People have a tendency to want to have it all-together. We don’t like being broken. Sometimes we pretend to be something or someone that we really aren’t, because we do not want to be honest with ourselves. The pain is too much. The idea of facing the truth and that we aren’t who we pretend to be scares us. Many times, we don’t know how to fix the problem, so we try to ignore it.
Anyone who has read the Bible knows the story of Adam and Eve. Eve, because she didn’t know the truth, allowed herself to be deceived. Adam, who knew the truth of what God had said, was deliberately disobedient to God’s Word. In the end, they found themselves naked and afraid. God confronted them, asking them “where are you?” God knew. He knew what they had done, and He knew they were hiding from Him. Even though they blamed everybody else but themselves, when God confronted them, they responded. They didn’t ignore Him. They knew who He was. Do you?
He is the answer to our problem. He is the one who knows how to fix us. Jesus wrapped himself in flesh to feel our infirmities. He felt pain. He was tempted like we are. He was rejected. But He came so that we might have life. John 10:10; The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
Satan came to destroy us and that was his intent in the Garden of Eden when he confronted Eve. You notice he didn’t confront Adam. Adam had heard from God and knew what God had told him. When he asked Eve what God had said she told him in Genesis 3:3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
God told Adam in Genesis 2:16-17 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
He said nothing about touching the fruit. That let Satan know that Eve really didn’t know the Word of God and he was therefore able to lie and deceive her. Just like he will do to us when we do not know the Bible, we only know about it. God gives us freewill to choose what we do with it. Adam chose to disobey and now, we are paying the price for it.
The point of this article, if you know what the Bible says, do you believe it? We lie to ourselves for many reasons. Sometimes we have seen the power of Satan working in our lives to destroy us, that we struggle to believe that God is real and that His power is real and available to us. The right hand of God reaching out to us is our answer for all life’s struggles and problems. It doesn’t matter if you are broken because of choices you have made or what others have done to you. Jesus is still the answer.
It’s easy to write all this. But to believe? Some people find it easier to believe than others. For many years I wanted to believe, but I was so beat down, that to me, Jesus seemed like a dream. It has taken me many years to realize He is real. He has healed the big, gaping wound in me caused from the hurt by others. When they used me and threw me away, God has patiently shown me that He still loves me. He loved me when I was covered with the garbage of hurt, disbelief, distrust, low self-esteem, anger, hate, bitterness and jealousy. This process, this healing journey has been very painful as I had to face and acknowledge the pain I had stuffed down inside me for years, pretending it didn’t exist, making believe that I was okay.
As God enabled me to handle the emotional pain, he slowly healed me. What others did to me, no longer hurts me. It no longer defines who I am and how I live my life. But in order to get where I am, I had to be honest with myself and God. It wasn’t easy to trust a God that didn’t stop the abuse and allowed others the freewill to choose how they wanted to be and to do what they wanted to do. I’m asking you to be honest with yourself and Jesus. Let Him work in you to set you free, to mend your hurts and to even go above and beyond that. He will give you life and that abundantly, more than you can ever imagine.
Being Honest with God and Yourself
