Eliminating the buts.

Remember the before; God is still the same.

It’s Thursday evening and I feel like listening to a short podcast so I check my Spotify and as I go through, my eyes fall on the Christine Caine podcast. I scroll down and I click on an episode.

She’s talking about the Israelites. They had been in the wilderness for 40 years now and God had finally brought them to the Promised land but they hadn’t gone in yet. So God tells Moses that this land is theirs and that he should send some spies to go and explore the land.

The spies go in, check out the land and they come back with this huge branch of grapes( Imagine a branch of grapes so big two people had to hold it!).

They go on to tell the people that yes, it’s true that the land is flowing with milk and honey BUT the people there look huge & scary, and their cities are fortified.

Now, keep in mind that the Israelites had watched God perform countless miracles for them. From the Red Sea parting in two for them to walk through, a cloud to shield them from the sun by day & a pillar of fire by night + food and water in a literal desert.

They listened to the returned spies with rapt attention, the moment that they had been waiting for had finally come- the promised land was right in front of them.

Once the spies added the ‘but’ and began to spread bad reports about Canaan, the Bible says that the Israelites were immediately downcast. A previously hopeful people became downcast, hopeless and began to weep, just because of one word.

So many times, we behave just like the Israelites. So many times in our lives when the challenges come, the ‘huge, scary men’, we instantly forget all the red seas we crossed & all the manna we ate in the desert.

I’ve thought about this whole event a lot since I listened to the podcast that day. How could just one word change their mind-set so swiftly?

How many times in my life, in my challenging times, have I included one ‘but’ that has made me forget all of the goodness of God?

The ‘but’ opens the door wide open for the enemy to come in and attack us with countless thoughts of doubt.

And so, we must eliminate the buts. We must eliminate the howevers.

-God is good and He came through for me last year and last month. And we stop there. No including but now I’m sick or but I lost my job or but I failed the exam I wrote that one time.

Once we put in the buts, every other good thing God has done leaves our minds. Our minds tell us that the only thing that matters is what comes after that single word. The ‘but’ opens the door wide for the enemy to come in and attack our minds.

I’m trying so hard these days, in my own difficult times to remember the before, to remember the faithfulness of God and not to include any but or however.

And in the difficult times of those I love, I’m also reminding them that the present doesn’t outweigh the before so there’s no need for but or however.

What God has said still stands today, no matter how unlikely it may seem. If He parted the Red Sea before so I could walk on dry land, He will do it again.

Faith calls us to believe in that which we cannot see. If you can see everything and you know how everything will play out, you don’t need faith and neither do I.

May God help us to trust Him.

May God help us to remember always, the seas that He’s parted for us.

May God renew our faith in Him each day. Amen.

I’m rooting for you!🤍

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💡Bible verses:

•Numbers 13.

•“They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there.”-Numbers‬ ‭13‬:‭27‬-‭28‬

“That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness!”- Numbers‬ ‭14‬:‭1‬-‭2‬

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🖋️‬‬Quote of the week:

Becoming is hard work. Staying the same is even harder.

-Titilope Sonuga.