Daily Devotional
Word of the Day
God Has a Plan
Pastor Scott
Saturday, April 09, 2005
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"The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way."
(Psalm 37:23)
Many of us learned this great psalm of David as children. All of professed Christendom is familiar with Psalm 23; yet very few experience the real declared promise that David, a man who knew joy and a man who knew hardship, is sharing with us here. David was a man just like Job, who experienced and knew that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord.
Many of you are going through trials, but do you believe that the Lord does all things well? We are not a people that are subject to fate. Things don't just happen to us. "The steps of [the] good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delights in his way" (Ps. 37:23). Even the things that we would perceive as bad, those things that are hard in our life, the Good Shepherd turns and works everything for good. All things work together for good to those that love God and are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28). We are not just wandering. God has a plan. We are on a course, and the steps of the good man are set right by God. God will always bring you back to the course that He has for your life.
That brings great confidence to me, because I get messed up and I get sidetracked sometimes. Do you? We get distracted in life by temporal things--things that are appealing to our fleshly appetites, things that are natural to us, things that we have to do like eating, sleeping and work. We can get distracted by the most mundane. But Father is patient with us. He is not the parent that for the least bit of delay will slap you up side the back of the head, "Come on, boy!" God is patient, because in every distraction if we were left alone it would actually destroy us. God instructs us, strengthens us, and refines us. All things work together for good to those that love God and will let God love them. The Lord chastens those that He loves.
In the process, there is the chastening that takes place. Sometimes the chastening is just the grief that we fail God. Here we are wasting this time and energy on ourselves when we could have been serving in the kingdom, using it for the glory of God. It brings a remorse and a brokenness. It doesn't take cancer, the destruction of our family, or the burning of our homes. It only takes that gaze upon us of momentary displeasure, that look just like Jesus gave Peter that day. I broke the heart of the One who loved me, who died for me, the One who was made sin with my sin that I might be made righteous with His righteousness; and here I am over here consuming this upon myself. Doesn't the Scripture say, "He guides us with His eye"? It is just that little look. Sometimes it is a look of displeasure or disappointment. Doesn't that get to you when someone that you love and respect gives you that look of disappointment in you? That crushes the tender heart, the one that really wants to please God. It's just like a blow from the rod.
In reality, the way we respond to that look indicates the degree of our love, respect and honor for His lordship. I think in all of our lives it varies and cycles. Sometimes we can be led with His eye, and sometimes we need the rod of reproof. It can't just be a word of instruction but the rod of reproof, and our lives are jolted.