Messy Life

1 Samuel 30:6… But David found strength in the Lord his God. I love this verse and it is one of my go to phrases. Why? What’s significant about it? David (like all of us) had to learn to minister to himself in times of trouble, times of despair, times of sorrow, times of questioning. We so often want someone to bottle feed us and pat us on the back during difficult seasons but reality is we need to learn to minister to ourselves before the Lord. We have to choose to seek God, seeking God is a choice. David almost made a terrible decision by going and fighting with the Philistines against his nation Israel. The very nation he had been anointed to lead as king. David was caught up in emotion after all he had been on the run from King Saul for some time now and he was considered a fugitive. Just because he was God’s anointed did not mean he was immune to emotions and bad decision making. This is the second time God intervene on David’s behalf of making a bad choice; the first was when Abigail stopped him from slaughtering Nabal’s household.

The devil, a master of manipulation always tries to sell us into some type of bondage. The devil wants us to believe we are slaves to his bidding which always brings turmoil and chaos. We however were never meant to be sold it was not fine gold that bought our freedom but the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Therefore, we are not captives but citizens of the High King. While I identify with the reality of King Saul’s flaws my heart longs to be like King David but the reality of the matter is King David had his own flaws the only difference is he continued to seek the Lord through them. He learned to push through all the hurt and still seek God. I have been teaching on inviting God into your mess for the past six months. What I love most about King David is that he invited God into his big ole mess. David had a messy life but at the center of that mess he bowed humbly and invited God in. Often times we don’t invite God into our mess because we are afraid of His rejection, afraid of how He will react to our mess. We think nobody else has a mess like ours so we keep our mess under tight lock and key. The truth is we all live messy lives including the most righteous Christians!

I have been in a funk these past few months thinking I was not good enough to do a blog, doubting my ministry abilities, wondering what it is I have to actually offer, basically not seeing my worth because to be honest I just get so caught up staring at my mess I become overwhelmed. I am not a perfect Christian and I never will be. I am not one to throw stones from a glass house. Soo, when I read stories about imperfect people in the bible that the church has romanticized, I kind of get a little a giddy. Why? Because it reminds me I am not alone. God uses all kinds of imperfect and misfit people to carry out His will, this gives me great hope! You don’t have to be perfect, you don’t have to have your life together, you don’t have to look a certain way (after all I have seven tattoos and a pixie cut)… you just have to desire to know the Lord. You have to invite Him into your messy life no matter how messy it is or becomes. So, as I get ready to go workout (it keeps me as sane as I am going to get) I encourage you to invite God into your mess no matter what it is… NO MATTER WHAT IT IS… seek the Lord and He will find you. Good Morning Ladies!