How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.
When I awake, I am still with You.
Psalms 139:17-18
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Have you ever been out of sorts because someone you know (or even someone you don’t even know at all) said something about you?
“Wow, she’s fat.” “Well, isn’t she just stupid!” “She’s mean.”
This happens. Most people aren’t so bold to say things to your face, but some people don’t know how to whisper. I think the worst of it is when you have someone come to you and tell you that someone else was talking about you. How do you handle it…what do you do? Do you mull it over? Do you try to take the comments as criticism and determine whether it is legit or not? Do you confront the person? Or do you internalize what they say and let it effect how you think of yourself?
The thing is this…I believe that it is important to listen to our trusted friends. If your boss gives you constructive criticism then you should mull it over and take it into consideration. However, not all opinions should be accepted. In fact, before we accept anything about ourselves we should prayerfully go to God. He can show us our flaws in a different light and show us what He thinks and show us how to change. God does that. Now, if God says that it is so, then it is so.
I remember one day I was driving home…something had happened at work and I was very upset. I started to pray. Through tears and screaming I began to explain to God why the situation wasn’t fair and how I was being mistreated! I can’t remember now exactly what it was about, but I do remember clear as day that the Lord spoke to me and told me, “But you do the same thing to me.” I was stopped dead in my tracks. The very behavior I was upset with was a behavior that I did myself…and to the Lord, of all people! The Lord has a way of showing us our “yuck” without making us feel “yuck.”
In our focus verse this week, the psalmist says to God,
How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand
—when I awake, I am still with you.
We are loved and thought very highly of. God sees our potential and loves us right where we are.
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Lord, help me to address the areas in my life that are lacking Your light. May I seek Your guidance in shedding Your light on these areas. Help me to cast away, and not internalize, the negative things people say about me and to me. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
