Joseph was a very handsome and well-built young man, and Potiphar’s wife soon began to look at him lustfully. “Come and sleep with me,” she demanded. But Joseph refused. “Look… How could I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God.” (Genesis 39:6-9)
Late one afternoon, after his midday rest, David got out of bed and was walking on the roof of the palace. As he looked out over the city, he noticed a woman of unusual beauty taking a bath. He sent someone to find out who she was, and he was told, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” Then David sent messengers to get her; and when she came to the palace, he slept with her. (II Samuel 11:2-4)
All diets start with a choice. And not just start….there are a continual array of choices. Anyone who has ever tried to lose weight can attest to it. And…it’s not always easy. A couple months after I started a diet, we had a birthday party for one of our kids complete with cake and ice cream. Ice cream. Smooth, creamy, yummy ice cream. (I love ice cream, can you tell?)
I did great during the party…didn’t eat a bite, but then it started. I could swear the ice cream was calling my name from the freezer. “Just one little taste. C’mon! A little bite won’t hurt!” Then the fight began. You know the fight…the one in your head where you know you shouldn’t, but you really really want to, but you firmly decide not to, and you try to think of anything else besides that ice cream, but it keeps calling your name, and you resist and resist and resist…..and then you fail. Miserably. And eat the ice cream. Ugh!
These two men, Joseph and David, were faced with a similar choice. They both knew what they should do. They both had a relationship with God. They both made a choice, but they each made a different choice. Joseph ran away from the temptation, and David ran right for it.
Did they both reach their potential? Yes. Did they both see God’s Word come to pass for them? Yes! But I bet if David could’ve had a do over, he would have run away too. I wonder if he questioned whether or not it was worth the price he paid.
If we’re going to reach the potential God has spoken over us, we are going to have to make choices along the way. Tough choices. Some will be life-changing choices. It could be choosing to keep on speaking the Word, even though it doesn’t look like anything is happening. It could be running away from a temptation that keeps dogging your steps, like Joseph did. It may be choosing to step away from distractions so you can have more time to press into Him.
Whatever choices you have to make, you can be sure they won’t come without a fight….and I mean a fight against the flesh. Even today, I had some downtime between finishing work and picking up the kids from school. What was nudging at me all afternoon was to spend some extra time in prayer. What I really WANTED to do was crawl under the covers and watch TV….harmless TV….distracting TV. And there was a little fight going on between my flesh and my heart.
David’s flesh won out in his fight. Did it keep him from fulfilling God’s plan for him? No! In fact, the son who took over the throne when David died was one of his sons with Bathsheeba. God could still use him. There was some extra pain and guck he had to deal with, but he still reached his potential…that promise spoken over him about being king….and he lived out his days living that dream, and God even made something good come from the mess he had made.
This time, my heart won the fight. Does it always? Nope. There have been times that TV has been the choice of the hour. What then? Did that disqualify me from reaching my potential? No way. Did it delay it? Probably. I look back and wonder…what did I miss out on? What was God trying to show me when He was nudging me to pray and get into His Word.?
We are going to have to make choices on our way to reaching our potential…to seeing our dream fulfilled…..to seeing faith become sight. Sometimes we’ll make the right one. Sometimes we’ll make the wrong one. But even when we make the wrong choice, we need to keep pressing on.
Falling isn’t failure. Quitting is failure. We need to keep going, even if we miss it…even if we make a wrong choice. If we mess up, we need to just ‘fess up and press on. He is faithful, and He can even make something good come from any messes that we make. He is amazing, isn’t He?
And we know that God causes everything (even our messes) to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. (Romans 8:28)