How often do you think, “What’s wrong with me?”
It’s a question I’ve asked myself way too many times. When I forget something important, when I’m late for a meeting, lose my keys, miss deadlines or walk into a room in my house and can’t remember why I went there.
But one day, I realized every time I asked, “What’s wrong with me?” I was actually telling myself something is wrong with me.
And I was tired of trying to figure out my elusive fault so I could change it.
I needed to change the way I talked to myself. How about you?
God doesn’t want us berating ourselves with questions and statements that make us feel defective and defeated.
But, we have an enemy who loves to cast a shadow of self-doubt over us by playing into our self-defeating thoughts. He tries to get us to focus on all that is wrong with us (real or perceived), instead of anything that is right with us.
Scripture tells us when Satan lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44). The word lie means a falsehood with the intent to deceive.
Satan intends to deceive our hearts by getting us to take our eyes off of who we are in Christ and focus on our flaws — then spend our days figuring out how we can hide them.
One of his goals is to get us to believe lies that leave us feeling inadequate and unsure of ourselves. It’s just what he did with Eve in the garden. In fact, I wonder if Eve might have thought, What’s wrong with me? when she became aware of her inadequacy.
Then the eyes of both [Adam and Eve] were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden…and they hid from the Lord God…But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” (Gen. 3:7-10, NIV)
In verse 11, God responds with a question, asking Adam who told them they were naked. In other words,“Who told you that something is wrong with you?”
In asking this questions, He acknowledged there was someone else involved in this story, someone casting shame on them — and it wasn’t Him….
What self-critical thoughts and condemnation are you battling this week?
Read the rest of my post over at inCourage where I’m sharing some powerful truths to replace Satan’s lies. I’d love to meet you there!