Our Bible verse for today: “The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.” Psalm 37:23 (NLT)
Our thought for today: “We need God’s guidance in all seasons of life.”
Regardless of what you think of Donald Trump as a person or as a President I think we have to at least admire the fact that at the age of seventy-one, when most people have long since retired, he willingly and even eagerly took-on the hardest job in the world. And, he has committed to doing it for at least four years. That’s pretty impressive.
This is June and we are just concluding graduation season. As is true every year at this time, we hear stories about ninety year old college graduates – senior citizens who never completed college as a young person but now, in their eighties and nineties, have gone back to college and earned that degree. We really have to admire the gumption and positive attitude it takes to accomplish something like that so late in life.
As I write this my wife is getting up and getting dressed to go to work. She is seventy-one, fairly disabled, and she needs a walker on wheels to get around. But today she begins her new job as a volunteer receptionist at Habitat-for-Humanity.
C.S. Lewis once wrote, “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” Likewise, a line from an old Jimmy Buffett song goes, “I’d rather die while I’m living than live while I’m dead.” Far too many people just shuffle through their days with no purpose, no direction, and no plans for the future. Yes, they’re living, but to what purpose?
What does all of this have to do with our theme of “God’s Guidance”? I believe God intends for us to live a full and purposeful life through all seasons of life. I believe that His good and perfect plan for each of us (Jeremiah 29:11) doesn’t stop the day we retire but continues right up until the moment we pass into heaven. And I also believe He wants to continue guiding and directing us (Proverbs 3:5-6) through all the seasons of our lives.
Psalm 37:23 reminds us that “He delights in every detail of our lives.” God is interested in all of it, all the time. He is interested in the plans and goals of the young college graduate, and the forty-five year old business executive, and the sixty-five year old recent retiree.
Regardless of who you are you should have plans and visions, and you should be living with purpose and eagerness. Therefore you should be constantly seeking God’s guidance for your next season of life, the next year of life, the next month, next week, tomorrow, and for today. Young or old, rich or poor, healthy or sick, if you’re still breathing then God’s not done with you. Your life has purpose and therefore you need His guidance.
Oak Hill Baptist Church