pneumonia. He was able to get cured of that through going in to get it checked out. Many die from pneumonia, but God allowed him to live several years afterward.

I thanked God that my dad lived 19 years longer than his father who passed from the same illness. I thanked God that my dad believed God until the end even though the disease he had was very uncomfortable. Now, I also thank God that I no longer have to worry about my dad, but I know that he is with the Lord. God is good and gives us grace in all situations. This grace is easily seen in thanking him.

Thankfulness is a way to fight for our peace without doing any heavy lifting. It allows us to keep our eyes on the promises of God and the goodness of God in the middle of our situations. Thankfulness is also a strong weapon against grief and heaviness.

and provide for those who grieve in Zion– to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. – Isaiah 61:3

This is a part of our inheritance or heritage in Christ Jesus. We do not have to become overwhelmed. We can grieve in a manner where God’s grace and strength cover us as we focus on being thankful.

No matter what life hits us with whether expected or unexpected transitions, job loss, or loss of a loved one; we can be guaranteed to have some joy even in those hard experiences because God will help us and give us the grace to be thankful right in the middle of it counting our blessings. This is how the people of God avoid fainting. See scripture below:

​If you faint in the day of adversity your strength is small. – Proverbs 24:10

You’d be wise to make some adjustments with your schedule and how you build yourself up daily. Read my book, “The Wholeness Action Plan” for more on maintaining health and wholeness for your life mentally, spiritually, emotionally, socially, and so on. Another book I’d also recommend is Joyce Meyers’ “Living Beyond Your Feelings: Controlling Your Emotions So They Don’t Control You.”

Wholeness is a very important thing to have in our lives prior to entering into a relationship, but before we share key points on why it’s so important, we have to first define what wholeness is. Wholeness has a lot to do with how we see things. When we see things properly, we can prevent ourselves from having crippling perspectives that cause us to become stagnant in life.
 
Often, negative experiences and circumstance are what cause us to have perspectives that aren’t appropriately balanced. For example, the woman who proclaims that all men are out to use her and discard her probably has an imbalanced perspective. Why? Because she has discounted all of the men out there who are willing to love, protect, and honor her for who she is.
 
Out of the wrong perspectives grow other things such as pessimism, fear, a cold-shoulder, or being excessively guarded––all because an improper perspective was not dealt with. When we become whole individuals, there is a settling, rest, and peace in truly balanced perspectives.  We are healthy in our thinking about ourselves, and others which results in healthy actions and decisions made for every area of our lives. Even the Bible discusses how important wholeness is to prosper in life.

Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in “good health”, another term for wholeness, just as your soul prospers. – 3 John 1:2

The above scripture provides a very important key to wholeness; wholeness happens from our inside first, and then it manifests outwardly into every area of our lives. This means that outward circumstances should not affect our wholeness or good health, but our wholeness or good health within ourselves should affect our outward circumstances.

Side note: Our soul is our mind, will, and emotions. When we are whole in these, we will be whole regardless of what life throws at us. Many people have not come to an inward resolve about their personal wholeness in how they see themselves and others. Thus, when entering into a relationship, many people make unnecessary mistakes that could have been avoided had they only been whole.

Wholeness is important for an individual to be settled within his/her-self

When we are settled in who we are, we’ve simply fully accepted ourselves. This doesn’t mean we’ve become complacent not seeking to grow. It does mean that we understand that as God created us; we are worthy of the best. We do not have to compromise who we are to fit someone else’s approval in order to have a relationship. We are firm on our standard even when it means being alone for a season. When dating, we will meet people who simply don’t hold our standard, and we are okay with not continuing the relationship any further because we can foresee the unnecessary conflict that will ensue if we compromise who we are. We realize that at some point we will regret that we’ve settled into something that we are not, just to have a relationship, and thus we consider it not worth it to do so.

Click here to view more about my book on wholeness.
Stay tuned for next week’s part II on the importance of wholeness before entering a relationship.

The only way we will not make decisions based off of our fears in life is if we learn to recognize when fear is speaking to us. Fear has a voice. It urges us to make decisions based on fear of the unknown, the future, or the way things have been.

There will be times where we will have to push through and past fear making choices in spite of the feelings and ideas of fear. There will be other times where we will be required to walk in a whole new direction ignoring the voice of fear altogether.

Recently, I was on the phone with one of my sisters in the Lord sharing with her how fear tried to counsel me into speaking with a gentleman that I in the past did not feel was a good match for me. We briefly had a conversation that showed me he was not ready for a woman like me. He still had many old-school ideas of the woman being under a man instead of walking with a man side by side to help him and partake in a mutually satisfying relationship.

I decided no, and he did too. A year later, we ran into each other at a conference, and I could tell he thought I was cute in person. We had only met over social media and on the phone before. I was honored to meet him as well because I grew up listening to his music. He is an artist. I got a text message from him later the next week, and the thought crossed my mind again of whether I should consider him or not.

I prayed about it and considered why we did not pursue anything further before and was settled with that. However, the next morning, I awakened and strange thoughts of fear were in my mind. Thoughts like, “You are getting older, who knows how much longer you will have to wait, You don’t want to be in the same position several years down the line.” Immediately, I recognized those thoughts as the counsel of fear.

Those thoughts stemmed from a pull from the enemy to get me to think of my future from a position of fear and perceived lack. When we make choices out of fear we only settle. We should make choices out of fullness and surety that we want to move forward. God will give us peace when he is counseling us. God does not speak like fear. God speaks the language of more than enough.

This is why we have to be familiar with the wisdom of God; so we will not follow the counsel of fear. Anything that seeks to lead us by fear is not God. God does not give us a spirit of fear. He gives us love, power, and a sound mind.

Don’t Run From Pain! Instead, Embrace it & Face it Head On:

Sometimes, it’s not that a person doesn’t know his or her worth, but he or she is trying to escape the pain that they feel. There are some painful things that we are required to walk through that help us to build up a resolve of perseverance and a dependence on Christ.
There is a pain related to those who are consecrated to the Lord. To be consecrated to the Lord means that you have been set aside by God for his specific purpose. Many who are consecrated to the Lord get tripped up by the temptation to modify their consecration and who God called them to be to avoid going through the various pain that comes with a consecrated lifestyle—isolation, loneliness, rejection, being passed up because a consecrated person simply will not match with just anybody.

I wrote about this briefly in my first book, “The Single Christian Woman’s Guide.” I talked about Samson, a consecrated man unto the Lord and the Lord’s purpose. He was dedicated to the Lord before he was born as a Nazerite. As a matter of fact, it was an angel sent by God who confirmed this to his parents before he was born. The purpose associated with his consecration was to destroy the Philistines who were enemies of Israel. He had a unique strength to fulfill this because of his consecration.

Somehow, the discomfort of his consecration caused him to let a woman in who was not qualified to help him fulfill his consecration. Once, he opened up to Delilah, she shared his secret to strength with the Philistines, and Samson was in bondage just like that. We give up one form of pain for another when we set aside our consecration to the Lord.

When we embrace the pain of enduring through our consecration we simply pass through that pain on to God’s promises and purpose for us.

God had mercy on Samson and he was able to do some heavy damage to the Philistines in his death, but what if he had decided to endure through the pain of his consecration sticking to it? He would have fulfilled his purpose in a greater way. Learn to embrace the pain of consecration—being a little different, and waiting a little longer for someone who can accommodate the consecration on your life instead of settling yourself to adapt to an identity outside of the consecration God has called you to.
God will give you the grace to endure through the pain. Just recently, I had to ask God to give me the grace to get through a day that began in a very painful manner. Although I am someone who loves God and studies the scriptures, I am still only human and thus go through painful circumstances at times.
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It may seem trivial, but I recently saw someone I used to go with—but had to let go of because we were a mismatch get engaged on social media. Even though I know God has more for me and I trust God for that, it still affected me emotionally making me feel some type of a way. Nevertheless, it also showed the growth that the Lord had worked in me. It was not enough to depress me or to make me stop. After all, I had been through this before. It’s a good check of my strength and reliance on Christ, and my ability to resolve to follow him even through the painful valleys that we will not be able to avoid.
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I’d also like to note that the pain will not always last. It is only for a season. I always have the hope of what the morning will bring when it comes. We have to shift our eyes and perspectives when going through challenging times knowing that God’s promises are real and for us.

Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. – Psalms 30:5

One scripture, I continually speak over myself is the below in the book of Joel:

“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten– the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm — my great army that I sent among you.
You will have plenty to eat until you are full, and you will praise the name of the LORD your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed. – Joel 2:25-26

The scriptures above remind me that even though I am sometimes tempted to look at myself from a perspective of loss due to what my consecrated lifestyle requires me to give up; There is no loss in Christ because God promises to restore what we’ve seen as a loss. I declare this over myself again and again. I get around other believers who also speak God’s word over me encouraging me. Before I know it, the pain is all gone, and I’m on my way with joy and expectation in Christ Jesus for his promises.
This is how we have to be with pain. We have to face it. We cannot ignore it allowing it to simmer and bring us down. Don’t run from pain. Learn to confront it head-on.

​Lately, I had been praying that the Lord would cause me to hear his voice more, and to be obedient when I hear his voice. Sometimes, I have those moments when I am so sure I heard God and other times, I have the seeming quiet seasons where God doesn’t seem to have spoken for some time. During the latter, is when I sometimes question if I am paying attention to God’s voice.

Honestly, I am sort of used to God speaking to me in particular ways, and when he doesn’t speak to me in a particular way that I am very familiar with; I simply miss it until it is too late. The familiar ways that I am used to God speaking to me:

The still small voice discussed in the Bible -1 Kings 19:11-13

When God speaks to me in this way it seems almost as if to come from the deepest part of me and up to my mind where I recognize it as the Lord.

Dreams – Job 33:15

God always speaks to me in dreams and I normally am given the interpretation when the dream is from God.

Through his Word – The whole Bible
I think this should be a given, and of course, nothing that God speaks will go against his word in any way.

A Vision – Ezekiel 11:24-25

This is where God shows me a picture of something and communicates the interpretation of it. Normally, this happens while I am awake. It happens to me most during praying for someone. It has also happened when I was supposed to give someone a word of wisdom/knowledge.

An intuition – Romans 8:16

This is an inner knowing that cannot be explained, but you know God is trying to get your attention or show you something. I experienced this the night I recently had the accident. I felt like something was going to happen that night, but I said to myself I trust the Lord. There is another instance that happened where I could feel the Lord calling me away to pray with him while I was eating. I had to put my food down and pray and God spoke to me about two different things that were going to happen, but everything would be okay.

There are of course other ways that God speaks. He is limitless, and he teaches us what we need to know by his Spirit and his Word. However, when God speaks to me in my mind as simply a thought sometimes, I don’t always recognize it. That’s why I had been praying for God to teach me, and guess what he’s been answering my prayers.

My car insurance came up for renewal in April, and the thought came to my mine saying, “When you renew your car insurance, get full coverage this time.” I paused and said a prayer to God, “God, do you want me to get full coverage auto insurance this time?” I heard nothing after that. So, I did what I had done, and renewed my liability insurance. Little did I know that the confirmation to my prayer on whether God wanted me to get full coverage would come a couple of months later.

Fast forward to June and my car got hit in a hit and run accident, and I only had liability. It was at that moment that I realized that I had heard God’s voice on the full coverage and that he was preparing me. God’s word talks about how the Lord will lead and guide us. Leading and guiding us is one of the ways God speaks to us.

Because it was an unfamiliar way that I did not always recognize as God speaking; I missed out on what God was trying to shield me from. At the time, I was not sure if it was my thoughts or God’s voice. Therefore, I have concluded that the next time a good thought like that comes to mind that isn’t something I would normally think about, I will simply follow it as an act of faith. It could have only helped me.

This was the second time something like this had happened where I did not follow that voice/thought in my mind. Years ago, I used to pay my car insurance with a money order through the mail. This time, the thought came to mind saying, “Why don’t you take your payment in this time? You pass by your insurance company on the way to work every day anyway.” I thought to myself, well I always pay my insurance through the mail.

Do you know someone stole the mail, and my insurance lapsed? My dad covered it and I paid him back. This was a long time ago when this happened, but God recently bought it to my remembrance to put me in the mindset of being aware when he speaks to me in a way that I am not used to.

I can remember a time however not long ago when I experienced this same voice from God speaking to me in my thoughts. I had made an appointment to get my makeup done for a photoshoot for a magazine. The makeup company was supposed to email me a confirmation with the address. I did not receive an email and the place was closed until the day of my appointment. I said to myself I would Google the name of the place and go to the Chicago location that came up online because that is where I booked. Well, the thought came to my mind before you hit the expressway call and confirm the address because if this is the wrong address you will be late and may not get your face done.

I called and sure enough, the address was wrong. I turned out being an hour and a half away instead of 30 minutes. I arrived a ½ hour late but was there in time to get my face done because I followed the thought in my mind to call to confirm.

When we pray and ask God to teach us his voice and help us to become more sensitive to his voice; he does just that. I am excited about learning how to follow God’s voice in a greater way and to get better at recognizing him so I can obey more. It’s important to obey even when we aren’t used to it or when we are used to doing things in our normal manner. I had to realize that obedience to his voice sometimes requires an act of faith when I’m not really sure if a good idea or thought just popped up in my head or if it’s really God providing instruction. Next week, we will read about someone in the Bible who heard God in an unfamiliar way and almost rejected God’s voice because of it in part II.

Have you ever had an experience like the above? What happened in your scenario? Are you ready to step out in faith to hear God in a new way?

Contempt For God

Contempt: the feeling that a person or a thing is beneath consideration, worthless, or deserving scorn. disregard for something that should be taken into account. the offense of being disobedient to or disrespectful of a court of law and its officers.

How could we ever look at God with contempt? There would have to be some deception involved. We would have to somehow believe that God is not for us, but against us. We would have had to believe a lie rather than the truth. We would have to allow ourselves to be distracted from the promises of God for us and get caught up simply in what we see. This is really the only way I can see someone looking at the Lord with contempt because of who God is.

Admit it or not, we all at some point during our lives have been tempted to look at the Lord with contempt, and if you have not; you will need to keep on living. This is a discomforting result of being broken because when we are broken we do not always see right or think clearly.

God’s response:

The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs I have performed among them? Numbers 14:11

Not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times— not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it. – Numbers 14:22-23

Have you ever been tempted to disobey God due to being in a hard circumstance for some time where you thought to yourself God could just get me right out of this? I have, but it was my love for God that did not allow me to give in to temptation. God can take us right out of situations easily, but there is something for us in the process. This is where a demand is placed on our trust in the Lord. Disobedience to God is a form of looking at God with contempt. However, when we honor our intimate relationship with God and love for God above the comfort of circumstance; we too can pass the test of looking at God with contempt. Caleb, Moses, and Aaron had the same experiences that the rest of Israel had, but one party chose to honor and believe God; while the other chose to disregard God.

This is why an intimate relationship with God on a consistent basis is so important. God cannot be looked at as a God to provide comfort and things only. We must be committed to knowing him.

He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action. – Daniel 11:32 (ESV)

Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” – John 14:21

Our example in Numbers 14 shares how many of the children of Israel who had spied out the land of Canaan looked at the Lord with contempt. Because they came back with a negative report despite the fact that God said he would give them the land shows their contempt for God’s ability to do what he said.

Full of Comparison

The insecurity birthed out of one who leans to the flesh and to one’s own understanding; instead of what Jesus Christ says about him in his word, causes a comparison, and a constant need to attempt to measure up to a false standard that was never meant for them in the first place. The person who lives like this despises who he or she is and what he or she has to offer while constantly focusing on someone else. This person is broken in a bad way.

Dathan and Korah were already community leaders, who despised their very own position, compared themselves to Moses and Aaron seeking to bring them down while lifting their insecure selves. This is a constant theme with the insecure and broken even now. While they focused so much on Moses’ and Aaron’s calling; their posts or calling from God remained un-maned.

With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council. They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the Lord’s assembly?” Numbers 16:2-3

Koran and Dathan could have easily resolved their personal issue that they so rudely projected onto Moses and Aaron. They could have taken a note from Moses, whose immediate response was to fall on his face before God. Humility will always be the answer for one who has become prideful within his insecurities. Because of Koran and Dathan’s reliance on the flesh and what they saw; nothing they did would prosper. However when we lean on God instead of our own understanding; everything that we do will prosper.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding; – Proverbs 3:5

This is what the Lord says:
“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
    who draws strength from mere flesh
    and whose heart turns away from the Lord. – Jeremiah 17:5
but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on his law day and night.

That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
    which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither–
    whatever they do prospers. – Psalms 1:2-3

The end result of Koran and Dathan was an early death. Read about it in Numbers 14. Koran and Dathan, along with the 250 men who opposed Moses wanting his position so bad that Moses said go ahead take it. Moses instructed them to do what the priests do, who were set aside by God. Moses told Koran, Dathan, and the 250 men to bring up sensors as priests to the Lord. When this happened the 250 men were killed by fire. Koran had previously been killed by the earth opening up and swallowing him and his whole family. When we operate outside of who God called us to be; we set ourselves up for disaster. Don’t allow competition to grow within you in a state of brokenness, but give that area of brokenness over to God allowing him to heal you.