Captured Thoughts

Since the garden of Eden snakes and women have been at each other because God said so. Yet, there is this odd story in the Old Testament about God's favorite people and snakes. They are on their way from slavery to the promised land and God takes care of all their needs as they travel. He makes a path through the seas and rivers; He keeps their clothes fresh, their shoes from wearing out, and He delivers food for them every morning but they are not happy. They complain. Sometimes we forget how bad things really were before we meet Jesus. We thought things were good, but the truth is we were slaves; slaves to habits, to our past, to the rule of the one who kept us captive. The truth is we were in prison. We were not free, we just got used to it.

In this story the Israelites have been freed and they do not like it. They do not like the food, they complain about the travel plans, and they try to undermine the leadership. God notices. He notices the complaining, and because of the complaining He sends snakes to bite His favorite people; some even die. OUCH! God is not throwing a fit because they were unappreciative, no, He does not want them to die. His plans for them are good, plans to prosper them and not to harm them but they need correction. Complaining is killing them. 

Like a snake, complaining can slide into our lives and we may not notice it. If we noticed, we would get rid of it! No need to be a snake handler to capture a snake. This small spider in the photo has captured a snake with the tiny threads of her web. In the same way, we can take our complaining thoughts captive. By persistently bringing out thoughts in line with God’s Word, we can bring our thoughts into submission. If a spider can capture a snake, then we are able, with God’s power, to capture our complaining thoughts.

2 Corinthians 19:5 says, “We even fight to capture every thought until it acknowledges the authority of Christ” (J. B. Philips).  You may be more familiar with the NIV.  “We demolish arguments (yes, we argue with ourselves) and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 

From this one-sentence-verse what can we learn to help us capture our thoughts?

 

1. It’s not easy. It’s a fight! We demolish! It’s intentional. Put on your armor girl!
2. Demolishing takes time and persistence. The spider captures the snake one thread at a time. So, our thoughts must be reined in until the complaining stops. Be tenacious! 
3. The truth sets us free! Notice that the arguments are against God’s way, and they are pretentious. They are not the truth. As long as we believe a lie it lives like truth in our lives until we demolish the lie and replace it with the truth.
4. Finally, the antidote is obedience. Taking our lying thoughts down and making them obedient to Christ is how we get our prayers answered. “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered…” (Hebrews 5:7-8 NIV).