Yesterday morning, our son John shared this devotional that God gave him, with the family during our Bible time. I pray it blesses your heart like it did ours.
I awoke this morning to spend time with the Lord. The Lord directed me to a field on the farm where I hope to build a house some day. As I picked up my bible and books, I started looking for a chair. I had the nice comfortable chair in mind that I wanted, but I couldn't find it.
And then I thought;
In life God is going to tell us to go somewhere or do something. And we are going to have a way we want to do it, we are going to think that we have to have certain things (those chairs) in life. We have to be careful not to waste the time that God has given us looking for ways to fulfill what God has told us to do. It doesn’t matter how we think it should be done we have to stop wasting time trying to do it our way and simply do it His way.
I stopped looking for the chair I wanted and picked up an older beaten down one from behind a bunch of stuff.
And then I thought;
When we listen to God and we go where he wants us to go we might have to “give up the nicer chair”. When God says to give money that you don’t have, you will have to give up some things. O, but great is the reward of giving up what really isn’t yours in the first place.
Then I loaded my bible, books, and the old fold out chair in my car and looked behind me to see how to get out. To go where I knew God wanted me to go. I was boxed in! My dad had boxed me in. He parked right behind my car leaving nowhere to go. And what I got from this is that in life dad’s can be a pain, no I’m joking.
And then I thought;
When we answer God’s call we will have to do things differently. We will have to do things that we are not comfortable doing to get the job done that God wants us to do.
I awkwardly drove around the truck and started driving toward the spot I knew God wanted me to be. I pulled up to the gate where I had to get out and start walking, I sat in my car and looked out and saw all kinds of trash, broken glass, weeds that were taller than I was and mud. I asked myself, why am I doing this? It’s early in the morning I don’t want to walk through all that.
And then I thought;
The Christian life is not an easy life to live sometimes. God will put us through things we will never understand. And although we cannot see a way through things (over the tall weeds, trash, and broken glass), we must trust him and listen to His still small voice that leads us. He has promised never to leave us nor forsake us. We are never alone, God is always right beside us working in our lives whether we can or cannot see him.
I opened my car door, gathered my things and stepped out looking forward to seeing that field where I wanted to build a home someday. I walked through the open gate and the mud, weaved my way around the tall grass, and finally opened my chair and sat down right where I knew I was to sit.
And then I thought;
When our life is done and our race is finished, all the troubles and trials that we have had to go through will be worth it to hear those sweet words. “Well done my faithful servant”. No matter what we go through or what we do God is always there for us. No matter how high the mountains or how low the valleys. Our God is worthy of our obedience and praise.
