Your Daily Devotional for May 9, 2006

May 9, 2006

 

“God, It’s Better Over There”

by Dr. Paul Chappell

 

“Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us; That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.”

1 Samuel 8:19-20

 

Look over the fence at that green grass!!  It looks perfect—no brown spots, no gopher holes, and perfectly straight mowing rows!! 

 

Wow!!  His wife called him three times today to say he was the best husband in the world, and she always has meat and potatoes ready the moment he walks into the door from work.

 

Their church has……and we could go on and on.  But trust me, “The grass is NOT always greener on the other side.” 

 

So many times we become delusional in our lives.  We imagine things that aren’t and expect things that will never happen and are not even real.  That is what the children of Israel did.  They thought that their king would do everything for them, but in reality, “…This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you:  He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.  And he will appoint him captains over thousands…And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries…And he will take your fields...” (1 Samuel 8:11-14). And the list goes on and on.

 

When, during my teen years, my family moved to Korea, I thought that I was unhappy because of Korea.  But an evangelist helped me to see that my heart attitude was the cause of my unhappiness, not the place.  We don’t need to change our surroundings, we need to change our delusional hearts.  We need to stop imagining that things are bad or how things could be—we need to be glad for how they are.

 

A lady once said to her friend, “I finally got a hold of my inner self, but she is just as confused as I am.”  Let’s not trust ourselves, let’s just trust the path that God has chosen for us.  Psalm 16:11 says, “Thou wilt shew me the path of life:  in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”

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