Psalms 25:4-5 Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.
A father asked his son to carry a letter from their camp to the village. He pointed out a trail of which the lad had never gone before. “All right Dad, but I don’t see how that path will ever reach the town,” said the boy. “Well son, I'll tell you how. Do you see that big tree down the path?” asked the father. “Oh, yes, I see that far.” “Well, when you get there by the tree, you’ll see the trail a little farther ahead -- and farther down you'll see another big tree -- and when you reach that one you'll be closer and so on until you get within sight of the houses of the village.”
In the same way, I believe God wants to reveal the way for each one of us on our trails toward Him, one tree at a time. Sometimes we're convinced we need to see the end of our path so that we can be reassured that there's something good down there, or that we're going in the right direction, or that we'll be able to see if it gets dark.
Over the past two years sometimes it feels as if we're stumbling in the dark. Shortly after my brother's sudden death two years ago, we've been "redeployed" to the United States while trying to navigate the Covid lockdowns.
We've now traveled over 65,000 miles been speaking, traveling, and encouraging the saints in the midst of this pandemic. In the midst of it all, rarely do we know what we are doing more than a few weeks out, however, the Lord has been faithful through the midst of it all.
We know first hand how it feels to walk and not know where the end will be -- and often wonder if we'll have the strength and sustenance to get there.
It's not easy to move forward and trust that God will light the path ahead and point us in the way we should go. But this is a crucial step toward our growth and maturity in the Lord and we all need to get there.
Let's give our hesitation and fear to the Lord. He will not fail us. He will be faithful to light our path and lead us in the way everlasting -- one day at a time. Be blessed and have a wonderful weekend! Shabbat Shalom!
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]Some time ago, I wrote a devotional about not worrying for tomorrow because tomorrow holds its own worries. But it occurred to me recently, that just about as often as we worry for tomorrow, we fret about yesterday. How many times do we find ourselves saying, "I wish things could be the way they were, I wish I was younger, I wish I could fit into those jeans again, I wish I didn't make that terrible mistake ... you fill in the blank"?
Colonel G.W. Goethals, the man responsible for the completion of the Panama Canal, had major problems with the climate and the geography as it was being built. If that wasn’t enough to deal with, he had an even bigger problem. It was the growing criticism back home from those who predicted he’d never finish the project and had opinions about how to do it better.
While on the road to Damascus, Jesus appeared to Saul, blinded him and directed him to go to Damascus. There, God spoke to Ananias of Saul and told to lay hands on this troubled man. Ananias did as he commanded and Saul was filled with the Holy Spirit, healed of his blindness and immediately baptized.
Shortly after WWI, Lawrence of Arabia was entertaining some of his Arab friends in Paris. He showed them the sights of the city: the Arc d’Triomph, the Louvre, the Champs Elysees. It was a remarkable irony to Lawrence that these amazing sights were not what most impressed his Arab friends — but rather the bathtub faucet of their hotel room. They were completely astonished that someone could turn a handle…and get all the water he wanted.
In this prophetic passage the critical question is immediately followed by the powerfully convicting answer. Joel prophesies the Day of the Lord, and asks, “Who can endure it?” The next word “therefore”, is followed by the prophet’s urgent counsel: “Turn to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping and with mourning!”
The Lord gave us His promise to send us a helper -- the Holy Spirit. The word for "helper" in the NT Greek is "paraclete". This word has more meaning then simply "helper" -- it was also an ancient term used in warfare. When Greek warriors went onto the battle field, they went out in pairs, so when the enemy attacked they could stand back-to-back, covering each other's blind side. The battle partner in Greek was called a "paraclete" -- he was there to watch your back!
When I was younger I used to take an ax and cut up firewood from the woods behind our house. The one thing I always did was sharpen my axe! A dull axe meant harder work chopping through fallen trees. The sharper the ax the less effort and energy required for the task. So I learned early on to sharpen my ax before venturing into the woods, and I saved myself a lot of time and energy. (Besides I was a small kid, growing up, so I needed all the help I could get! 😉 )