Dogs + vomit . . .
Ever seen a dog go back to its vomit? Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper gross!!!!
We have been breeding dogs for well over 10 years now and they are creatures of habit and instinct. One of their natural instincts is to go back and eat up that which they vomit out. I’m not going to try and explain the rationale or thinking behind it suffice to say that it’s right up there with UUUGGGHHHH!
For us as humans looking from the outside, it makes no sense.
The same can be said of people who return back to their old, bad habits and ways of living.
This week I clearly heard the Lord say, “Do not go back”
It is important to remember where we have come from, but we should never long to go back there. We shouldn’t even entertain it. In fact, Proverbs says to flee far from it!
In the book of Numbers we read of the Israelites walking in the desert. They had just experienced miraculous deliverance from absolute slavery in Egypt . . . they were experiencing freedom . . . when all of sudden, they felt a bit of heat . . . a bit of pressure . . . and suddenly they all started moaning and whining, calling to go back to Egypt. Yep, they wanted to return to their own vomit.
In Galatians 3, Paul is trying to snap the church of Galatia out of their buzz, their buzz of wanting to return to their old ways. He writes, “You stupid Galatians! Who has bewitched / tricked / tempted / convinced you to return back to your old ways?!”
Whanau, whenever you feel a bit of pressure or heat or pain, do not revert back to your old ways and old self. That is dead and gone. And on top of that, if your mind and sense was ON and clear, you’d remember that those old ways and old self was absolute hell. Don’t go back.
Alcohol - nope, not going back.
Drugs - kahore, not going back.
Anger and losing it - sorry, not going back.
Depression and locking yourself in the room for days on end - narp, not going back.
Porn and lust - nah, not going back.
Eating and eating and eating - no, not going back.
Judging others and aiming for perfection and performance - sorry, not sorry, not going back.
Don’t trade a little bit of pressure for a whole lot of hell.
The Lord has a heap of good for you - check out Deuteronomy 28 . . . it really is all there for you to choose and go for.
Action points:
Grab a piece of paper
Make a list of old habits and ways that you may have been slipping back into
Burn that sucker and declare, “I am not going back. That is not who I am.”
Declare over yourself the blessings of Deuteronomy 28, being careful to obey the Word of the Lord!