VALGOOD

“You shall have no foreign god among you; you shall not bow down to an alien god. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.” Psalm 81:9-10

Have you ever tried to fast for a day from food? While there are some days that I can skip eating breakfast and lunch and think nothing of it, the minute I say that I’m going to fast I feel like I’m starving. I get shaky and my head begins to ache and I feel downright awful.

But, have you ever had a day where you haven’t touched the Bible? I don’t think we feel nearly as physically awful as we do going without food. And yet we truly need God so much more than we realize!

As I began the process of losing weight, I realized that food had become a “god” in my life. I didn’t want to go without it, I wanted to eat what I was in the mood for (even if it wasn’t the best thing for me) and I used food to try to fill a void – whether it was in celebration, sorrow, anger or boredom. It had begun to rule my life. I planned my days around meal time, I was cranky when I had to do without, and my thoughts were filled with what sounded good and what pinterest recipes I should try to make, etc.

I’ll admit that I still struggle with these things. God says we are not to bow down to them. And He shows us in the above verses that it is God alone who leads us out of slavery to them and into a life set free for His glory. We don’t have to have food rule our lives. We can go without it! When I was sick a few weeks back, I didn’t eat for a couple days in a row. And I didn’t die! Most of what we feel I think is our mind playing tricks on us. Yes, we need food for energy and sustenance. But, we can go without it if necessary and if that’s what we’re being called to do. We can do without our favorite things for a time if we are supposed to do that to show God He is more important to us than any other things we’ve allowed to become our ‘gods’ or focus.

I love that the Lord knows our struggles. Just look at the end of the verses above – He says “Open wide your mouth and I will fill it!” What a promise! He will give us what is good for us. He will become what sustains us. He knows how badly we crave things that aren’t in our best interest. But, if we admit our sin and our struggles to Him, He’ll be our Lord and fill us with what we need.

These last couple days have been hard, I’ll admit. I’ve been eating once again like I’m never going to get a solid meal again and must fill up now. YIKES! I can’t seem to give it up. So, I go back to the goodness of God’s Word and ask Him for help. Since I read these verses, I have continually been praying “You fill me up, God, please. Fill me with something better than I would choose on my own.” The food that I’ve been ingesting is not filling me. I could keep going and going and going! I need Him to fill me and to let go of this stuff that is only going to make me feel worse in the end.

Are there things in your life that consume your thoughts? If so, may I humbly suggest that you also lay aside anything that has become a foreign god and ask God to fill you up instead. Open wide!

Dear Heavenly Father, You are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to you (Psalm 86:5). You are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God (Psalm 86:10). Thank You for being merciful (Psalm 78:38). We know that we can trust You, that You love us even when we don’t deserve it, You are good and holy based on who You are and not based on what we do. We know that we can’t earn Your gift of salvation, we simply have to believe that You are a forgiving God and have made the way for us. We long to please You and ask for Your forgiveness for stubbornly going back to old habits and ways. God, this struggle to lose weight isn’t always easy. But, we believe that it’s right. And we believe that it is You who are helping us, for Your Name and for Your glory. Please help us. Please fill our mouths with good things and keep out anything that is not good for our bodies or honoring to You. We need You! We confess that we have let ‘foreign gods’ consume our thoughts – please take them away from us and let us bow down and serve and worship You alone. May the words of our mouth and the meditation of our heart be pleasing to You. Thank You for understanding our struggles and helping us through them. May we please be healthy and thin for Your glory. We thank You and praise You for being faithful, awesome and amazing. In Jesus’ Name, AMEN!