Today’s Daily Bread ~ Magic Pill

Proverbs 13:4 – Lazy people want much but get little, but those who work hard will prosper and be satisfied.

We live in an era of instant gratification.  When we (meaning, of course, the average American) want something, we get it.  If we can’t afford it, we charge it.  And if we can’t have it, we get frustrated.

A recent article from MSN says that 43% of U.S. households spend more than they earn each year.  The average American family has about $8000 racked up in credit card debt at any given time.  Personal bankruptcies have at least doubled in the past decade.  You want to know the scariest thing about these numbers?  They’re from 2004.  And things have only gotten worse since then.

I call this the Now Mentality, and it certainly isn’t limited to money and things.  As a nation, we spend $40 billion dollars a year on weight loss programs and pills.  As a former yo-yo dieter/bulimic, I can tell you this: Most of them don’t work.  The ones that do involve changing your lifestyle from unhealthy to healthy.  Less processed food, more whole grains, fruit, vegetables, and lean meats.  Less time on the couch, more time on the treadmill.  But statistics show we don’t want discipline.  We want results, and we want them yesterday.

Over the past few months, I’ve spent a lot of time studying and researching the emotional health of the average American for a presentation I recently gave called “From Worrier to Warrior.”  In a nutshell, here is what I’ve learned:  We’re more anxious than ever before.

• 40 million people in the U.S. will experience an anxiety condition this year.
• Those who experience anxiety and stress have a very high propensity for drug abuse and addictions.
• 65% of North Americans take prescription medication every day.  43% of it is mood altering.
• Paxil and Zoloft (anti-anxiety medications) ranked 7th and 8th in the top ten prescribed medications in the US (these two medications totaled almost $5 Billion in sales in 2002).
• Recreational drugs are also used to cope with anxiety.  42% of young adults in America regularly use recreational drugs (National Institute on Drug Abuse)

The Now Mentality has resulted in this: We (as a nation, not you) have forgotten the value of the journey.

Consider Isaiah 40:31a – But those who wait on the LORD will find new strength. 

Who will enjoy their brand new, 47 inch, HD TV more?  The one who makes payments over the next three years, paying interest for 36 months, or the one who waits, saving diligently until they can afford it?  Who will enjoy their new skinny jeans more?  The ones who work hard, developing new habits through self-discipline or the ones who practically starve themselves on ridiculous diets that never work long term?

There is strength gained in the waiting process.  There are lessons to be learned on the journey.  Those who patiently wait upon the Lord will find new strength.  So often we look at the waiting process, the saving process or the discipline required for lasting results and we get overwhelmed.  Why?  Because we don’t have the strength to do it yet.  But as we wait upon the Lord, as we seek Him in all we do and as we ask Him to bless our efforts, He will provide us with new strength.  Strength that is difficult to fathom, because we don’t possess it yet.

The American King James Version phrases Proverbs 13:4 this way: The soul of the sluggard desires, and has nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.  When you break this down in the original Hebrew, it’s powerful and profound. 

The soul of the sluggard desires, and has nothing.  When the text says “the soul,” this means our innermost being.  When we opt for the magic pill over discipline, we crave the results, but the lasting results don’t come.  And we experience disappointment, frustration, feelings of worthlessness and despair.

But the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.  Those who work hard and discipline themselves “shall be made fat.”  The word for this is dashen (daw-shane’).  This means sated, satisfied, prosper and to make prosperous.  It also implies abundance.  Prosperous in a sense that you have more than enough.

God calls me to be diligent in my time with Him.  I have learned the hard way, many times, that if I want to claim His promises of peace and joy through all circumstances, I must discipline myself to get up early and spend time with Him.  I have to make healthy choices.  I have to filter everything in my life through the Holy Spirit, asking myself, “Does this line up with God’s will for my life?”  When I try to do things my way, peace is nowhere to be found.  When I am smack in the center of His will, His peace is impenetrable.

Dear Heavenly Father, it is so hard to be disciplined in a society that seduces with the magic pill.  It is so hard to be patient in the face of things that promise instant gratification and immediate results.  Please write Proverbs 13:4 and Isaiah 40:31 on our hearts.  Help us to be diligent and disciplined in everything we do, especially our relationship with You.  We ask that You would strengthen us for the lifestyle You are calling us to live.  Help us walk in a spirit of victory – victory that was won over 2000 years ago on the cross!  Change us from the inside out, Lord, so that we crave the things that delight You.  Give us an unquenchable thirst for Your Word.  Please show us the areas in our lives where we’re lacking, and give us the courage and confidence to make a change.  God, we love You so much.  We thank You for the work done on the cross that allows us to enter into Your Presence and approach Your throne.  May we never take it for granted.  We ask these things in the beautiful, holy name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.