I had a dream that I shaved off my eyebrows.
Panicked, I began digging through my make-up drawer looking for something to draw them back on. I had nothing.
This morning, I had to look in the mirror to make sure it wasn’t true! Then I looked up the meaning of the dream:
“To dream of shaving an eyebrow off represents the choice to temporarily put your dignity or self-respect aside. Making strange or embarrassing choices that others don’t understand or respect you for. Consciously losing others respect.” – dreambible.com
Now, I don’t know if I’m losing another person’s respect right now or not, but I do know that I greatly fear another person misunderstanding me or judging me.
I dread being seen as a failure.
This is one reason why the Law, the first five books of the Bible are difficult for me. Within these books there are a total of 613 rules and regulations to live by. When I see that number, my anxiety wins and I want to throw up. Why in the world would God do that to His people? Why would He prescribe so many rules about clothing and livestock and worship food?
In Deuteronomy, Moses (who is sort of preaching a sermon about God’s law) gives us a simple reason: It’s for our own good.
God’s commands bring us life.
His commands are to protect us and those around us. They are to keep us close to Him and to redeem our lives.
Moses spoke his sermon to the Israelites right before his death to prepare them for entering Canaan, the Promised Land.
The Canaanites worshiped many idols, but specifically Baal. Some Israelites had already chosen to worship Baal with prostitutes and sacrifices (Numbers 25). They chose to walk away from God. They chose not to follow His way of life.
This wasn’t a matter of these men making a couple of choices and losing a couple of points in God’s fictional book of tallies. This was a complete change in direction away from God. They broke their side of the covenant with the Creator.
In God’s covenant, God desires one thing: the hearts of His people to be towards Him.
What land are you about to enter? What great step are you preparing to take?
More important, where is your heart?
It is tempting to compare ourselves to others’ successes and failures, to judge ourselves based on what we believe someone else is thinking of us.
But we must stop looking to the left and to the right and choose to look up. What is God asking you to do? What way is He saying will bring life? It may be to just keep after Him every hour, every day, every week until you begin to see some answers. That has been my experience this year. And it has been a good one. (Read about it here. And there’ll probably be more on it tomorrow.)
I’m going to part with these verses from Deuteronomy which always make me cry. There is hope, friends. In God, there is always hope.
Remember that Jesus fulfilled the law. We are now under a new commandment. I strive every day to be led by the Holy Spirit in all my decisions. Big and small. When I stumble He picks me up and very gently puts me back on the right track. He never corrects me with harsh words or punishments, those are either my own doing or that of Satan and I’m now able to brush them away pretty quickly.
Yes! I try to remember every day and leave reminders around me all the time. Sometimes it’s easier to forget than to remember. I appreciate your comment!