As I sit in our sunroom listening to the birds’ melodies and the light breezes, I am amazed to still be here alone… and still. It’s 8:45 on a Sunday morning and the kids are still sleeping. No way I’m waking them up yet. An hour is still to spare.
Time like this is rare for me. In fact, it’s been a while since I’ve let words come off my fingers from the overflow of my heart as opposed to a review-type blog post. What is different today? I put on my tennis shoes and went for a run with a friend. The early morning workout actually happened. I didn’t hit snooze 20 times (only 3). 😉 Then I came home to my Bible open on the sunroom table. So it goes… when I get up and put my running shoes on, this happens next…
When the discipline happens in one area, it spills into all other areas of my life. But on the flip side, when I allow other stuff to cloud my vision, I am a chaotic and twirly mess.
Psalm 7:1-2 says “O Lord my God, in you do I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers and deliver me, lest like a lion they tear my soul apart, rending it in pieces, with none to deliver.”
As I read these words today, the word “pursuers” grabbed my attention. Pursuers don’t have to be people. They can be bad habits, evil thoughts, bitterness, laziness, lust, pride… so many others. These pursuing time-stealers that come straight from the chief pursuer himself.
When I stay in bed in the morning instead of getting up to workout and spend time with God, I’m letting my pursuers “tear my soul apart” as the Psalmist so eloquently calls it out. When I flip on the TV instead of spending quality time with my husband and kids, I’m allowing my pursuers to overtake my heart. When I scroll Facebook mindlessly for hours, I’m letting worthless things fill my mind.
When I continually do these things and my lifestyle becomes one of complacency, my soul becomes broken into shattered pieces.
It’s hard. I know. We want to live a life of holiness… We honestly don’t want our souls torn apart, do we? Yet somehow we often give in to the easy way. We let those pursuing people/places/things in our lives distract us from the discipline of the call… and in doing so, we miss His call.
May we pray every single day… “God, SHOW me what/who my pursuers are. SAVE me from them and DELIVER me.” It’s a daily prayer, for sure. Our pursuers try to overtake us every second.
The only way to keep our souls intact is to stay planted in God’s grip.
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