With that said, I have noticed some lies creeping in as I've struggled this past week. I would consider this past week my first week experiencing what everyone calls "culture shock". I think some aspects of culture shock are valid as you struggle to figure out life in a new country, but I also realize a lot in my own heart is just various lies presenting themselves as truth to me. I think we all experience "culture shock" in various areas of our life, as we resist difficulties the Lord brings into our life or ways we resist His authority. So mainly in order to battle this well in my own life I want to start posting more about what truths I feel like I need to be dwelling on in the middle of the fight. So as I face them, I want to do a series of posts called Exposing Culture Shock. As I do this, I just want to share the ways the Lord IS near despite what my feelings often tell me... Not because I'm even battling well all the time but I want to battle well. I want contentment. I want to press into Him when the rubber meets the road...where I find myself.
The first truth I want to dwell on is simply that:
This is the best possible life for me.
A verse from the Psalms continues to come to my mind:
Psalm 32:8-10
The LORD says, "I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you. Do not be like a senseless horse or mule that needs a bit and bridle to keep it under control."
The Lord has led me to where I am in my life with good intentions. How quickly I cry out with Israel that he must have brought me into this desert to let me die! There is no other, better plan for me. I often say I believe in a sovereign God but I whine and pout inwardly when He is displaying the trait that makes Him God in an uncomfortable way in my life. He is meticulous and wise in sifting the trials and situations in my life so as to yield the best harvest. It doesn't often look or feel that way, does it? It feels too much like a furnace or like the discomfort will rub my heart raw. The Lord keeps reminding me when I feel that tension to humble myself. Remind myself that He's trustworthy. Not to be like the senseless horse or mule the Psalm was speaking of that has to be continually trained and disciplined to follow it's Master's lead. He chafes underneath authority. The resisting actually makes the thing more difficult, the training being more painful than needed. He acts like he doesn't trust His master. He resists because he thinks he knows better the way toward what is good for him.
I don't have to wonder if there's a better location or situation for me to be in. This is precisely where I need to be right now. And I am here - uncomfortable as I may be - so that I will get more of Him than I had previously. There is no "good thing" out there that I need or I would have it. Isn't that freeing? To sum up, Paul Tripp says:
This is the bottom line. The good that God promises me isn't a situation, possession, position or relationship. The good that God promises me is himself. What could possibly be a better gift than this?
