Why is it we think more about the bad that has happened than the good? Why does one negative thing said require three positive to wipe it out?
Sorry. I don’t have the answers, but I know this is the way we are. Five years of the words from a bully starting when I was 10 have held sway over me to this day. All the positives I’ve heard and experienced get swept aside when those memories pop up.
When Asaph penned this psalm, he was lamenting over the feeling of being deserted by God. He felt forgotten, cast aside, left alone. Then he says, “But then I recall…”
Sounds like an intentional action, doesn’t it?
His thoughts are going all willy-nilly and he says, “Nope. No more. I’m looking back at what I know is true, the things I know God has done in the past.” And in the following verses, he recounts those as a means of correcting his errant thoughts.
What about you? Do you have times when the ugliness of the world takes over your soul?
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12 that we have to renew our minds. It’s proven that we can’t stop thinking about something by willing ourselves to not think about it.
Case in point: if you’re trying to stop drinking soft drinks, and the time in the afternoon when you usually grab one comes along, you start thinking, “I do not want a soft drink. I don’t want a soft drink.” Over and over you repeat that and your desire for that soft drink remains the same or grows.
If instead of dwelling on that you got up and grabbed a glass of water or tea and declared it delicious and satisfying, you would find yourself nearing supper time unburdened by the call of the soft drink.
This happens because you have replaced what you desire with something else. Our thoughts are the same. When we hear the voices that demean us as lesser than the amazing person God created, we need to deflect them and replace those voices with the Voice of Truth.
Reflecting on Who God is and what He has done for us us is a wonderful place to start.
When we first attempt this exercise, it will be difficult. We’ll be like Winnie the Pooh with our finger against our head murmuring, “Think, think, think.” However, just like any atrophied muscle we work with, by exercising and strengthening it, we’ll grow stronger. The ability to jump to the Truth will become inherent and automatic.
Let’s try this today. No matter what negative thought you fall prey to, when you start having that thought, intentionally correct it by replacing it with truth.
Then do it again tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. In time you won’t have to think about making that replacement, you’ll do it automatically and it will seem as though you never had the bad thought. GLORIOUS DAY!!!
Coffee, Bible, Journal.
