Be Free & Fit

I turned 40 in August.  In that moment I realized I had struggled with my weight for half my life.  Literally.

It only occurred to me this week the significance of the number 40.  It rained for 40 days and 40 nights when the Lord flooded the earth--and then he rebuilt it.  For 40 years the Israelites wandered in the wilderness--and then they received the promise land.  I'm sure there are other mentions of the number 40 in God's word, but these immediately jump to my mind.

I'm tired today.  Not just physically, but mentally drained.  Even emotionally drained.  It's been very busy.  I haven't forgotten the Lord, but it has been difficult to hear him clearly in the midst of the chaos.  But He did give me these verses (below) this week.  I will write more about them as I have more clarity for myself...but, this was a moment when I realized that I am not unique in my long-suffering. Not even in my current, light and temporary suffering. God ALWAYS rescues his people, even when they have wandered and suffered for a very long time.  You need only look at the Israelites to realize...He never forgot them.  He always fed them.  He always clothed them.  He always protected them. 

He does the same for me.

Why?

As John Piper says, "God's work to save and sanctify you is not so that you can enjoy yourself more. It's so that you might be free and fit to enjoy Christ forever."

I don't know about you, but I want to be free and fit!  And I want to make sure I'm doing it for the BEST reason.  The same reason God had in mind.  So that I can enjoy Christ.  Now AND forever.

I love when scripture reads like a story.  Here's a story.  It sounds an awful lot like my own story:

And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.  And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.  Deuteronomy 8:2-3