So I just have to share my heart with you.  I just got off the phone with my hubby.  He had called to ask me to pray that he would be able to quit “conniving” to work out a situation he was facing.  We talked a bit and the call ended.  I stopped to lift him up and prayer, and when I was finished, the Spirit reminded me of two truths.  (Thank you Spirit of God!!) 

First, the Spirit brought back to mind a study I had done on “Be still and know that I am God”, Psalm 46:10.  “Be still” <rapa> means to slacken.  What came to mind as I pondered that was the picture of a dog on a leash taking a walk with his master.   The dog keeps getting distracted, pulling the leash taut as he tries to chase after whatever has caught his attention.  The master has a destination in mind, and the journey he has chosen is one where the dog is safe.  The dog needs to follow the master’s lead and allow the leash to “slacken”.  He needs to quit striving against where the master is taking him.  Isn’t that just like us?  God has a destination in mind for the circumstance in which we find ourselves, but we keep thinking where we want to go, what we see “over there” is better.  We need to “be still” and know that God is God and we are not.  

Second, the Spirit directed me to Romans 12:1 where Paul admonishes us to “present our bodies a living sacrifice”.  A sacrifice back then was killed and then placed on the altar – it was dead so it stayed there.  But Paul calls us to be living sacrifices, which denotes that we can get off the altar whenever we so desire.  Think about the story of when Isaac was a living sacrifice.  “When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it.  He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar…” (Genesis 22:9)  Now consider that Abraham was quite old, and Isaac was a strong, young man, who could have exercised his own will, struggled free of the ropes that bound him, and jumped off that altar.  If He had done that, he would have missed out on the divine plan of God to provide another sacrifice.  He would have missed out on the provision of God.  To be a living sacrifice, some dying to self has to take place in order to stay on the altar.  Can I just say that dying to self and staying on the altar is hard and painful?  

Well, I called my hubby back and shared these truths with him.  When I hung up, I turned to the first of the two devotionals I read before I dig into the two Bible studies I’m engaged in.  As usual, I “sit with” the key verse before I read the devotional part. (I wanna hear what God says to me before I read what He said to someone else.)  The key verse was this.

“She said to him, Sir, You have no bucket and the well is deep; 
where then do you get this living water?”
~~John 4:11~~ 

From a human perspective, it may look like Jesus “has no bucket” – like there is no way He has the means to fix what ails us.  But the reality is this. Why would Jesus need a bucket when He IS the Living Water. Jesus gives us His “Living Water” not only for eternal life, but He offers us His Living Water to draw from and enjoy an abundant life here on earth.

When I trust Jesus with my eternity, why then do I doubt Him in “time”?  In the word He tells me, “I am the Lord, the God of all mankind.  Is anything too hard for Me?”, Jeremiah 32:27. 

Oh Lord, I’m so sorry for being so “me-centered” and doubting You. 

After I pondered that verse a bit, I read on to see what Oswald Chambers had written.  And just wow…check this out.  

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Have you ever said to yourself, “I am impressed with the wonderful truths of God’s Word, but He can’t really expect me to live up to that and work all those details into my life!” When it comes to confronting Jesus Christ on the basis of His qualities and abilities, our attitudes reflect religious superiority. We think His ideals are lofty and they impress us, but we believe He is not in touch with reality—that what He says cannot actually be done. 

Each of us thinks this about Jesus in one area of our life or another. These doubts or misgivings about Jesus begin as we consider questions that divert our focus away from God. While we talk of our dealings with Him, others ask us, “Where are you going to get enough money to live? How will you live and who will take care of you?” Or our misgivings begin within ourselves when we tell Jesus that our circumstances are just a little too difficult for Him. We say, “It’s easy to say, ‘Trust in the Lord,’ but a person has to live; and besides, Jesus has nothing with which to draw water—no means to be able to give us these things.” And beware of exhibiting religious deceit by saying, “Oh, I have no misgivings about Jesus, only misgivings about myself.” If we are honest, we will admit that we never have misgivings or doubts about ourselves, because we know exactly what we are capable or incapable of doing. But we do have misgivings about Jesus. And our pride is hurt even at the thought that He can do what we can’t.

My misgivings arise from the fact that I search within to find how He will do what He says. My doubts spring from the depths of my own inferiority. If I detect these misgivings in myself, I should bring them into the light and confess them openly—“Lord, I have had misgivings about You. I have not believed in Your abilities, but only my own. And I have not believed in Your almighty power apart from my finite understanding of it.”

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Yep…another morning of our good God directing my footsteps and connecting the dots for me.  

Thank you Father for who You are.  Thank you for loving me.  Thank you for being so actively involved in my life.  I love you so so much.