Musings on Faith #40
Our All in All

One of our chief failings as Christians, in our day to day lives, is failing to seek, and to heed, the guidance of the Lord. In other words, we all too often follow our own will, our own feeling about what is right for us, or in what direction we should go, whether in business, employment, or personal and relationship aspects of our lives. We go our own way, allowing our own minds and thoughts to lead us, with no heed to the Word of the Lord, or to the calling of the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit. Then, when our plans go astray, we turn to God and ask Him why He has allowed this to happen, or ask Him to make our plan work. The time to ask is before we act, not after. And because we failed to seek His guidance beforehand, He will often allow us to fail in order to help us to turn to Him, not only in defeat, but, next time, before we foolishly follow our own path. Psalm 62, Verses 5 through 8 tells us "My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defense; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. Trust in him at all times, ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Se’lah [meaning, ‘pause and think about this’]. (KJV)." Look at that word "only". He only is the source of which paths we are to travel. He only is our rock, salvation, and defense. We are to trust Him at all times.

And how can we trust Him if we do not seek Him out; to find out from Him whether a

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certain path or plan is right for us or not? And we must carefully and patiently seek him. All too often we get an idea for a course of action, such as a new business, or engaging in a new personal or romantic relationship, and then ask God to bless it. In fact, we often make up our minds, without God, and then, without His permission or agreement, put His "stamp of approval" upon it by saying that we felt the hand of God in our decision. Such is the foolishness and folly of man. No, we must not make up our own mind and then put God’s seal upon it. This, plainly put, is disobedience to God. Instead, we are to trust Him in all things (see verse 8). And how can we trust Him if we do not first seek His guidance and His will for our lives? Look back at the Scripture, above. The Lord is not only our rock and our salvation; He is also our defense and our refuge. He is, in fact, our all in all. But we must allow Him to lead and guide us. How? By seeking Him out, through the study of His Word, by prayer and supplication, and by listening to that still, small voice. If we will only do this first, we can avoid so many of those failures, and so much of the pain, to which we otherwise subject ourselves. He is our leader ("wait thou only upon God"), our instructor ("expectation"), our rock, our salvation, our defense, our glory, our strength, and our refuge. Wow! Let’s listen to Him, and heed Him!

Yours in Christ, Tom Woodard

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