Unofficial Reverand Alex

Pray in silence...God speaks softly
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Yes, this is in the Singles forum for a reason; it was an interesting thought process, but I thought there was a lot of wisdom worth sharing, so we shall begin with a Scripture discussion that moves into my past 4 1/2 years of singleness & the accompanying pain. The delivery of the rest of this post will be more focused on my honest thoughts, rather than trying to sound more professional, as I tend to do in the Theology forums. I believe both have their merit, and brutal honesty fits better here.


Exodus is one of those parts of the Bible where I really don't like God. I know the great Exodus itself, with the parting of the Red Sea & all that jazz, that's a pretty cool showing of God's saving power. But a lot of those chapters towards the beginning really suck. God's people are suffering, the wacky man Moses is sent to free them, and everyone's situation becomes worse. The workload is steeply increased on the people, because Pharoah believes their call to travel three days in the desert to offer sacrifice to God is just a sign of laziness (the call to let the people go to freedom doesn't come until later; the original "Let my people go" refers to letting the people travel 3 days to offer sacrifice to God, then return). The people complain to Moses, Moses takes it to God, and God just says that He's doing something awesome, while no one can see anything but an increase of pain. C'mon, God, what's goin' on?

Through my frustrations, I was reminded of the importance of humility. If I see actions of anyone, form a bad opinion about them, and stick with my opinion instead of trying to understand them, what does that say about me? I'm no better than the object of my anger. I see the same thing about God; as obvious as it was to me that God could've just freed the people right away, but instead took forever while letting His people go through unnecessary pain, I uncertainly humbled myself to try to understand what was really going on.

As I kept reading, a question occurred to me: What if God did free the people right away? Moses: "Let my people go!" Pharaoh: "Okee dokee." Israelites: "Pharaoh's so nice! Let's offer sacrifice to him!"

Is this really out of the question? Throughout the entire Old Testament, we see so many instances of senseless idolatry, and putting anything in the place of God is bound to lead to pain and disappointment. It's just not good for us, not to mention terribly dishonorable towards our Creator. What the Israelites really needed was something to grab their attention, to shake them out of their idolatrous mentality. They needed to understand that God is God, and nothing else matches His power. Through pain, through waiting, through 10 different plagues instead of just 1 really good one, they would understand that there is only 1 God.

This is where it hits close to home. In high school, I committed idolatry with my girlfriend; I put her above everything else in my life, including God. I saw the solution to my loneliness, my depression, and the fulfillment of my life in Audrey. Audrey was a very good person, but no person is able to fill the spot God does. She broke up with me after nearly a year, as she was catching on that I was dependent on her for happiness, while I was clinging to her more than I should cling to any person, certainly as a teenager who's dating for the first time. The break-up was disastrous, and nearly cost me my life. My instinct right afterwards was to jump into another relationship right away. Through the grace of God, I can now say, the girls I was interested in weren't interested in me.

I have been single for the past 4 1/2 years now, and quite frankly, it sucks. But this has also been an incredibly redemptive period in my life. God made a mockery of the Egyptian idols (including Pharaoh) by showing His power far beyond theirs; in my own life, God has kept me from a girlfriend that I thought I needed, but has rebuilt me through the loneliness and depression, where I no longer feel depressed & my life has so much more fulfillment than I ever could've imagined. God was really showing me His power above the people I tried to make into God; without the lengthy process away from what I so dearly wanted, I never would've learned this lesson with such certainty. God didn't free the Israelites until they (and the Egyptians) really understood that He alone was God; He won't let me have a girlfriend until I learn the same thing.

As a side note, I wonder how many Egyptians converted through this process? All the plagues certainly caught the attention of the entire nation; perhaps the citizens that are only mentioned as background in Exodus became aware of the One God, a realization they would've missed if the process was much shorter...

What do the rest of you think? Does this help? I really pray it does.:prayer:
 

dqhall

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Yes, this is in the Singles forum for a reason; it was an interesting thought process, but I thought there was a lot of wisdom worth sharing, so we shall begin with a Scripture discussion that moves into my past 4 1/2 years of singleness & the accompanying pain. The delivery of the rest of this post will be more focused on my honest thoughts, rather than trying to sound more professional, as I tend to do in the Theology forums. I believe both have their merit, and brutal honesty fits better here.


Exodus is one of those parts of the Bible where I really don't like God. I know the great Exodus itself, with the parting of the Red Sea & all that jazz, that's a pretty cool showing of God's saving power. But a lot of those chapters towards the beginning really suck. God's people are suffering, the wacky man Moses is sent to free them, and everyone's situation becomes worse. The workload is steeply increased on the people, because Pharoah believes their call to travel three days in the desert to offer sacrifice to God is just a sign of laziness (the call to let the people go to freedom doesn't come until later; the original "Let my people go" refers to letting the people travel 3 days to offer sacrifice to God, then return). The people complain to Moses, Moses takes it to God, and God just says that He's doing something awesome, while no one can see anything but an increase of pain. C'mon, God, what's goin' on?

Through my frustrations, I was reminded of the importance of humility. If I see actions of anyone, form a bad opinion about them, and stick with my opinion instead of trying to understand them, what does that say about me? I'm no better than the object of my anger. I see the same thing about God; as obvious as it was to me that God could've just freed the people right away, but instead took forever while letting His people go through unnecessary pain, I uncertainly humbled myself to try to understand what was really going on.

As I kept reading, a question occurred to me: What if God did free the people right away? Moses: "Let my people go!" Pharaoh: "Okee dokee." Israelites: "Pharaoh's so nice! Let's offer sacrifice to him!"

Is this really out of the question? Throughout the entire Old Testament, we see so many instances of senseless idolatry, and putting anything in the place of God is bound to lead to pain and disappointment. It's just not good for us, not to mention terribly dishonorable towards our Creator. What the Israelites really needed was something to grab their attention, to shake them out of their idolatrous mentality. They needed to understand that God is God, and nothing else matches His power. Through pain, through waiting, through 10 different plagues instead of just 1 really good one, they would understand that there is only 1 God.

This is where it hits close to home. In high school, I committed idolatry with my girlfriend; I put her above everything else in my life, including God. I saw the solution to my loneliness, my depression, and the fulfillment of my life in Audrey. Audrey was a very good person, but no person is able to fill the spot God does. She broke up with me after nearly a year, as she was catching on that I was dependent on her for happiness, while I was clinging to her more than I should cling to any person, certainly as a teenager who's dating for the first time. The break-up was disastrous, and nearly cost me my life. My instinct right afterwards was to jump into another relationship right away. Through the grace of God, I can now say, the girls I was interested in weren't interested in me.

I have been single for the past 4 1/2 years now, and quite frankly, it sucks. But this has also been an incredibly redemptive period in my life. God made a mockery of the Egyptian idols (including Pharaoh) by showing His power far beyond theirs; in my own life, God has kept me from a girlfriend that I thought I needed, but has rebuilt me through the loneliness and depression, where I no longer feel depressed & my life has so much more fulfillment than I ever could've imagined. God was really showing me His power above the people I tried to make into God; without the lengthy process away from what I so dearly wanted, I never would've learned this lesson with such certainty. God didn't free the Israelites until they (and the Egyptians) really understood that He alone was God; He won't let me have a girlfriend until I learn the same thing.

As a side note, I wonder how many Egyptians converted through this process? All the plagues certainly caught the attention of the entire nation; perhaps the citizens that are only mentioned as background in Exodus became aware of the One God, a realization they would've missed if the process was much shorter...

What do the rest of you think? Does this help? I really pray it does.:prayer:
About fifteen years ago, I heard an Exodus sermon about the Hebrews fleeing persecution. The pastor said of the Exodus story, and I paraphrase, “They ate the Passover in haste. They traveled fast and could not afford to sit down along the way and rest. There was an army marching to try to catch them. If you ever have to flee persecution, go fast with all your strength, so your enemy will not overtake you.”

Once a woman breaks up with you, you can not go back. If you follow Jesus you might learn to work, to give and to share. Then you might not need a woman to support you, but you might support her.
 
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GospelS

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lol...this one in your signature! :oldthumbsup: :oldthumbsup:

bcf61ee713e6061a825b7fa37c8fd3be.jpg
 
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Unofficial Reverand Alex

Pray in silence...God speaks softly
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