Oppressed
Who are your oppressors?
Verse of the Day
“Teach me your way, Lord; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors.”
Today’s Devotional
I am in a place of seeking and searching for a word from the Lord. I am desperate for His guidance. Have you ever felt that way? Does it happen often for you? I will admit that I am dependent daily on God’s strength. I ask Him many times each day to guide me and help me to love him and others well. But those feel like more general requests for strength. However, some things are distressing my soul and my outlook on my life. So I am diligently seeking God’s counsel. I’m also feeling convicted that I don’t do this enough for the specifics of my life.
So if I’m using this verse as a guide for my search, how would that work? I’m going to go backwards. Who are my oppressors? Satan is the first one that comes to mind. I believe it scares him for a believer to actually do what the Bible says to do. When he gets scared, he ramps up his attack. Since he is defeated, and he knows this, he uses the tools that are still available to him in his defeated state. Those tools are fear and lies.
In my personal experience, Satan attacks my mind while I am sleeping. Let me explain. I wake up every single morning with my mind in an unhealthy place. Seriously, every single day. I either wake up and my mind starts spinning about everything I think needs to be accomplished that day, or – if there has been any kind of relational issue in my life – I wake up having a mental fight with this person. Neither of those are a great way to start the day. He is using fear and lies to attack my thinking. He is using fear by making me afraid of what other people think of me, or by making me think my value and worth comes from what I can accomplish. He is using lies by distorting my view of things. He distorts the impact that others have over me, making things a very big deal that are, in fact, very small issues. These attacks are not limited to right when I awake, but there is a several hour window, while I am asleep, when I have not prayed, simply because I was asleep.
The next oppressor is myself: Unrealistic expectations, faulty thinking that is not based on truth, not being grounded in God’s truth and therefore allowing the world and its culture to dictate my value, my needs and my desires and what my expectations should be. This, for me, is dangerous territory.
The other oppressor I can think of is other people. People may (consciously or not) be wanting things from me that do not align with God’s will for my life. They may be being selfish, or lazy, or inconsiderate. Or they might be completely unaware of how their actions or needs are affecting me. Either way, it sends me to Galatians 1:10. “Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
Thinking about all the ways I may be being oppressed, by Satan and myself and others, reminds me of the truth in 2 Corinthians 4:8-9: “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” The struggle is real, friends. And it should not be a surprise. We are told many times in the Bible that we will have troubles. We are also told that Jesus has already won those battles on our behalf.
Going back to today’s verse, I clearly need help with my struggles. This verse asks God to teach me what to do and say and how to react. What if a student has an excellent teacher but never goes to class? What if a student goes to class but never does the practice work? Will that student be prepared for the test? (Ouch.) This verse also asks God to lead me in the straight path, also known as God’s will for my life. I cannot follow the leader if I can’t see him. I must be praying for spiritual eyes to discern the guideposts he has placed all over my life. I must get quiet and listen for direction. Then I must be willing to obey. If I want God to teach me and lead me, I must remain teachable. God’s way hardly ever looks the way I think it will, which means that I need to maintain an open mind to what God’s way actually is. Having a closed mind is another way I am my own oppressor. God, today I ask that you help me to be teachable. I ask that you help me to follow wherever you are leading my life.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
How are you being oppressed right now?
Who or what do you identify as your oppressors?
How can you be a good student today of what God needs you to learn?
How can you follow where God is leading you?