By Chris WittsTuesday 16 Jul 2024Morning Devotions with Chris WittsFaithReading Time: 1 minute
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Transcript:
There is the one constant thing that’s going to happen in life and that is change. And I think this is something that we can all relate to. We’ve all seen change. Like when you started a new job or you went to a different school, perhaps you didn’t particularly want to go, but you were made to go to a school. You moved to a new house or you got married or you retired?
It just happens, doesn’t it? No matter how you are or how long you’ve been around? I think that you do know as I know what change is all about, sometimes it’s a big change. Sometimes it’s small. Have you had a nasty experience in the circumstances of change? Well, we’ve all had those whether they’ve been planned or expected, but they can upset the balance of life, can’t they? And we can end up being frayed, afraid or intimidated or stressed out.
And there are kinds of changes I want to mention again today about seeking God’s direction. If you’re going to make a big change in life whatever it is. Why don’t you seek God’s direction?
Because for you and me, when it comes to making decisions, we really have a fairly limited perspective. I mean, we can look around, you know, changing jobs, look around and find out what would be the best job. We could be fairly confident about the ability that we’ve got. But we still don’t see the big picture, do we? But this is the amazing thing I want to say today, that God is all knowing, God sees the whole picture. His wisdom has got no limits. So God is a God of love and compassion. He wants the best for you.
Because Paul who knew a fair bit about life said in 1 Corinthians 1:25 – the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom. Amazing statement, isn’t it? God knows. So it means that God knows better than you do, better than I do even on our worst day. God knows, it’s 100% reliable. So how do you find out? It’s about life. It’s about walking in step with him by reading his words, taking a time every day to read the Bible.
And actually, it’s interesting to see in Genesis 12 way back then in the Old Testament, how God gave directions to Abraham. Abraham, a great man of God. But it says here, the Lord said to Abraham, leave your native country, leave your relatives, your father’s family and go to the land that I will show you. That was a pretty big change there for Abraham. Wouldn’t it be nice? You know, if God verbally spoke to us, of course, it probably won’t happen. But when you’ve got a decision to make, I think you’re not going to see sky writing up there to tell you what to do. It would be nice I guess if God did that. But you can develop a relationship with God where you can start to think God’s thoughts because it says in Psalm 119 – Lord, your word is a lamp actually to guide my feet and a light for my path.
What about common sense? Now, this is not earth shattering stuff, isn’t it? It’s amazing how many people don’t seem to use common sense and think things through. There are things that happened and there’s common sense throughout the Bible as well. God expects us to use the brains that actually he’s given us.
Paul was essentially a traveling missionary. He went from city to city, he told people about Jesus and he established the communities of Christ followers in every place. But of course, there were times where he had to use his own common sense. For example, this is a short example in Titus 3:12, he said, I’m planning to send either one or two people to you and as soon as one of them arrives, do your best to meet me at a certain place for, I’ve decided to stay there for the winter.
So, you know, things had changed for him. So Paul had to make up his own mind. And in 1 Corinthians, another I guess simple illustration about the decision to get married. He says if you’re not married, then don’t feel that you have to get married. If you’re content being single, stay single and if you can’t handle being single and you want to get married, then get married. I mean, this is fairly basic, isn’t it? It’s common sense. Sometimes God says, use your common sense.
We can look back, I suppose and say, oh, if only I had done that, but you know, we can’t blame things that happened yesterday, we’ve got to move forward and Jesus encourages us then to trust him even in the midst of change. How many people do you know, live in the past? It’s of no value. We need to trust God and to press on towards the future.
Let’s Pray
Thank you Lord, that you never stop loving me. Even in the midst of change that’s all around. Help me Lord to learn to trust you and to get my life back on track. Amen.