Life's Daily Challenge Devotional

God will lead you

“He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake," Psalm 23:2-3.

“Trust in the Lord with all you heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths," Proverbs 3:5-6.

“To him the Doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear His voice; and He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out," John 10:3.

Dear directed one,

Most of us take ourselves far too seriously. It’s true that the Lord requires us to give Him all our talents, abilities, and strength. What we often fail to realize is the reason He requires this. He knows that to make eternal impact the mortal must be exchanged for the divine. He requires us to give Him all so that He might impart grace to us. He takes our human sacrifice and trades it with His divine abilities. This is the secret of “Him moving through us.”

We are often so afraid that we will fail to follow the Lord’s correct path for our lives. It’s not our ability to follow that will get us there. It is His ability to lead. He has promised to be a Shepherd that will lead us through green pastures, beside still waters... yes, even through the valley of the shadow of death. Without mistake He does lead us. Our task on the journey is to believe in His faithfulness. We must not rely on our own understanding. This is the secret to straight paths. The Lord’s way of getting us to our destination is often quite opposite the one we would choose. The course has been designed to lead us into deeper faith and love with Him.

He is the Shepherd and all of His sheep know His voice. We know where the path is. He speaks to us “the right next step.” If we get lost it’s because we choose to depart from the path. It’s because we become frightened that His way will somehow rob us of protection, promotion or provision. We convince ourselves, and try to convince others, that God’s ways could not be so severe. We want to have the course clearly marked out for us. We want to consider all of our options. We want to know all in advance so that we can safe guard ourselves. Doesn’t this all sound very familiar? Isn’t this the same deceived reasoning Adam and Eve bought into? Wasn’t its origin satanic? They traded the path of life for the path of knowing. It’s sad to think how many times we still do this today.

Christ’s command to all disciples is the same today as it was years ago. “Follow me.” It’s based on love and trust. This is the only path to abundant life.