Over 15 years ago, I started writing an Internet devotional, which was emailed daily to subscribers. This year I decided to collect a year’s worth and put them in a book. Mustard Seed Thoughts are short, easy-to-read and practical. In each devotional, I share personal life stories as they relate to the stories and truths from the Bible.
God may do the same with your life. God may have extreme changes in mind for your life. You may be in the midst of that process of change now. He may take away your health, break a relationship, change your career, but He will do whatever it takes to further shape you into Christ’s image and the plans He has for you.
This verse reminds me of countless others in the Bible where men obeyed the command of God, simply because He is God. “Noah did just as the Lord commanded” (Genesis 6:22) for example. We can read similar verses about Moses, Abraham, Joseph and Mary, Paul and others. God is still looking for people like Jeremiah who will obey God and do what He commands. I have always suspected that God knew the hearts of the people He spoke to enough to know what their response to His command would be prior to asking them to obey.
God wanted to speak to Jeremiah and He was going to use pottery as a part of His discussion. Sometimes God will use situations in our life to gain our attention and illustrate for us His agenda. You and I, if we want to hear from God, must continually rid our lives of distractions, strive to walk in obedience with Him daily, free our life of unneeded clutter, slow down long enough to listen for the voice of God, and watch and listen for God’s voice in the midst of the normal routine and places of life.
In my Christian life there have only been a few times where I could clearly say “I heard a word from God.” Don’t get me wrong, I feel God’s leading on a consistent basis through His Word, he guidance of the Holy Spirit, and through other followers of Christ, but for God to directly speak to me about something in specific terms is a rare occurrence. It’s a very humbling and welcome experience, but it certainly doesn’t happen everyday.
In response to David being a man after God’s own heart, I’ve heard people say, “Yea, that that was said before the Bathsheba incident.” I’ve heard people write off his witness after that period of failure in David’s life. It is true that David failed…he failed big time, but I don’t believe that David’s heart really ever changed. I think he died with the same passion with which he lived. I think he had a heart that desired to please and honor God even after the Bathsheba incident.
Consider Adam’s story. God created everything; the land and water, plants and animals, and then God permitted Adam to name things. (Genesis 2:19-20) God delegated the responsibility of naming the animals He had created. Surely if God can design and create the intricacies of the human body He could come up with a more creative name than black bear, yet God gave that job to Adam. Something else I find amazing is that it seems that it was while working through the process of naming the animals that the discovery was made of Adam’s deficiency without Eve. (Vs. 20)
I have been asked numerous times about a seeming contradiction in the Bible. Paul, who wrote much of the New Testament, wrote that we are to “pray about everything” (Philippians 4:6), “pray continually”, (1 Thessalonians 5:17), and “be in constant prayer” (Romans 12:12). Paul seems to have believed that something in us could live in a state of continual prayer and that we should keep talking repeatedly to God.
Perhaps that’s your story today. The journey has gotten much harder than you expected and the days ahead seem unbearable. Some days you would just rather quit trying.
This year, after years of encouragement, I finally published some of those devotionals into a book. Today (again after much encouragement), I decided to give copies away on this week’s Free Fridays. I will give away five (5) copies today.
