Idols

It's been one week since I got the word from my doctor. He told me I was doing a great job in keeping my blood sugar levels in check through my diet and that I only need to test my blood a couple of times a day now. He also said he wouldn't let this pregnancy go beyond 39 weeks, "so don't make an appointment to be seen in the office the week of August 25, you'll be in the hospital."

Most women in their right minds would be happy with such news. I've been wrestling with God over it for a week now. Quite frankly, I'm getting tired of this low carb diet. A girl who was raised on bread, potatoes and noodles doesn't exactly like being told that these foods are to be very limited. Not to mention, the no sugar part of the diet. Let me tell you, sugar free candy just doesn't cut it and the laxative effect of the candy makes it even less desirable. I keep reminding myself, "Man does not live by bread (or chocolate) alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."

Secondly, the week of August 25 is always when the peaches are ripe. I can like a crazy woman that week. Until last week, I was still holding on to a shred of hope that I could can before giving birth. I told the doctor he was messing up my canning schedule (he used to can, too). His reply, "I know, I mess up everyone's lives, just ask my son."

Today on the way home from dropping off Elizabeth for her training, I turned on the radio and listened to Dr. David Jeremiah. He was preaching about Samson. Even though Samson had taken a Nazarite vow, he pandered to his fleshly lusts all of his life, to his own destruction.

As we're working through A.W. Pink's "Repentance" in our Bible study, it has become painfully obvious that I can't keep my "pet sins" and still claim to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Pink says that Christ came to fulfill (establish) the law, not to abolish it. I can't knowingly sin and claim, "It's o.k., I know God will forgive me." If I truly understand God's holiness and I truly care about His glory, then I won't continue to sin. I will instead repent by being truly broken over my sin, recognizing my wickedness in light of God's holiness. As Pink says, "Repentance, then, presupposes, first, a recognition and acknowledgement of God's claims upon us as our Creator, Governor, Provider, and Protector." If I am a bondservant of the Lord Jesus Christ, then I should "joyfully obey", as Pink says, in ALL things in accordance with God's Holy Word.

So the upshot of all of this is, I need to "make no provision for the flesh" as the scripture says. I need to acknoweledge God's sovereignity, His rights to me as I have been "bought with a price," and to stop feeling sorry for myself that I can't have things my own way. God loves me unconditionally (agape love) and He knows what's best for me. Goodness knows, if I'd had things my way all my life, I'd be in a real mess right now.

In his sermon, Jeremiah read this verse in making his point about Samson, "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life." Gal. 6:7, 8