1 Samuel 17, 1 Chronicles 2, Acts 12
Being alone with my thoughts is dangerous. Dangerous, because I am focused on who I am. While I like who I am, when I am alone, I focus on my shortcomings. I find myself comparing who I am to who I want to be. Often, I will compare who I am with who others expect me to be. Facts are, I fall way short of who I want to be and even shorter of who others expect me to be. This is why being alone with my thoughts is often destructive. In the end, alone sends my heart and mind into chaos, replacing my confidence with anxiety and gripped with fear.
Fear and anxiety send me looking for answers. How do I eliminate it? My heart longs to be restored. My quest for restoration leads me to podcasts, books, and videos, attempting to gain understanding from others’ experiences. Their success, I think, can be my success. Content creators promise it too. If I follow these “10 Simple Steps,” for example, I too can convert “fear into fuel.” This works. For a minute. That’s when the excitement and the newness wear off. I find myself disappointed and distressed, just as I was before. Alone again, with my thoughts.
In Acts 17, Paul presents the truth differently. He teaches me not to be alone with my thoughts, but to be together. Being together with my thoughts, counter-balance’s the world’s wisdom with Truth. Instead of focusing on who I am, Paul reminds me of who I am created to be. These are God’s promises. When I am alone, I forget them. If, however, I invite God to join me, he is quick to remind me. First, he says that he will never forsake me. Then, he tells me about the full life he has ready for me. Finally, he freely fills me with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. These are the building blocks for confidence, blessing, and courage. As I move through together time, I quickly find that not only is this who God created me to be, it is who I AM.
Acts 17:26-28 (NLT) From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries. His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.