Constant

Wednesday, July 29, 2020 Good morning, Lord V.O.D.: Philippians 4: 5Let your gentleness be apparent to all. The Lord is near. 6Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus M.O.M.: Psalm 27:13 I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Today's reading: PSALM 51-53 ROMANS 2

Constant

Our new dog is six months old and learning everyday. She is alert almost to a fault-never misses a thing. When we are here, she will often come inside to nap out of the heat. The main reason she is in the house is to sleep. There is no chance of food; food comes at feeding time. There is a chance that I would take her with me in the car out to a job or the park, but most of the time she comes in only to nap. The minute she gets to sleep Mom or I will move and she is instantly awake and following. Often times, it is just a trip to the bathroom and then back. No matter how many times we get up, Mavis gets up and follows.

This sounds like a good lead into our encouragement to follow the Lord with such attention and may be for another day but it occurs to me--how often are we torn away from a central purpose by the most simple of movements around us? The scripture is very clear. Jesus said, "Go to all nations and teach them all I have commanded you...".(Matthew 28:19) The Bible says, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;(Matthew 6:33)

But what happens? Sin gets in the way. Obstuction in the road. Pandemics. Our attention-our energy-our focus is on the dark stuff. We carry guilt from sin. We work to move stuff out of the way instead of trusting God with it.

We wake up miles down the wrong road led there by our unwavering trust in our own strength and intellect.

It is too late to retrace our steps. Time has moved on. We have missed what we have missed so what can we do? We can almost see the road we did not take-you know, the one God leads us on-yea, that road. But it is now cross country way off to the right. Stop-you will never make that on your own strength and you cannot go back.

This, however, is not hopeless. First, look back at the spot where the mistake was made. What was it. Identify it. Confess it. Poof-God says it is gone and He will not talk about it again. But wait-it appears your feet are on God's path again. How did that happen? Well, whether we humans understand or practice it or not, God is into reconciliation. It happens to believers after we sin and repent. God forgives and walks ahead with His purpose before us like nothing ever happened. He has an unchanged purpose for us in mind and He continues to lead us in that direction regardless of the shame we might have been in or the damage we have done.

Yes, the world does it differently and God may have to 're-tool' us when we fail, but His purpose is still the same. He will use all we have been through for our good because we are His 'called out ones' and we are being conformed into the image of Jesus so there can be a bunch of us. How do I know that? Romans 8:28, We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him. These are the people God chose, because that was his plan. 29 God knew them before he made the world. And he decided that they would be like his Son. Then Jesus would be the firstborn of many brothers and sisters.

Everyday we must stop and take a sounding and find our bearings. Where are we? Are we worried about things we cannot control? God wants us to follow His lead so we are trusting Him for His control.

Mavis, our dog, is young and very intelligent-but a lot to learn-like how to wait until she is called. Psalm 27:14 ►New International Version Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.

...because He loves us...

Father in Heaven, Forgive me for being so easily side-tracked and then pulled off into sin. Teach me to pay strick attention to Your leading. Forgiving and reconciling God of infinite grace! In the name of Jesus, Amen