Posts Tagged: First things first
“IN OVER MY HEAD”
Do you ever feel like you’re in over your head? “All the time,” you say?
Me too—especially right now!
Of course I feel overwhelmed most of the time, so the phrase “especially right now” should probably be deleted. However, I’ll let it stand. I’ve lived an overwhelmed life.
Teaching a fairly large group of people at the university, trying to help out more at Bob Evans, trying to be a good house husband, especially in light of the fact that my sweetheart is caring for her mom two days a week, teaching Hebrew, caring for the dog, trying to be helpful to my 12-step friends, trying to read the Bible all the way through this year, trying to work out more at the gym, trying to start a Celebrate Recovery program at our church: I am getting overwhelmed just listing stuff I should be doing. (Writing a blog post is one of my daily tasks, so I guess I am doing something after all.)
I suspect that I am not terminally unique in this regard. Some of you who made time to read this blog may be saying (and with good justification), “Would you like to trade lists? I think I like yours better!”
Well, I can’t help you much, if at all, with your list, and perhaps you can’t help me with mine. Probably, trading wouldn’t help either. However, what I can do is to think a bit differently about my own list. Who knows? This may also invite you to think differently about your own list.
So here are three suggestions that I am making to my own fevered soul. Perhaps they may be helpful to you as well.
Suggestion # 1: Do triage, and do the most important thing first. This is probably also the task that you find the most difficult to start, keep at, and finish. When I was little, I didn’t like green beans. Still don’t. So, whenever I am served them, I eat them first (except, of course, when I eat my dessert first).
This does not work well for everyone. Some folks find it best to do some smaller, more doable task first. This gives them enough of a sense of accomplishment to tackle the next task, and so on. Whatever works for you is what you should do.
Suggestion # 2: Give thanks for having too much to do. I tend to complain about having too much to do—or having what I at least think is too much to do. But what if I took the attitude that I get to do all this stuff?
I have heard that there is an old Tahitian proverb that says, “May you be banished to idleness!” I am told that this is the worst thing you can so to a Tahitian.
I had a friend who spent several years in prison. He said that it wasn’t really horrible—except for the boredom. Feeling overwhelmed in profoundly uncomfortable. Feeling underwhelmed is not easy either.
Suggestion # 3: Bear in mind that God may be giving you more to do than you can do in your strength, because God doesn’t want you to do things in your own strength. Trusting God is a daily task for me. Feeling overwhelmed keeps me humble and open to trusting the one who is never overwhelmed with anything. There’s a wonderful TobyMac song (“Beyond Me”) that makes precisely this point.
“Call it a reason to retreat
I got some dreams that are bigger than me
I might be outmatched outsized the underdog in the fight of my life
Is it so crazy to believe
That you gave me the stars put them out of my reach
Call me to waters a little to deep
Oh I’ve never been so aware of my need
You keep on making me see
It’s way beyond me
It’s way beyond me
Yeah it’s out of my league
It’s way beyond me
It’s way beyond me
It’s way beyond
Anything that I got the strength to do
In over my head keeps me countin’ on you
I’m leaving the sweet spot sure shot tradin’ it all for the plans you got
Is it so crazy to believe
That you gave me the stars put them out of my reach
Call me to waters a little to deep
Oh I’ve never been so aware of my need
You keep on making me see
It’s way beyond me
It’s way beyond me
Yeah it’s out of my league
It’s way beyond me
It’s way beyond me
You take me to the place where I know I need You
Straight to the depths that I can’t handle on my own
And Lord I know, I know I need You
So take me to Your great
Take me to Your great unknown
It’s way beyond me, way way beyond me
It’s it’s way beyond me, way way way beyond me
Yeah, You gave me the stars, put them out of my reach
Called me to waters just a little too deep
Oh, I’ve never been so aware of my need
Yeah, you keep on making me see
It’s way beyond me (it’s way beyond me)
It’s way beyond me (it’s way beyond me)
Yeah, it’s out of my league (it’s way beyond me)
It’s way beyond me (it’s way beyond me)
It’s way beyond me (it’s way beyond me)
It’s way beyond me
You take me to the place where I know I need You
Straight to the depths that I can’t handle on my own (it’s way beyond me)
You take me to the place where I know I need You
Oh take me to Your place
Take me to Your great unknown”
My affirmation to God for today is as follows:
“Today, by God’s grace, I am consistently doing the next right thing, so far as I can discern the next right thing. I am swimming in the deep water today. The Everlasting Arms of God are underneath me, teaching me to trust and swim.”
It’s a bit warmer today. Anybody care to join me for a swim? We’ll break the ice if we need to!
First Things Second
No doubt you have heard—and probably said—“First things first!”
But it’s terribly easy to get off the path we know we ought to be traveling. Suddenly, first things can become second.
Consider, for example, the story of Solomon and his building projects. I was reading this account just this morning during my devotional time. I was stopped in my tracks by the very first verse I read.
“It took Solomon thirteen years, however, to complete the construction of his palace.” (1 Kings 7:1, NIV )
“Where on earth did the translators get the word “however” in this text?” I asked myself.
I wouldn’t say that I know Hebrew super-well, but I do know that verses are usually strung together with a simple waw. This Hebrew conjunction can often be translated “and,” but translators do often need to try another word to translate this Hebrew word.
Sure enough, it was a waw at the beginning of this word. So, how on earth did the translators decide on “however”? I decided to have a closer look. I’m glad that I did!
The translators were apparently going on word order. Hebrew word order is flexible, but generally, Hebrew prefers a verb-subject-object order. “Dog bites man,” is the English/American word order. The “normal” word order in Hebrew is “Bites dog man.” If you put the object of the verb (“man” in this simple example) first, it is usually done in order to emphasize the object.
The Hebrew word order in 1 Kings 7:1 may be translated literally as follows: “His (i.e., Solomon’s) house built Solomon.”
In other words, it is emphasized that Solomon’s own palace took thirteen years to complete, whereas the Temple of the LORD had taken only 7 years to build—a fact that had just been mentioned in the preceding verse.
Of course, this does not necessarily mean that his own palace was more important than the Temple. Perhaps Solomon had even more workmen building the Temple than he had working on his palace. Perhaps. Perhaps.
However, two things make me wonder. The first is that Solomon’s palace was much larger than the Temple. Why? To accommodate all the offices and officials who would serve Solomon? To accommodate Solomon’s wives? Or there is another possibility: Did Solomon want his house, the palace, to be the biggest, most impressive building in Jerusalem?
A second thing makes me wonder. Why is it that the narratives about the furnishings of the Temple and the dedication of the Temple come only after the report of Solomon building his palace? Admittedly, Hebrew writers did not always proceed chronologically, but this literary positioning is intriguing. Might it suggest that the building of the Temple was interrupted so that Solomon could build his own palace?
Well, all of this is interesting, but by no means without doubt. But there is another thing that is surely beyond doubt: Sometimes we all get our priorities out of order. We major on minors, and minor on majors. I had a friend who said years ago, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” True that!
If God comes first, everything else will fall into its proper place—or it will fall out entirely, if it needs to. I frequently willfully forget this.
Right now, I teach as an adjunct at a Christian institution, I teach a Hebrew class, I wait tables at two different restaurants, I try to be active in my church, attempt to be a good househusband, I blog, and am trying to find time to write a book.
Too often, I don’t ask myself a crucial question: What would most honor God right now? I don’t ask the question, in part, because I don’t want to hear the answer.
If God were writing the story of my life (and maybe He is), would he chronicle what I had done to honor Him? But would God have to insert a “however,” indicating that I had been primarily interested in building my own palace?
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
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- “The Power of Encouragement—Even for Old People” March 10, 2024“But encourage each other every day while it is ‘today.’ Help each other so none of you will become hardened because sin has tricked you.” (Hebrews 3:13, New Century Version) Yesterday, I was walking at a nearby park. There was a large group of young people some of whom were running while other young people […]
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- “Delighting in Being Told What to Do?!?” February 23, 2024“Psa. 112:1 Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments! 2 His offspring will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. 3 Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures […]
- “Character is the Real Lesson” January 19, 2024I am often confused about what lesson I’m really supposed to be learning. For example, this morning I was trying to knock out several Spanish lessons. My intentions were a lot better than my internet connection. I’ve done three lessons. Or rather, I’ve done two lessons. One of them I did twice because the internet […]
- “The Year of Becoming Un-Planked” January 1, 2024Each year, I try to come up with one word or a short phrase for what I intend to work on in the upcoming year. 2024 is “The Year of Becoming Un-Planked”. What?!! What does that even mean? So glad that you asked! Jesus said to his disciples, “Why do you look at the speck […]
- “Searching for the Noble One” December 26, 2023My wife and I were reading Luke, chapter 2 on Christmas Day. Luke 2 talks about the shepherds being told to look for this very special child—in fact, this King—in a stable. I prefer the word “barn”. I grew up on a farm. I know what a barn is. A stable is entirely too biblical […]
- “That Don’t Impress God Much” December 14, 2023DTEB, “That Don’t Impress God Much” “That Don’t Impress Me Much” (Song by Robert John Lange and Shania Twain) Micah 6:8 (MSG) “But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be […]
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