Psalm 131:1 A Song of Ascents. Of David. LORD, my heart is not haughty, Nor my eyes lofty. Neither do I concern myself with great matters, Nor with things too profound for me.
Isn't it amazing that the mighty King David said his heart was not haughty, nor his eyes lofty. This king knew beyond doubt exactly who was in charge... and he loved it that way. He recognized God's ways were so much greater than mere human understanding could possibly ascertain. Here we see a most humble heart toward God, as ours should be when we want the absolute best for ourselves and for our family. We just can't go wrong with a God as
big as ours; who pulverizes our problems with a mere breath between His lips.
Psalm 128:1 A Song of degrees. Blessed is everyone who fears Jehovah, who walks in His ways.
No one understands God's perfect ways or even why God acts in such a way for some and in another way for others. How do we even know for sure we are walking in His will?
Psalm 128:2 For you shall surely eat the labor of your hands; you shall be happy, and all is well with you.
That is if the fruit of your labor is sweet and good. Following God's plan is always the best. But, how do we know how to be sure what kind of fruit we produce? Short answer is be a good tree because a good tree bears good fruit, and the bad tree bears bad fruit.
We can't see the future. Our feelings are fickle. We can't control other people's decisions. So how do we walk down that specific path God has lighted for us?
Proverbs 19:16 He who keeps the commandment keeps his own soul; he who despises His ways shall die.
We live in a very imperfect world and since we don't control other people, we can't be responsible for their choices. The only alternative we have, then, is to walk the closest we can to the Lord God Almighty and expect Him to turn us from the wrong direction.
We have His guidebook, His Word, to study His ways. Yet, He tells us that His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. We then take comfort in the fact we have the Holy Spirit. Combine this with our love for our Daddy and a deep desire to please Him whom we love and to do His will we find a fairly reliable recipe for following His will.
Jeremiah 17:10 I Jehovah search the heart, I try the reins, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.
It is only when we let our own desires get in the way that we veer off the path and stretch our leading strings. I fully believe that God allows us an exploratory romp or two down side paths because this is how we learn God's guiding hand on our reins. We learn the feel of His gentle pressure leading us the way we should go. If we don't acknowledge the gentle tug to the left or right or the signal to stop, then God will get more urgent and sometimes the bit will dig in and hurt. It isn't God that is causing the hurt, it is the stubborn ignoring of His guiding signals.
We can't walk in His ways unless we know Him. We can't know Him unless we study His Word. We can't study His word unless we take the time. We can't take the time unless we make it a priority. Therefore, priorities are crucial to knowing God's will.
Daniel 4:37 Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and exalt and honor the King of heaven, all whose works are truth and His ways judgment. And those who walk in pride He is able to humble.
Someone said that the difference between the ethical man and the moral man is simple. The ethical man will pause to consider the consequences of committing adultery. The moral man would never consider adultery at all. That is another key to following God's will. Never allow consideration of doing something that is contradictory to His commands. That part is simple enough.
Psalm 37:4 says that when we delight in the Lord, He will grant us the desires of our hearts.
How precious that God gives us our desires when we delight in Him. That means those desires are not harmful. They are good for us and others. That means that our hearts are pure. What a joy to have a pure heart. That also means that our prayers are righteous and the prayers of the righteous avails much. We have a responsibility to dive into the middle of God's will and to delight in Him.
How precious it is to sit on His feet.
(Updated version of a 2006 post, and 2013 post.)
5 comments:
I think how crushed you were in heart not too long ago. I think how at the time you could not see the purpose of ending something you felt was beautiful. I wonder now if God could have brought you to this place He is now taking you if you had went through with the other plan. I see His hand. I see He had something bigger and better in mind. I rejoice with you as I see you move along with His plan! I am very excited for you!
Blessings dear sis, Julianne
Small point ... really not too important in relation to your whole point ... but ...
Ethics is "that branch of philosophy dealing with values relating to human conduct, with respect to the rightness and wrongness of certain actions and to the goodness and badness of the motives and ends of such actions." "Morals" refers to "rules or habits of conduct." The two are often used as synonyms, as we generally mean the same thing by them, but technically there is a key difference between ethics and morals: "the norm." Ethics technically refers to that which is right or wrong regardless of "the norm." The word "morals" come from a Latin term meaning "custom." That is, "morals" refers to that which is acceptable in the society, while "ethics" refers to the absolutes.
The difference, then, between an ethical man and a moral man is that the ethical man has thought it through, while the moral man is operating simply on what he feels is right or wrong based on the culture.
Good point, Stan... It really isn't a small point. Perhaps the person (I can't even remember who it was) didn't fully understand the ethics of his statement ;)
Julianne, I fully believe that has a perfect plan for His children. When someone decides to ignore God's will that has repercussions toward everyone that person has contact with. I believe God had already planned for the eventuality of my beloved to break the engagement. God knew it before we ever started dating.
I believe that God allowed me to fall in love because there were things I needed to learn and things He wanted to teach to my beloved. It is His unfolding perfect will that seems so unfathomable.
Gina.. this little meditation is one of your best ever...
Really spoke to me. I thot of a number of people as I read it that I will guide them o read it also.
Keep it up... as you walk and share you help others to walk and share... Russ
Oh, Russ, thank you... you are precious in His sight.
Post a Comment