Song of the Over-Achiever Believer

I just don’t feel like caring today.

Does this happen to you?

For one thing, I’m exhausted from an amazing family week-end in Washington, D.C. I looked forward to it for months, it was perfect, I enjoyed every minute of it and now, it’s over. Blah.

For another thing, life is demanding right now. Older kids, older parents, bills, jobs, responsibilities, ministries, blah, blah, blah.

It’s raining, it’s Wednesday, I’m coming down with something and the truth is, I just don’t feel like caring. People around me need prayer, meals, teaching, help, support, a listening ear, a clean shirt, a kick in the pants, a comforting word but I just want to call in sick to life and crawl back under the covers.

But, that’s not going to happen.

I feel a little like Jim Carrey in the movie “Bruce Almighty” when he was fielding all of God’s prayer requests for a day. He commanded they be on post-it notes around him and suddenly every square inch of the room he was in was covered with post-it notes! Aaaahhhh!

The fact that I relate to that scene is an indication of the problem.

In the movie, Jim Carrey was being God for the day. Sometimes, I try to play that role in my life and in the lives of those around me. Sometimes, I fall into the trap of believing I can be such a great representative of God that I’m almost better than He is at being Him.

I mean, I would never make people suffer or feel any discomfort.

I would supply everyone with all the money they need.

I would never let anyone get sick far from home.

I would keep everyone far away from temptation whether they asked for my help or not.

I wouldn’t make anyone seek after me; I’d bang down their doors and march right in after them.

And sometimes, I actually try to pull that off in my own strength, playing God for me and everyone around me, and I end up pretty much where Jim Carrey did in the movie – creating a bigger mess than I started with and feeling about ready to collapse.

Like today.

So, I turned to the next Psalm in the Song of Ascents and I read these words:

“1 If the LORD had not been on our side—
let Israel say- 2 if the LORD had not been on our side
when men attacked us, 3 when their anger flared against us,
they would have swallowed us alive; 4 the flood would have engulfed us,
the torrent would have swept over us, 5 the raging waters
would have swept us away. 6 Praise be to the LORD,
who has not let us be torn by their teeth. 7 We have escaped like a bird
out of the fowler’s snare; the snare has been broken, and we have escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.”
Psalm 124

In our ascent to the heart of God, we encounter much that is overwhelming. We face absolutely daunting, life-threatening, heart-stopping, mind-blowing, wrist-slashing, hair-pulling, blood-draining events.

But the Lord is on our side. He is our help. Even on the days when we just don’t feel like caring.

He is made of different stuff than we are. He sees things from an entirely different perspective.

Paul Scherer writes “God is almost intolerably careless about crosses and swords, arenas and scaffolds, about all the “evils” and all the “plagues.” His caring doesn’t mean that he goes in for upholstering!”

He is God. Accept no substitutes. Not even me or any other Christian.

If you are tempted to try to be God for someone else, remember that God never slumbers, never sleeps, never is tempted to stop caring, never pulls the covers over His head, never has a cold or stomach flu or a toothache.

People in our lives need the real deal. God. Undiluted, unfiltered, straight up God and sometimes He has to knock some of us overachieverbelievers out of the way in order to reach the people who need Him.

Don’t even try to be God in your own life. The truth is, I can’t even always take care of myself. Life just keeps coming and evil is actually really powerful. If the Lord had not been on my side, I would have been done in a long time ago.

Today, I will press on. I will work and pray and provide meals and teach until tonight when I can fall into my warm bed but now, I will do all that remembering that He is God and I am not.

Huge difference.

Really, a huge difference.

My shoulders feel lighter already.