Step 1: We admitted that we were powerless over our dependencies-that our life had become unmanageable.
January 3, 2007
Yesterday we talked about the kind of powerlessness that grips us from the inside out. It’s the place in our heart where our desire to be healthy and fit collides with our inner couch potato and junk food junkie. Why is it that the potato and junkie always seem to win? That’s one kind of powerlessness. But there’s another.
This is the kind of powerless that comes when our life circumstances appear to place us in a position of limited choices. We wish we had other options, but it seems as if circumstances beyond our control dictate our lives. I know a lady who feels like she has no choice but to continue to give money to her drug addicted son. Her support group tells her this is codependent, enabling behavior – but she has grandchildren that need shoes!!! Those babies need to eat!! She hears what her friends and family suggest. She wishes she could follow their sound advice. But what about those babies?
When we have a spouse who is neglectful or abusive but we feel compelled to stay for the sake of the children, or for religious reasons, or simply because we can’t figure out how to leave, we feel pretty powerless. I know folks who feel absolutely powerless as they watch a dread disease overtake a loved one. That’s a pretty powerless situation too. So there are many different ways to experience powerlessness.
But it’s not all bad news.
Scripture reading for today: Genesis 16 - 21
Thought for today: Hagar is a great example for all kinds of powerless living. A servant, with very few choices, she is enlisted to act as a surrogate for Abraham’s lineage. Abraham’s wife Sarah grew impatient waiting for God’s promise of a son, and she cast Hagar into the role of baby maker with Abraham. When Hagar became pregnant, she suffered under the illusion that now she had some power – boy, was she wrong. Read the whole story to get a grip on all the sordid details. Bottom line: Hagar was indeed powerless. In fact, her pregnancy increased her lack of power and level of unmanageability. But here’s the hope. Once Hagar acknowledged her powerless state, an angel of the Lord came to her. He gave her words of encouragement. Hagar, a servant, one of the lowliest of the low in her society, had an intimate encounter with God. Hagar understood what many of us miss: God hears us when we cry out to Him. And he responds. He gave Hagar wise counsel, and she followed his advice. Abraham didn’t exactly rush to Hagar and Ishmael’s (his son with Hagar) aid when Sarah began to resent them. Sarah never seemed to grasp that all this chaos was the result of her own attempts to exert power in a situation that God already had a hand in. Life stayed messy for this blended family of sorts. But the thing to remember is this: God heard the cries of those who knew they were without power. I hope this comforts you today. I hope this helps you muster up the courage to admit all the powerless and unmanageable parts of your life to the One Who Hears.
Thought for tomorrow:
My people are broken – shattered! – and they put on band-aids, saying, “It’s not so bad. You’ll be just fine.” But things are not “just fine”! Jeremiah 6:14 The Message
This is God’s word on the subject: ...“I’ll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out – plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen.” Jeremiah 29:10-12 The Message
Teresa McBean
January 3, 2007
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