However, after years of this, I’ve realized that the software has been running my life. It has been okay to develop good habits, but instead of always going to God for my marching orders, that app has become a slave driver. In discussion with my daughter and playing with different ideas, the Lord has given me another way to plan each day and get things done.
It seems strange, but logical; just ask Him about various areas and do what He says. In other words, walk by faith. Duh! My little prayer book says this for today along with a verse telling me to look ahead: “To let go is to live. Letting go opens the way for you to begin receiving more. Imagine a tree that refused to shed its dead leaves . . . Without an outlet for new growth, eventually the whole tree suffers. By getting rid of the old to make way for the new, the whole tree benefits.”
I look out the window at the 100-foot oaks and their leaves on the ground. Like them, I need to let go of the old way and begin again. This is not a difficult concept. This isn’t too far from linking with today’s devotional thoughts based on this verse:
By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. (Hebrews 11:7)
Imagine being asked to yield all my time and effort to devote 120 years to building something I’d never seen (a vessel the size of an ocean liner or battleship) to protect me from something I’d never experienced (rain and flooding). Noah did it without question. What might God ask me to do? Has using software to do it caused me to miss out on something important? Maybe.
James wrote: “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.” (James 2:26) This does not mean that my assigned chores have been done without faith, for faith is needed for all of life, but it does say I need to give closer attention to the Lord rather than let my list tell me what to do without asking Him first.
A better way of doing life is apt to bring out more opportunities to do what the NT says: “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.” (Titus 2:11–12)
Not only that, like what was said of Noah, I want said of my life also: “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.” (Genesis 6:9)
MacArthur illustrates by an interview in which a sportscaster asked a professional football player what he thought of his team’s chances of winning the Super Bowl. The player replied, “We believe that if we just do what the coach says, we’ll win.” The team had absolute confidence in their coach, but realized they had to do their part as well. I know who my coach is — and that He is worthy of total trust.
Noah’s faith was unique in the sheer magnitude and time span of the task God gave him to do. He didn’t argue with God or deviate from his assignment. I may not be asked to do more than I am already doing, but I still need to be a better listener. Who knows what God might ask of me.
PRAY: Jesus, my name is not Noah nor do I have the same work You called him to do, but the principle of listening and doing what You say, even if it seems odd or difficult, still applies. May my eyes look directly forward, and my gaze be straight before me. (Proverbs 4:25) Enable me to be a better listener, faithful and tenacious in walking with You.
PONDER: Many habits need examination and elimination so they are not a distraction from hearing and obeying. First things first — what do I need to delete and de-clutter so that I am not wasting the time that God gives me?
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