Wednesday Devotion and Prayer. July 19, 2023
                                                           “Follow God”

“Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.” – Psalm 37:5-6

There have been times when I made a commitment to something I did not want to do. I scowled and grumbled and looked for a way to get out of it. But there was no way out without violating my principles, and I needed to follow through. It became an opportunity to grow. One of my favorite Scripture passages, Proverbs 3:5-6 echoes Psalm 37:5-6. Both passages refer to committing our way to the Lord and trusting him.

There are times when this feels impossible because, whether I like to admit it or not, sometimes I want my way more than I want God’s way. For instance, my way is the comfortable way. I’m not going to choose the rocky path when the smooth path lies before me. But I’ve learned that when I say yes to God, he may lead me along paths that go through valleys and over mountains. It means comfort may be swapped for the adventure of trusting God for the next bend in the road, rocky or smooth.

When I choose the easy way of my own understanding, I miss out on deepening my trust in God’s character. He leads by telling us when to go and when to stay. He strengthens us by encouraging us to take the next step and then the next. He comforts us while simultaneously compelling us onward despite the difficult terrain.

Psalm 37 is a set of instructions about godly wisdom and shows the proper godly attitude toward the hardships Christ’s followers may face. Life holds difficulties and blessings. Both the hardships and successes in life give us an opportunity to deepen our reliance on the Lord. He helps us through the hard times and guides us to keep our successes in the proper perspective. Within this passage, we discover two actions that lead us closer to knowing God’s heart.

First, we can choose a wholehearted commitment to the Lord. It’s tempting to withhold pieces of ourselves from him. We may have regrets which keep us from a whole-life commitment. Or we may have habits or perspectives which we withhold from God because we know he’ll want to refine them, and we don’t want to. Yet, we’re instructed and encouraged time and again to commit our whole selves to the Lord. Our whole-hearted commitment leads us to know God’s heart for us because we learn how gentle and kind he is with us.

A whole-hearted yes to God creates opportunities to grow our trust in him. To trust him means we place our life in his hands even when we cannot see the outcome. Taking a risk to surrender every bit of our heart, including the parts we keep secreted away, brings us closer to receiving from him the care and concern we desperately want.
Second, we can trust him with our hurts, offenses, and unforgiveness. He is not going to respond with a hammer when we bring them into his light. Instead, he helps us sort through the rubble to repair the broken pieces.

Commitment and trust go hand in hand. We commit the secrets of our hearts to him and trust him for the healing process. The results reveal Jesus Christ’s righteousness in us, and we shine for him. Our world is wandering in the dark, and we have the light of the Gospel of Jesus shining through us to point the way to him. We can commit our ways to him, trust his heart, and watch him work through us.

Heavenly Father,
Only you can make sense of a journey that takes us through deep ravines and over steep mountain paths. I want the easy way, but without difficulties, I don’t learn to trust you more and more. Forgive me for wanting my idea of comfort over growing in my relationship with you. I choose to trust you with my journey. I choose to commit my ways to you and believe that you will make your righteousness shine through me so the world may know you. Draw others to you through the way I live my life. Let your light shine as I commit my life to you and trust you. In Your son Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.

                                    Friday Devotion and Prayer. July 14, 2023
                                                           “Stack Stones”

“I will remember the works of the Lord: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.” – Psalm 77:11

Psalm 77 is a psalm we can turn to when we desperately wonder if God hears our cries for help. The psalmist expresses his heart with vulnerability and helps us give words to our emotions too. There are times when we have no words except groans because of our broken hearts. We can follow the psalmist’s example. He led himself to search his memory for God’s favor and delight in his life. And in the remembering, he found hope and peace. We can do the same.

It’s important to stack stones of remembrance of what God has done in our lives. It’s amazing how we can forget how God answered a desperate prayer for help or gave us supernatural strength to face a health risk. Sometimes though, our minds get so muddled with daily struggles and anxieties that we can’t see God’s hand in our lives. That’s when we turn to the Bible and search for evidence of his faithfulness.

Abraham’s life demonstrates God’s faithfulness. He was faithful in Abraham’s life to lead him, to be his God, to fulfill the promise of a son in his old age, and then to provide a ram in place of his son on the stone altar on Mt. Moriah. Peter’s life shows the power of God’s faithfulness. Many times, Peter said the wrong thing and led with emotions instead of the truth of Jesus’ words. Much later, Peter preached to a huge crowd on the day of Pentecost and thousands turned their lives over to Jesus’ lordship. God is faithful.

Deuteronomy 6 tells us to love the Lord our God with all our hearts and to tell of his words and to write them on the doorposts of our homes. This practice sets us up to remember and to see his unending faithfulness woven like a golden thread through our lives. To remember means we pay attention to when God gave us peace when we didn’t have any. It’s recalling the times when hope flooded our hearts and when we felt despair. We can remember how God helped us over the last mountain we faced when we encounter another. These memories can encourage our hearts with evidence of God’s faithfulness.

There are twelve rocks stacked on a table at the front of my church’s sanctuary. Written on the rocks are words like a protector, answers prayers, good, and strength. On my rock, I wrote faithfulness. Looking at my life, I can see God’s hand. He’s never left me, never forsake me, but he’s always been present. He’s the whisper in the storm, the rock of my refuge, and the shadow where I hide.

Collect those rocks of remembrance of God’s faithfulness to you. Write them down so you can call them to mind when you wonder if God hears your cries. Stack stones and remember.

Heavenly Father,
You are faithful and true. Forgive me when I doubt your goodness in my life. Forgive me when all I can see is the hard. Help me see you in the beauty of the sunrise and in the laughter of a child. Help me stack stones of remembrance so I can recall your faithfulness to me. In Your son Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.