What if you had paid attention?

Posted byoakhillcrossvillePosted inUncategorized
Good morning everyone,
 
Our theme for this month: “Selfcare”
 
Our Bible verse for today: “If only you had paid attention to my commands. Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.” Isaiah 48:18 (CSB)
 
Our thought for today: “If only you had paid attention”
 
How well do you pay attention to God? In Isaiah chapter 48 the Lord was using Isaiah to force the people of Israel to consider “what if?” Through Isaiah God was reminding them about their long history of disobedience to His commands and all the pain and suffering they had brought on themselves because of it. All they had suffered and all they had missed out on was a direct result of doing things their way instead of God’s way. So here in this passage he said to them, “I am the Lord your God who teaches you for your benefit, who leads you in the way you should go. If only you had paid attention to my commands. Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.”
 
So, there it is: “What if?” And, “If only …” What if I had simply paid attention to all God has tried to teach me over all these years? If only I had lived His way instead of my way how different and how much better would my life have been over all those years? How much different and how much better would it be today?
 
Of course, we can’t change the past. But we can learn from it. We can ask and answer the “what if” and “if only” questions and then we can resolve that we will be a better disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ today and going forward than we were yesterday, or last week, last month, last year, ten years ago.
 
In terms of selfcare (simply in terms of doing what was in their own best interest), the ancient Israelites would have been so much better off if they had just paid attention to God and done things His way instead of their own.
 
Us too. We’re no different or better than they were. What if you had paid attention? What if you had done it differently. Well, do it now. Pay attention now. Do it differently now. That was God’s point to them and it’s His point to us.
 
We should ask “What if?” And we should conclude, “If only …” However, and unfortunately, you can’t have a do-over for yesterday – but can start doing it right today.
 
God bless,
Pastor Jim
 
(If you like what you’re reading in these daily devotionals and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville
 
 
 
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Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

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