We have all had those days. You're tired, you're sick, you're in a rut, bad head space, not right with the Lord, however you want to title it, sum it all up to say that you are not your normal self. You've been back and forth with your child(ren) all day; you're running out of new ways to discipline them and explain to them that what they are doing is not okay. They start to push your buttons in a way that only they know how to do, and... cue the horror film sound effects. You find yourself having an out of body experience, right? It's like the nurturing mother that you know how to be, and that 99.9% of the time you are, has vanished and she's been replaced by a zombie that will not rest until her point has been drilled into the brain of the misbehaving child- by whatever means necessary. These are the moments that we immediately regret. We even regret it while it's happening. If we can't make a midcourse correction and save the situation, we apologize to our child and to God for our reaction, live in shame for a week, and pray that we don't end up paying for therapy for the poor kid because of our actions.
But we set ourselves up for these moments, don't we? We allow stress, sickness, the world around us, etc. to put us in a place where we are not living up to our best. Rather than reaching out and asking for help or asking for prayers, we isolate and cut people off. Maybe, we even stop praying to God about what's going on because we're sure that He's tired of listening and nothing is coming from it anyway. Take, for instance, Naomi in Ruth chapter one. Her husband and her sons are dead, there is a famine, and she is traveling with her two daughters-in-law to Judah. On the journey- my interpretation- she becomes depressed and frantic and finds herself in a place of desperation. She urges her daughters-in-law to leave her, return to their families, and start new lives for themselves. But Ruth calls her out with a straight up "Nope". They are family and Ruth is in it for the long haul. We all need a Ruth in our lives. When we are in our moment of exasperation we need that loyal friend to pull us back into reality, speak truth into us, encourage us, and walk beside us.
We also need an Aaron and a Hur standing beside us. Exodus 17: 8-16 recounts what happened when the Israelites were at war with Amalek. Moses, Aaron and Hur went up to the top of a hill and Moses, holding the staff of God, raised his hands. Whenever his hands were raised, Joshua and the Israelites were prevailing in the war. The problem with this battle strategy is that, after a while of holding up your arms, they're going to start to get tired and want to come down. Enter Aaron and Hur. They provided a stone for Moses to sit on and they supported his arms so that he could keep them raised until the battle was won. I need an Aaron and a Hur in my life. I need friends to come along beside me and hold my arms up when I can no longer do it myself.
Rather than isolating, we desperately need trusted friends close by that we can call on for help. But more importantly, we need God. Psalm 23 is a very famous passage of scripture. When we are in the midst of confusion and chaos, we need to be listening for the voice of our shepherd. His voice is the one that leads us to feast on plush green pastures, that carries us away from rushing waves into still waters where we can drink. There's a table that He has prepared for me in the presence of my enemy...that's how I fight my battle (Surrounded, Upper Room. Look it up, and belt it out). When we walk through the valley of the shadow of death our children don't have to fear an attack of the mombie because He is with us. The thing about those still waters though, is that you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. We have to choose to listen to our shepherd, to allow Him to restore our souls. We can pray for Jesus to take the wheel, but we have to take our hands off in order for Him to steer it. Join us on this week's podcast as we give some of our "mombie" moments, and press in to God and allow Him to restore your soul and save you from your next mombie attack.
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