| Of all of the characters in The Bible, I identify most with David. He was a mess–most of the time–yet God used him.
In one of his battles, God punished David because he asked his general, Joab, to number the troops in his army; as a result of his pride, God sent a plague on Israel and 70,000 men fell dead (1 Chron 21:14).
You see to number the troops was a great sin in Israel because it was against the law. Why? Because it demonstrated that you were placing more trust in numbers than in the living God.
If you are familiar with The Bible or at least its stories, you know that throughout Israel’s history, God was constantly setting the stage for battles to be won, miracles to take place, and people to exercise faith and trust in Him. The stage was always set so that man could not take credit for God’s power.
How does this relate to you and me and in particular our health–specifically related to our struggles with our weight, sunshine? Well, the minute you and I place more trust in our abilities than in God, we are guilty of “numbering the troops.”
We calculate our “I-had-a-good-day-today” by the number of minutes spent on a treadmill.
We validate our success (or lack thereof) by a number that appears on the scale after a weekend of celebrating.
We measure our willpower and strength by the number of calories we tracked on our fitness app.
We determine our worth by the number that’s on the inside of our dress label.
We justify our ability to lose weight by the number of diets that we’ve tried, only to feel defeated when we gain back what we lost.
The lesson here is to learn daily and complete dependence on God.
We are not to become proud and fixate on “the numbers.” Rather we must turn to God in obedience and offer our worldly desires (hello, sleeping in and avoiding the gym or eating the donut at the office meeting) as an act of honor and obedience, turning to Him, trusting Him that He will make a way.
We must tap into the power gifted to us through Holy Spirit and ask for strength and a heart to honor and serve.
God’s miracles cannot be found in a prepackaged Nutrisystem meal or an Orange Theory workout.
sunshine, we must seek the only number that matters–The One who is The Giver of Life and from whom all blessings flow. |
