Trust What God Has Promised
WRITTEN BY DREW MATZ
Self-Pity Series
“[Self-pity]assumes that God, the cosmic card-dealer, owes us a much better hand than we have been dealt…”
“Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
Explanation:
It is hard to imagine being granted freedom from the awful slavery of Israel in Egypt. It is even more difficult to imagine God literally delivering you from Egypt, and then looking back fondly upon it when the “freedom” doesn’t look the way you thought it would. Yet, that is exactly the situation Moses and Aaron have on their hands, as their kinsmen are getting very restless after wandering for so long in the wilderness. Seeing what seems, to them, to be a picture of a violent death at the hands of the Canaanites, they look back and think it would have been better had they just stayed in Egypt if they were just going to die anyway, paying no heed to God’s promise of the land back in chapter 13.
Connection:
Christians tend to be familiar with the topic of self-righteousness. It is often the topic of entire sermons, where pastors go through bucks full of scripture quotations to make the point that we are not righteous in and of ourselves. Because of this emphasis in our churches, it is sort of in our DNA that we are saved by grace through faith, that no one may boast. However, there is a handmaiden to self-righteousness that we don't address quite as often, but, if we're honest with ourselves, should be something we need to examine ourselves over: self-pity.
You see, self-pity may just be seen as the passive-aggressive form of self-righteousness. It assumes that God, the cosmic card-dealer, owes us a much better hand than we have been dealt. Concerned only with our short-term problems and desires, it clouds our minds and makes us ungrateful for the many things that God has given us in this life. The children of Israel scolded Moses and Aaron for not being able to deliver on their leadership the way they thought they were owed, so much so that they became nostalgic for their slavery back In Egypt. They were so preoccupied with their situation, they completely forgot about God's faithfulness to them through delivering them out of Pharaoh’s realm and into freedom. Therefore, brothers and sisters, let us always examine ourselves lest we too become ungrateful and wind back up in slavery to sin and death.
Action:
1. Examine Yourself -
Do you sometimes feel like God owes you more than you have? The Israelites thought so and grumbled as they walked through the wilderness because they were only concerned with their present passions and appetites. They were worried only about satiating their own desires, and thus looked fondly back to slavery where even though they were enslaved, they at least had food. Even after seeing God work through Moses, they were ready to nominate a new leader. Therefore, examine your heart. Ask God to create contentment with what he has given us, so that we learn to rely ever more upon him. For man cannot live on bread alone (Matthew 4:4).
2. Keep a Journal -
Sometimes when we are going through a difficult time we can become resentful of God. In times like this, it is helpful to keep a prayer journal where you can list the many things that God has done for you. This allows you to look back over time to find an objective picture of God working in your life and will give you hope and encouragement to trust God to bring you back to himself.
3. Reach Out -
Simply put, we sometimes just get into a funk that isn't easy to just climb out of. We cannot always just pull ourselves up by our spiritual bootstraps. Once we get spiritually depressed and begin to feel sorry for ourselves, it helps to immerse yourself in the lives of others. Reach out to find those in need, that God may use you to bless others. This helps to get us out of our own heads and invest in the lives of others, which can also give us some much-needed perspective.