This afternoon I was really struggling with something that happened today. The details of the struggle are not important, what happened as I was praying through the issue is.
Typically, when I have my quiet time or devotional, I will check my reading plan, note the passages in my journal, pray, and then read through the day’s passages. When I encounter something that the Lord highlights I write down the verse and any thoughts, observations, or applications that I may see.
The pattern breaks when I am struggling or thinking through an issue or event. Today that was the case. I started as usual, but as I began to pray I was writing out my struggle. Nearly immediately, two sentences into the exercise in fact, two things happened. First – and I do not hear the Lord audibly, rather He impresses with thought – It was if the Lord said, “Men will always disappoint, I will not.” That dealt specifically with the issue with which I was struggling. Then on the heels of that thought seven passages of Scripture came to mind one bringing the next to mind. Here they are:
The pattern breaks when I am struggling or thinking through an issue or event. Today that was the case. I started as usual, but as I began to pray I was writing out my struggle. Nearly immediately, two sentences into the exercise in fact, two things happened. First – and I do not hear the Lord audibly, rather He impresses with thought – It was if the Lord said, “Men will always disappoint, I will not.” That dealt specifically with the issue with which I was struggling. Then on the heels of that thought seven passages of Scripture came to mind one bringing the next to mind. Here they are:
- Psalm 37:4
- Proverbs 3:5 – 6
- Matthew 5:6
- 1 John 5:14 – 15
- Ezekiel 3:1 – 3
- Jeremiah 15:16
- 2 Peter 1:3 – 4
Your illustration is perfect, Mike. The setting reminds me of a modern Moses getting God's Word on the rugged mountain. And you would not have ended up where you did without years of committing to memory and reviewing passages of His Word.
ReplyDeleteWhat a temptation, a fatal one, for me is to listen to my thoughts, and even worse to read mine into His. One of the old liturgical confessions says something like, "Lord, we have sought concessions rather than obedience to your will."
His thoughts always present a required change in my thinking and acting, sometimes radically. Sometimes His words are kind, calming, a soothing balm. And our course - He loves us, desperately, to an extent I can't really grasp.
But because He loves me, He is unwilling to just "let me go" on my own selfish and eternally destructive way. Sadly, so often I still want to.... The Water, the Bread of the Word, prove themselves life - when I eat.
Grata Michael so encouraging,sometimes we go through things in life which we do not seem to understand but through him when we trust in his timing and love he always leads us
ReplyDelete