Friday 11 Aug 2023

August 11: Deuteronomy 4:32-40

Key Verse: Deuteronomy 4:39
Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other.

Devotion:
How often do you get discouraged by things which go wrong in life or don’t seem to ever get done? We get to see films about people doing things, making things and may even get encouraged to try and do things yourself, only to be discouraged because it is taking too long! What we don’t get to see is how long the people making the things we watch take to do what they are doing! When I moved into my flat where I live now I knew what sort of computer set-up I needed in order to do my work properly – I also knew I couldn’t afford to lay out all that money in one go to set it up; it has to be done in stages, and is still ongoing over two years later!

Sometimes we impose limits on God because we want things to be done now as opposed to being done right. He is God after all and nothing is impossible with Him! But we forget we are the people on the receiving side and we need time to adjust to things and time to get ourselves in the right place at the right time for things to come together. What we should be doing is looking back on what has happened, how it happened, how long it took and plan ahead with realistic timetables!

I see many things starting to come together in our church too, things which have taken years to come together and will take years to complete; for these I pray we will continue to have a loving supportive church community who are not in a rush to get some results rather than the proper results!

What I always try to do is to take time out regularly to remember just who God is. He is the one who has this plan all organised for the long run. As long as we continue to listen and obey Him, we will be able to build upon things and end up with the church we need in this community. He has the plan and we need to be patient and work with Him to make sure He gets the glory in the end the way He planned it!

Points to Ponder:
Are you working to God’s plan?

Or are you working to your own plan?