Righteousness
This blog was written for Ignite Life to use in May, but adapted from a devotional that was written for my Refuge for Women team the last week of March – in the throes of the Corona Virus pandemic.
I don't know about you, but this has been a week. This morning I was reading in 2 Kings and I was overwhelmed by all the violence, all the war, all the evil and I thought to myself - "this is just not right." And then it hit me, as I sit here in my house today, I feel the same way. This is just not right. Our world is just not right. And then I’m reminded that we are told to put on the breastplate of righteousness. THANK GOD the righteousness is based on the “right-ness” of God and not the “right-ness” of me or anyone else. Our hope can only come from knowing that God is righteous, completely independent of my circumstances, wholly based on His character and nothing else and He gives His righteousness to us in a very wrong world.
Like I said at the beginning, this has been a very hard week for me personally. Things just aren't right.
We had to walk away from our new house we were building and lose $20,000 because of the stopped real estate market due to the Coronavirus and a builder who refused to give us an extension to allow time for our current house to sell.
Homer's mom passed away on Tuesday morning unexpectantly and we can't attend the funeral or be with his family - because of the danger of travel and advisories not to travel/fly at this time.
We are in a season of loss - in spite of our many prayers, our plans, and our hopes. We've prayed and not had the answers we wanted. We've sat and listened for God to speak, and not heard. We've cried, we've mourned, we've gotten angry and we've gone silent. For us, in this season, the world is just not right.
This morning as I was reading these words of Naaman in 2 Kings 5, I totally related. Naaman had gone to see Elisha because he believed that Elisha could get God to heal him of his leprosy. When he got to where Elisha was, Elisha didn't even come out and greet him. Instead, he sent a messenger who told Naaman to go dip in the Jordan River 7 times. Naaman responded by walking away in anger and he said, "I expected him (Elisha) to wave his hand over the leprosy and call on the name of the Lord his God and heal me!"
Those words leaped off the page at me. "I expected him to..." I literally wrote in the margin of my Bible - how do I respond when God doesn't respond like I expect him to?" The reality is we don't have a magic wand that we can wave and get God to do whatever we want - like Naaman expected Elisha to wave his hand - wave his magic wand....it just doesn't work like that. Naaman went on to say his rivers were way cleaner than the Jordan - what he was being told to do didn't even make any logical sense - go dip in the dirtiest river. What God was telling Naaman just didn't seem right. Naaman was looking to his personal righteousness while God was pointing to His ultimate right-ness.
I don't know about you, but I'm a Naaman sometimes. I push back. I say - You crazy God...(bad grammar intended) - I try to justify what I want to do...my river is cleaner - let's do this my way.....and yet - the ONLY way for Naaman to get healing was to dip in the dirty river not once, but seven times. Naaman had to dip into the righteousness of God – not touch his big toe into it, but dip – fully submerge himself, allow the dirty water to cover his head so the righteousness of God could cleanse. Not one dip, not two dips, but seven dips. Seven times of releasing what he felt was best – to exchange for God’s righteousness. Seven times of submission. Seven times of acknowledging he wasn’t in control. Seven times of saying not my will, but yours. Seven times.
Today, as things are so no right in our world, I feel like I'm dipping in the dirty river. This is not what I expected, but God! What a great reminder that God's ways are not mine. God's time is not mine. But - I am Gods. Can I just encourage you this morning to keep dipping? Healing is on the other side of the dipping. In my office hangs a sign that says "on the other side of obedience is healing"....sometimes the obedience looks like dipping in a dirty river. Repeatedly. Not giving up until you’ve done your final dip. Today, in a world that is just not right, I choose to dip. Today, in a world gone wrong, I choose to put on the righteousness of God. Today, when nothing makes sense, I choose to submit to the One who has called me to dip. How about you?
Robin Smith has a passion for equipping people to see their strengths and to lead with their unique God given gifts. She has spent the last 15 years in higher education, focusing on developing student leaders and equipping students with the skills they need to be successful in the pursuit of their education and careers.
Robin has recently transitioned out of higher education to pursue her heart’s passion to help equip women coming out of trafficking as the Program Director at Refuge for Women Las Vegas. Robin serves on the Ignite Life board, volunteers with Refresher for Women and Refresher Girls and teaches the evening class of Speaker's Workshop. She loves to teach the word of God and empower people to live victoriously on their journey with Jesus.
Robin and her husband Homer have been married for 31 years. They enjoy God’s creation by hiking, walking, or simply enjoying the sun with a good book. They have two children, Jenna and Ryne, three grandchildren, Alex, Dylan and Vincent and 1 cat - Cedar.