Have you ever heard someone say, “God keeps putting me in the same situation, I guess I haven’t learned my lesson yet.”? Maybe you’ve even said it yourself. I know I have, but it always sat a little off in my heart, and not only did I not know why, I never really asked Him about it to find out.
This morning, as I was walking Riley, I was working with her on some of her commands in a place we hadn’t been to before.
Holy Spirit asked me, “Why are you doing this?”
I answered, “I do this to help her understand my expectations and how I will communicate with her in this space. It’s my way of proofing her obedience in a new setting – proving her integrity to my direction. The more we do this, the more she realizes that she knows what I’m asking her to do and what that needs to look like even though the situation and location are new. It also means, once we’ve gone through some of these paces, that she can have more freedom.”
Then He said, “What if that is what is really happening when you go through what feels like the same situation over and over? What if I’m working with you in a new location, with new distractions and potential hazards to “proof” your obedience to what you already know is right and true? What if I’m helping you connect with Me in that new space and reminding you that how I communicate with you will not change? Could it be that I am proving your integrity to My Word and expanding your capacity to obey and remain aware of me in a new environment rather than telling you that you didn’t learn it right the first time? Could it be that I am establishing a baseline for you so that you can have more freedom once you’re safely keyed into Me and you have remembered that My expectations do not change?”
I was blown away. I still am, even as I’m writing this.
He went on. “How would thinking this way rather than thinking that you hadn’t learned the lesson the last time change how you feel about situations like this? Would you adapt more quickly? Would you be better able to pull from what you already know of Me and My character and how I communicate with you and bring all of that into the new situation? Would the sense of failure and condemnation for not “getting it right” last time lift? Would you be less distracted trying to figure out what you missed and better able to set your attention on Me and how I’m leading? And would all of this increase your capacity to walk closer with Me in more situations with greater confidence and freedom?”
Another long pause as I soaked it in.
“The enemy wants you to think you aren’t learning and growing. He wants you to feel like a failure who will never understand what I desire and who will never get it right. He doesn’t want you to see that each of these things is just another step into mastery because you DID get it right last time, and this new environment is your reward, not your punishment. He’d much rather you think you were messing up and that you can’t hear My voice, let alone obey it than have you realize that you are experiencing the opportunity to deepen your connection with Me, hear My voice more plainly, expand your territory, and increase your confidence while also walking in greater freedom to be exactly who I created you to be.”
“Understand that new environments that feel similar to past environments are a sign of My delight and trust. I love to see you thriving and being who I created you to be. And I have every confidence that you will connect with Me faster each time and that you will bring all you have learned before into this new space and apply it with skill and grace because I’m with you and I’m going to help you do that. Rather than believing it feels similar to past environments because something bad is present, something you’d like to avoid dealing with is popping up again, shift your focus and understand that those past environments equipped you to triumph in this one. And you are here because we’re going to do something amazing together.”
