Online Devotions: God's Loving Guidance

Sunday, January 8, 2017

God's Loving Guidance

January 8 (Psalm 143:8)

Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love,

for in you I trust.

Make me know the way I should go,

for to you I lift up my soul. (ESV)

Do you ever need some advice or encouragement? You aren’t going to ask a stranger for it and you certainly won’t go to someone you don’t trust. I would rather muddle along with my own confusion and feeble efforts than to open my heart to someone I am not absolutely certain is wise and truly cares for me.

I need to hear each morning how much God loves me. Fortunately, there are ample statements of His love throughout the Bible. I can turn to almost any page and find references to His steadfast love. Armed with confidence in the love of God, I can then trust Him. I can lay my questions and confusions and worries and doubts before Him and can ask Him the way to go. In short, I can lift my very soul to Him.

My relationship with God, however, has to proceed in the right order. I can pay lip service to trusting Him, but I am not going to seek His guidance for the things that matter most if do not believe in His love. It has to start there. Once I am convinced of this, and I need to be convinced again every morning, I will run to Him with my every need.

Father, thank You for evidence of Your love…in the Bible, in the countless examples throughout my own life, and in the whisperings of the Holy Spirit deep in my heart. There are so many things I need Your help with, and I bring those before You now. Show me the way I should go as I lift my soul to You. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

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History of Online Devotions

In January of 1999, I began the Online Devotions with the teens of the church we were attending. Each week they would receive a verse of Scripture, a short reflection, and a prayer. Over the years others subscribed to this email list, and soon the Online Devotions were going out to people across the country and beyond.

In 2007 I published in book format a collection called Desert Days: Forty Devotions for Men.

After suggestions from several readers, I launched in 2010 the Online Devotions blog. Devotions are still available each week by email, and if you would like to subscribe, please indicate so in the comment box.

As I have always said, if one of these devotions touches you, you can be sure it was from God. If one leaves you flat, then there was too much of me in it.