December 1 – Otherwise Too High

“From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” - Psalm 61:2 (NASB)

Although King David was not actually at the end of the earth, it felt like that to him. He was in exile from his city Jerusalem. Perhaps each of us have been in a place away from home that seems like the end of the world for us. Absalom tried to overthrow his father and seize the throne of Israel. Discouraged and exhausted, David needs to be led out of danger to a place of safety. David cries to God and pleads that God would hear and respond to his prayers. He has a specific request that God would lead him to the rock that “is otherwise too high for me.” He asked God to lead him to a rock that was higher than any place he had so far attained and could not do so on his own⸺he needed God to lead him there. God has things to show us, each which are beyond anything we have yet experienced. This is the promise we have that when we need Him, God is here with us, leading us to greater things in our lives and to new promises in our spiritual life we need God to lead us to.

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November 26 – The Wait in Life

“Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.” Psalm 25:5 (ESV)

How much do any of us enjoy “the wait?” Who has time to wait in our high-speed world to be put on hold? But waiting is very often a good thing, even the best thing for us to do. Especially in the Psalms of David we find suggestions to “wait” on the Lord. We all have many things to learn from the Lord. And how else will God have an opportunity to teach us what we need to learn if we don’t wait for Him to teach us? We have opportunities to wait for God to act. God’s time is perfect and very different than ours. We don’t care for the army way where it’s common to “hurry up and wait” By waiting we can constantly be ready with hope that God will teach us His ways and His paths. It is through expectation that we wait with hope for God to teach us His perfect way for us. “Lead me in Your truth and teach me” is what David wrote. We too can be at all times looking eagerly to God for Him to show us and teach us and lead us.

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March 7 – Know. Teach. Lead. Wait.

“Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.”  Psalm 25:4-5  (ESV)

One of the wonderful promises we have from our God is the promise that He will lead us on the path of life that He has designed for us.  Another verse in the Book of Proverbs that we looked at recently tells us to not trust our own understanding only but to acknowledge God in all our ways.  He promises to make our path straight and clear.  Our verse today is a prayer asking God to fulfill his promises by making known what His ways are and teaching us the right path – the straight path He has made for us.  Yes, our loving Lord is ready to lead us along that path in His truth.  He is eager to teach us how we should then live for our best benefit and for His own honor and glory.  And why should this matter to us?  Why should this path be the one we seek?  Because our salvation comes from the path-maker.  The psalmist ask the God of his salvation to make known, to teach the way, to lead in God's truth, and to teach that truth.  After asking for this, we wait.  We wait all day, and every day.

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October 3 – Training to Lead or Serve?

“whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ,”  1 Peter 4:11 (NASB)

We all are likely familiar with the many 'leadership training' opportunities that are available through seminars, classes and other programs.  Developing leaders is a keen focus with companies, cities, and organizations.  Depending on the version, we're using the NASB, the word 'lead' occurs 60 times in 60 verses in the Bible and the word 'leader' occurs 69 times in 69 verses.  Together it is 129 times.  By contrast, the word 'serve' occurs 207 times in 196 verses and 'servant' occurs 447 times in 402 verses a total of 654 times.  As Christians, we are reminded of the importance of serving God by serving others even in leadership positions.  In everything we do we are called to serve.  But we cannot do this on our own because we can only accomplish what God requires through the strength He supplies.  So if we really want our life on earth to count for anything we need to trust in the promise that He will give us the ability to serve.  And the great result, when we do, is that our God is glorified through Jesus Christ in what we do for Him.

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September 10 – Know, Teach, Lead

“Make me know Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths.  Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; For You I wait all the day.” Psalm 25:4-5 (NASB)

The truth we find in today's verse reminds us that we need guidance from our Lord every day of our lives. When we are tempted and distracted and try to manage the circumstances and situations of our lives on our own, we find that we need God's help.  How good it is that when we sense the need of God's guidance, we can look to Him as David did.  We know the He has many ways to teach us and one of them is in the truth that He has given us in  the Scriptures.  Let's listen to it today and let's learn from what God is teaching. He directs our paths when we trust in Him.  David expressed hope in God when he declares that he waits on God all the day.  We too can wait on the Lord with a hope that is assured expectation.  We acknowledge we need guidance and teaching from God.  We ask Him to lead us in His truth because we know our Salvation is from God alone. Let's look to Him and ask Him to make us know His ways which are perfect.

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