Just settle it

That’s a phrase one can expect to hear on a regular basis at Real Life Ministries. It’s root? I can’t say for sure, but if one were to trace it all the way back, it’s got to be Deut. 30, where God calls out His people and says: “Look… here’s the situation: life or death, blessings or curses. You can choose one or the other, so why not life and blessings? Just SETTLE IT and serve me.”

Scott brought another hard word tonight, which I’m not convinced was what I in particular needed to hear. I’ll trust he followed the Lord and more people than not needed to hear it… or maybe I did need to hear it and I don’t know it yet. But coming off of Friday’s very hard word and the general self-criticalness I’ve been wrestling with already, tagged on to all the self-improvement stuff I’ve been reading and taking in… it was pretty much information overload tonight.

I don’t know what to do with it all. I’ve petitioned the Lord’s help in sifting through it. I don’t have time to even process all I’m taking in. And I pretty much thrive on reflecting on stuff. I haven’t blogged much of anything worthwhile lately because I don’t have time to think critically about anything. Sure, I’ve been watching the Tigers, but I don’t think that’s a crime. I’ve hung out with my roommate, but I don’t think that’s a crime either. Just too many sources of information for me to be able to focus on a few and actually do something with them. Church Friday, small group Sunday, church Tuesday, Men’s Fraternity Thursday morning… And those are just the official things. There is of course personal time w/ God as well as other reading I’ve been doing… which hasn’t been the Tozer reading I promised I would do. Something tells me Tozer didn’t have a two month break in mind when he wrote The Pursuit of God. “Pursue God for a few days… and then take a break…” :)

Anyway, this blog is drifting all over the place. The point I wanted to make in the beginning is that I’m having a hard time settling it. God makes it pretty clear that’s what I need to do and Scott makes it clear as well. For when you settle it–when “you and your children return to the LORD your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today…” then “the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you…” (v. 3).

The promised land comes after I’ve settled it… when I realize there are no other better options… when I stop grumbling and complaining… when I finally understand that it sure as hell wouldn’t be better in Egypt. But for that to happen, my flesh has to die in the wilderness. It can be quick, or it can be 40 years. It’s up to me. Either way, God’s ways will be established. If I don’t take the promised land, my children will. Somebody will. Just how many souls will whither and die in the process?

So, you can tell I’m a little frustrated with the whole thing. What will it take for my heart to be really gripped by God? When will I be “sick and tired of being sick and tired”? When will I decide my heart’s only desire is to see God’s will come to pass? When will I chase after him with abandon and passion?

For many people it seems, that comes when they’re at the end of their ropes… when they’ve been beaten up by life so much that God becomes the refuge He desires to be for us all. But Scott said tonight that this isn’t the best way. We shouldn’t have to walk all the way down that road. And the Bible shows us that the offer of abundant life is for us all–not only those who’ve had dramatic conversions.

But I don’t know how to stir myself to such diligence. I don’t know how to make the Lord my one passion. I don’t know how to seek after Him with all my heart. I wish I could say I do the best I can, but I can’t say that because I know I’m not… I don’t know how to make myself do the best I can.

Yet back in Deut. 30, Moses, and God, cover this excuse as well:

Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

You see, God’s like a lawyer: He has His bases covered. No loop-holes in the details. The fine print spells it out pretty clear. We can’t say we didn’t know how to do something, because it’s right there in black and white. I’m equipped (2 Peter 1:3). I can do it.

Just need to settle it.