This summer, I am going through Kelly Minter‘s study on Nehemiah with a group of some of my favorite 17-18 year old girls. In this week’s reading, Kelly writes about how we often buy into lies. I’ll let her speak for herself.
Whenever the Israelites faced difficulty in the desert, they chose to believe something false about God. Three of the biggies were that He had abandoned them, withheld from them, or wouldn’t meet their needs. This in turn led them to remember their unspeakably oppressive days in Egypt through rose-colored glasses… The sad thing is I can relate. I have experienced times when I doubted God and subsequently wondered if the old days of my bondage were really that bad. When I find myself here I always have to remember that two things are at play: I’m believing something negative about God in my present and believing something positive about the days of slavery from my past. Both beliefs are false.
Then this Sunday, I went to a best friend’s church, and her pastor talked about the lies we believe. Has this happened to you? Like everywhere you turn, the same lesson is being told in a different way. Sometimes it’s amazing and encouraging, other times a bit annoying. I’m not quite to the annoyed stage, but it has definitely forced me to pause and really reflect. What lies am I believing these days? Either about God’s character or my past?
A while ago, a great friend of mine showed me her trick when she found herself in a dark place. She takes a piece of paper, splits it down the middle, and labels one side “LIES” and the other “TRUTH.” She then proceeds to fill the whole thing up until she can’t think of another thing to write.
Here’s what mine looks like now.
So what about you? What are the lies you are currently believing? Can you combat them with truth? Do this exercise this week. It’s amazing the freedom I find in saying out loud the lies and then breaking them down with the truth.
