Week3: Small Minded
Weekly Chapters: Genesis 49 - Exodus 18
Passage of the Week: Exodus 10:10
Adjective:
Selfish
Petty
Narrow-minded
Additional Meanings:
Biased
Bigoted
Dictatorial
Hateful
Irritable
Chauvinistic
Contemptuous
Father God
As I read Your word today, open my eyes to Your teaching. Give me the strength to see my errors and the power to apply Your word to my thoughts. Guide me this week to see Your word and apply it to my actions.
Amen.
Authentic vulnerability:
There are so many instances where I have been small-minded. When I look at the meaning and other terms in the thesaurus—WOW. I have been all of those things. The older I get the more narrow-minded my thinking. When I was young the world was wide open. Everyone was fabulous. The world was all sparkles and now, more darkness has set in. I do not see the world as rainbows and buttercups. What has caused such a jaded view of the world? Such distrust of my surroundings and others. Narrow mindedness and pessimism pervade my days. Why do I think everyone has an angle or an agenda? Where is the openness and trust of my youth? Why is everything now so black and white?
Study:
Black and white thinking always comes in and causes small-minded thinking. Openness to the work of God and what he has in store for us is freeing. However, as we look at our lives and the trouble and turmoil come in, are we accepting? Or are we like a toddler stomping our feet and repeating why?
Exodus is full of themes of small-mindedness, stubbornness, and not being open to change or challenge. Being petty in the complaints and retribution of the Pharaoh in so many instances including plagues and ultimately death of his son from the Passover and his army being swallowed by the sea. These instances are all illustrated in Exodus.
Further, the Israelites are closed off to their blessings. They crave the comfort of their life of slavery verses in God’s promise. The COMFORT OF SLAVERY! The Israelites were complaining earlier in Exodus 5 about being forced to make the same number of bricks but also to gather straw. They could not be open to the idea of being saved to live and worship as they chose.
Later, after the Israelites were released after the Passover they would continue to doubt. In Exodus 14:10-14, they even state that “it would be better to be a slave”!
Every time they would complain, God would provide the answer (Exodus 16) including providing manna and quail. In Exodus 16:19-20, they were told not to hold over any manna, yet they did not trust. In Exodus 16:27 they were told to hold over for day 7, which they did. But the people still searched for manna on day 7 knowing the Lord had provided manna for day 7 on day 6. This confused the Lord who mentioned it to Moses in Exodus 16:28.
It is easy for us to judge the Israelites for being small-minded and not accepting their gifts with joy. It reminds me of a child opening their presents at a birthday party, when they open a gift that is a duplicate of what they may have, they firmly and unkindly state “hey, I already have this” unintentionally hurting the givers’ feelings.
Why are we like this: selfish, narrow-minded, and petty? God gave us free will and we leverage that at every stance.
In Exodus 18 starting in verse 13, God sends an answer. God sent Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro to visit Moses and return to his family. Jethro could see that Moses was struggling and not practicing self-care. This in turn was wearing him out. Jethro provided solutions, specifically delegation and not taking on the stress of others. This is what Moses needed.
When we live in stress, when we do not take time to rest, when we forget to be thankful for the gifts of the Lord, we think small, we act petty, and can be selfish. Do not confuse self-care with being selfish: self-care is taking care of your physical and mental wellbeing, a preventative measure against stress and fatigue while selfish is concerned with only your own interests. You must take care of your emotional and physical well-being to take care of others. Without self-care, one can easily become selfish as you start to use your resources while in stress to find a balance, which at that point self-care is overdue and self is all that is left.
Father God,
You are my true North, my compass guiding me. Your word tells me exactly what I need to do to clear my thinking and empower me to take care of myself so that I can take care of others. You send wise people into our lives as You did with Moses. You provide for our needs and give us beauty to experience and love to surround us. Father God, I know I am like the Israelites. I will complain about my circumstances while I am in the midst of being saved. I close off my mind to my blessings and I ignore Your embrace. Lord watch over Your child as I go through this path of self-discovery and let me be open to the wisdom of your word.
Amen.
Homework:
This week, think back on instances where you did not trust in the Lord’s plan and think through why that may have been. Were you short on self-care? Were you short on gratitude and what to be thankful for in the moment?
To center balance, take a relaxing bath, go to a movie by yourself, shut yourself in your room, and listen to music or dance or cry or laugh.
Make a gratitude list—try to get in 20 things you are thankful for. If the gratitude list is difficult, think through the basics—I have air in my lungs, a roof over my head, clothing on my back, trees, and flowers that bloom in the spring. If this is still difficult, find a professional who can see you and help you work through whatever is holding you back. Therapy and self-care as I passed into my mid-40s were the only things that help me break through the cloud my mind created and I still struggle with it. Trying to keep God as my true North and lean more on him is also helpful.
Boundaries read: https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/six-types-of-boundaries-and-what-healthy-boundaries-look-like-for-each
