Our Bible verse for today: “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.” Psalm 32:8 (NLT)
Our thought for today: “God wants to guide you now.”
The great Bible scholar and devotional writer Oswald Chambers once wrote, “God never guides us at some point in the future, but always here and now. Realize that the Lord is here now …”
Chambers didn’t mean that God will not guide us in the future, He will. But rather that the future isn’t here yet but the present is, and God is here, now, guiding in this moment. This is important because so many people have the best of intentions about what they plan to do in the future, and they trust that God will lead them then, but the future might never come. Now is all you really have, and God is here, now, guiding in this moment. Are you paying attention to Him now? Are you obeying Him in this moment?
Also, the guidance God is giving now is intended to lead you to what He has in store for you tomorrow, and next week, and next month, and next year, and five years from now. But you’ll never get there if you’re not paying attention and obeying now. The successful accomplishment of God’s plans for your life plays out with one step of obedience at a time, one after another, after another, after another, and that’s supposed to be happening now. But is it? Are you paying attention now, and are you obeying now?
I know there will be no tears in heaven, yet I can’t help but wonder if there will at least be some momentary regret as we look back over our lives and realize all the opportunities we missed, and all the things that could have been, if we had only paid attention in the moment, followed the Lord’s guidance, and simply done the thing rather than procrastinating and putting it off. (By the way, the longer we procrastinate the less likely we are to ever accomplish whatever it is we’re supposed to be achieving.)
I encourage you to spend some time this morning sitting quietly before the Lord and just listen. Ask Him to help you understand His guidance in this moment.
Oak Hill Baptist Church