“Remember the command that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you after he said, ‘The Lord your God will give you rest by giving you this land.’” Joshua 1:13

I was a bad boy yesterday! At least that’s how I felt! Coming off what I felt was a good Wednesday night church… I was spent. I awoke Thursday to a dark and dreary morning. It is rainy season here and… it’s raining! It felt like I was back up north on a cold, gray winter’s morning! I was ‘up…’ but certainly wasn’t ‘at ‘em!’ My ‘get‘ up and go’ had ‘got up and went!’ So I went back to bed, knowing full well that a lot of folks in my church HAD to get up and GO GO GO! But lo… even my own GUILT failed as a motivator!

The word ‘lethargic’ means sluggish and apathetic. Looking up the definition, one site used it in a sentence adding… ‘We are often in this state!” I don’t like this state! It makes me feel like a failure! Added to my curse was my lovely wife! She is like the ‘Energizer Bunny! ‘zing, zing, zing!’ I wanted to kill her! Which took the word ‘apathetic’ to an even DARKER corner than where I lay! I was in a place I didn’t WANT to be, but was CHOOSING to STAY THERE! Just like Gad!

The Bible verse today, when read by itself, looks like a good one. Until we read verse 12 before it. God was leading the Children of Israel to ‘The Promised Land!’ Along the way, the tribe of Gad, along with 2 others, looked around at where they were, called a meeting and proclaimed, “good enough! We wanna stay here!” Sadly, and maybe because they were in that state of mind, God couldn’t really get them to care enough to move on! So He let them live there!

The Old Testament is like a picture book. It paints bold pictures of deep truths later found in the New Testament. This particular story has many chapters. “Grow up! Don’t settle! Faith not works! Trust and obey!” are just a few. If I wasn’t lethargic I could probably make a longer list! But alas… ‘Oh Victory in Jesus,’ has succumbed to ‘Jesus I Am Resting, Resting!’

There is a very good chance that YOU are familiar with this particular devotion! But like in the definition… I don’t care! This is all about ME! The novel phrase, “any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental,” applies! I SHOULD have been singing, rejoicing and break-dancin’ for Jesus. Instead, having morphed from “war-ship’ to ‘dinghy,’ I simply floated where the waves took me! My problem NOW is this… It’s FRIDAY and it’s still raining!

It is true that I am beating myself up! But sometimes it does become necessary. Stringing a few days like this together can EASILY become a lifestyle CHOICE. Just like the one Gad and the boys made. It is unreasonable to expect NO days spent in the ‘Land of Lethargy.’ It is UNACCEPTABLE to choose to LIVE there! Therefore, guilt CAN become a very good motivator. I think that is why God gave it to us! I must remember that SETTLING for ANYTHING that God did not intend for me to have… is DANGEROUS!      I’m awake now!