Thursday, November 2, 2023
One of the scariest things God asks us to do is to trust him at all times. Our loving Father wants us to surrender all our desires, worries, doubts, and fears to him and let him guide us. He loves us, and he knows what is best for us.
Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
I deeply love and trust Jesus. Yet submitting to him can be really hard to do, especially when I want something badly or am in the midst of a struggle. Often, I will pray about the situation and surrender it to God. However, if he doesn’t answer the way I expect or fast enough, I can become impatient and prideful. I sometimes take matters into my own hands. Then, I end up in a real mess.
Last weekend, Ben spoke about King Saul, the first king of Israel. Saul started out close to God. He obeyed God and submitted himself to God, but it wasn’t long before he became prideful. Saul began to disobey God and made a real mess of things. And instead of repenting and humbling himself before God, he continued to be disobedient. Saul’s sin and evil actions separated him from God.
Our sins and evil actions separate us from God, too. Thankfully, God loves us so much he had an amazing plan to reconcile us to him.
Colossians 1:21-22
21 This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. 22 Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.
No matter what we’ve done in the past, we can be reconciled to God. He loved us so much he sent his Son, Jesus, to die for us. All we have to do is accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior to receive his forgiveness and love. In return, he makes us holy and blameless.
If you haven’t accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, what's stopping you?
Questions:
How are you like Saul? How hard is it for you to trust in God? How do you reconcile with God?
Next Steps:
If you’re ready to accept Jesus into your life for the first time, acknowledge that you can’t do life on your own and that you must trust Jesus to be your Lord and Savior even though you don’t deserve it. Ask God to guide your life from this day forward.
Memorize and meditate on Proverbs 3:5-6 when you are struggling or impatient.
Prayer:
God, you are so awesome! I praise and revere you. Thank you for your love and patience. I realize I often fall short and sometimes take matters into my own hands. Forgive me, and help me to be humble and grateful for all you do for me. Increase my faith and trust in you. Amen.
Series Theme Verse:
Matthew 6:33
Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
This post was written by Marsha Raymond, a regular contributor to the LivingItOut Devotional.