Who is Leading?
OPENING PRAYER:
Heavenly Father, as I start this day, may I start it with you and end it with you. Wherever my foot may tread, wherever my paths may take me, let me always be on the path that leads me to you.
“My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.” Proverbs 2:1-5
REFLECT:
I can remember being very inquisitive as a young boy. When I would go on long drives with my father, who was a realtor in a very rural part of the country, I would ask him lots of questions. When I did, he always had answers. Many times, I would end my ‘interrogation’ with, ‘how do you know all these things?’ He would smile and calmly respond…one day you will know many more things as well. Today, I do know more. However, more than anything, I realize how ‘little’ I know. My dependency upon God is greater the older I get. Our heavenly Father desires that we come to him and he will answer. John 16:24, NIV, says “Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” Why do we struggle to receive this knowledge from God? Often it is because we do not ask, as the verse from John says. However, God is not a gumball machine and James exhorts us to balance that in our asking: “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures,” (James 4:3, NIV).
APPLY:
There was a famous bumper sticker years ago, that may still be evident today, that said: “God is my copilot.” I have heard many messages correcting the idea that God and I are “sharing control.” Most certainly, the wise person will do themselves more justly if they leave the “copilot’s chair” and sit in the passenger section. When we put our hope and trust in God’s leading, we should trust him 100%. Proverbs 3:5-6, NIV exhorts us, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.” However, verse 7 is the kicker! “Do not be wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and shun evil.” Do we fear the Lord today as we should? Do we hold him and his word in reverence? As you look to the Lord to guide you in your life today, remember to honor him and his word with every step you take.
CLOSING PRAYER:
Dear Lord, “where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay, (Ruth 1:16, NIV). Teach us to love you more, honor you more and look to you for the proper direction for our lives. “For in him we live and move and have our being,” (Acts 17:28, NIV).
WORSHIP: