#366 Triumph Over Circumstance: Don’t kill the Messenger! Philippians 4.11
A little experience and its lesson to share: My husband had the afternoon free and chose to make plans that did not include time for just he and I. I made that mean that I was not important to him, despite the fact that I could have chosen to be part of those plans, but decided to take our time together on the weekend. (I was stacked with work on my desk and a number of employees to check in with, and struggling with a bank statement I could not reconcile, still catching up from being gone for two weeks.)
I entertained resentment and hurt feelings for a short while, bringing them to my Heavenly Father in prayer.
I was reminded of a phrase that a dear friend had shared with me the day before: “Don’t kill the messenger.”
And also reminded of the thoughts below, also shared with me by other dear friends in Christ in the past week.
And I realized: my Husband was only a messenger from the LORD.
Don’t focus on the messenger, focus on the message! And be grateful for the Bearer of the Message from the Lord!
(This does not negate the need for honesty and integrity in dealing with the conflict or challenge at hand.)
I remembered my privilege to search for the gift.
I realized that I needed to arrange my schedule so I could spend more time with my husband. Often the very accusation we harbor against another is a mirror of our own issue.
This renewed thinking to LOOK FOR THE MESSAGE FROM MY LORD completely removed my resentment. I realized what a blessing this decision really was and I felt grateful for the uninterrupted time to catch up on thatFriday afternoon, and was even able to balance that bank statement!
"How great a blessing it would be for all spiritual Israelites to learn well this lesson; viz., that if we accept the results of any matter as being good, and if we realize that we were guided to those results by divine providence, we should think and feel most generously, most kindly, toward those who were the instruments used by providence, notwithstanding the fact that they might have been unwilling instructors, or, like Joseph's brethren, have verily intended opposite results. Those who are enabled to take such a view of affairs and forces operating in their daily lives are enabled "always to triumph through the Lord," as the Apostle expresses it. And such find no room for bitterness or railing, either against Satan or against any of his servants. 2 Cor. 2:14; Jude 9." R2896
“Turn my eyes away from worthless things. Give me a new life in your ways.” Psalm 119:37 GW
“Not only have our eyes needed turning always toward the Word and towards God, but especially our hearts.”
Blaming and accusing thoughts are worthless when we focus only on them. When we ask the LORD ‘what is Your message?’ ‘the worthless’ becomes treasure because it opens our mind to the expanse of His will. What is the message behind these thoughts and feelings? What is the Lord’s leading in regard to my own responsibility? What adjustments is He indicating that I make?
“Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.” Psalm 119:36 ASV
“My dear Father, help my heart! Let me refrain from any and all wrong spirits and habits and tendencies. Let me find the rules of love governing my words and meditations this day. Let me bring sweetness to the air all around your name.”
“The daily experiences of life have a most important mission to us, and the manner in which we receive them should be a matter of deepest concern; for according to the use we make of them each day’s prosperity or its adversity and trial bear to us a blessing or a curse…Sorrow and griefs may, and perhaps often will come in like a flood, but the Lord will be our Stay and Strength in every experience which He permits. R5802
The dear one that sent this quote to me, then wrote, “God be with you and give you strength on the battlefield today!” so timely and appropriate!
It is our USE of each experience that creates our experience of it. The intention of our Heavenly Father is always Highest Good and Blessing, but if we do not look for the gift, discover the gift, and treasure the gift, the gift has no meaning or worth to us. The gift can escape our notice.
The circumstance itself is not the issue. WE get to determine whether an experience will be a blessing or a curse.
“I have learned to be content, whatever the circumstances may be.
I know now how to live when things are difficult and I know how to live when things are prosperous. [Phillips]
In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” [NASB] Philippians 4:11-13
A little experience and its lesson to share: My husband had the afternoon free and chose to make plans that did not include time for just he and I. I made that mean that I was not important to him, despite the fact that I could have chosen to be part of those plans, but decided to take our time together on the weekend. (I was stacked with work on my desk and a number of employees to check in with, and struggling with a bank statement I could not reconcile, still catching up from being gone for two weeks.)
I entertained resentment and hurt feelings for a short while, bringing them to my Heavenly Father in prayer.
I was reminded of a phrase that a dear friend had shared with me the day before: “Don’t kill the messenger.”
And also reminded of the thoughts below, also shared with me by other dear friends in Christ in the past week.
And I realized: my Husband was only a messenger from the LORD.
Don’t focus on the messenger, focus on the message! And be grateful for the Bearer of the Message from the Lord!
(This does not negate the need for honesty and integrity in dealing with the conflict or challenge at hand.)
I remembered my privilege to search for the gift.
I realized that I needed to arrange my schedule so I could spend more time with my husband. Often the very accusation we harbor against another is a mirror of our own issue.
This renewed thinking to LOOK FOR THE MESSAGE FROM MY LORD completely removed my resentment. I realized what a blessing this decision really was and I felt grateful for the uninterrupted time to catch up on thatFriday afternoon, and was even able to balance that bank statement!
"How great a blessing it would be for all spiritual Israelites to learn well this lesson; viz., that if we accept the results of any matter as being good, and if we realize that we were guided to those results by divine providence, we should think and feel most generously, most kindly, toward those who were the instruments used by providence, notwithstanding the fact that they might have been unwilling instructors, or, like Joseph's brethren, have verily intended opposite results. Those who are enabled to take such a view of affairs and forces operating in their daily lives are enabled "always to triumph through the Lord," as the Apostle expresses it. And such find no room for bitterness or railing, either against Satan or against any of his servants. 2 Cor. 2:14; Jude 9." R2896
“Turn my eyes away from worthless things. Give me a new life in your ways.” Psalm 119:37 GW
“Not only have our eyes needed turning always toward the Word and towards God, but especially our hearts.”
Blaming and accusing thoughts are worthless when we focus only on them. When we ask the LORD ‘what is Your message?’ ‘the worthless’ becomes treasure because it opens our mind to the expanse of His will. What is the message behind these thoughts and feelings? What is the Lord’s leading in regard to my own responsibility? What adjustments is He indicating that I make?
“Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.” Psalm 119:36 ASV
“My dear Father, help my heart! Let me refrain from any and all wrong spirits and habits and tendencies. Let me find the rules of love governing my words and meditations this day. Let me bring sweetness to the air all around your name.”
“The daily experiences of life have a most important mission to us, and the manner in which we receive them should be a matter of deepest concern; for according to the use we make of them each day’s prosperity or its adversity and trial bear to us a blessing or a curse…Sorrow and griefs may, and perhaps often will come in like a flood, but the Lord will be our Stay and Strength in every experience which He permits. R5802
The dear one that sent this quote to me, then wrote, “God be with you and give you strength on the battlefield today!” so timely and appropriate!
It is our USE of each experience that creates our experience of it. The intention of our Heavenly Father is always Highest Good and Blessing, but if we do not look for the gift, discover the gift, and treasure the gift, the gift has no meaning or worth to us. The gift can escape our notice.
The circumstance itself is not the issue. WE get to determine whether an experience will be a blessing or a curse.
“I have learned to be content, whatever the circumstances may be.
I know now how to live when things are difficult and I know how to live when things are prosperous. [Phillips]
In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” [NASB] Philippians 4:11-13
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