Teach Me, Lord

Lord, you know I try, but I want to do more than try. I want to yield to your will. I want to obey your will. Open my eyes and ears so I can discern your truth. Teach me, Lord, teach me.

A Leafy Canopy

(This devotion was first published in The Secret Place.)

The nature trails near my city home meander through the woods. Beneath overarching branches of walnut, cottonwood, ash, and other trees, I walk in shade, the leafy canopy protecting me from the summer’s heat. Here I enjoy temperatures ten degrees cooler than the sunnier pathways.

As I walk, I listen for the breaking of twigs, signaling me to look for deer. Recently, I heard a different sound, one I hadn’t heard before. At first I couldn’t place it, but then reality dawned: raindrops pattered on the leaves. The summer shower was light and the leafy canopy caught all the drops. I didn’t feel one. The green over my head protected me from both heat and rain.

While I walked, listening to the pattering rain, I thought about God’s protection. He doesn’t always remove the storms, but like a leafy canopy, he deflects the heat of life’s difficult moments and shelters us from life’s storms. Just as I choose to walk in the shade on hot days, I have choices for my life’s path. I can seek God’s refuge when life gets hot or stormy, or I can walk in the open, on my own.

Which path will you choose?

O Lord, keep me walking on your path; keep me trusting in your protection.

Isaiah 25:4 “You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in his

distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat.”

Nourish My Soul

“What wings are to a bird, and sails to a ship, so is prayer to the soul.”

~Corrie ten Boom~

Lord, you know how often I allow my soul to become dried and withered when I neglect time in prayer. Forgive me Lord and help me to cherish that time when I can converse with you and listen to your still, small voice nourishing my soul.

Fear God

God, I hold you in awe and reverence, for you alone are God. I Thank you for your love, justice, wisdom, and creative power. Thank you for providing your word to guide me on this earthly journey. I pray you will show me how to lovingly follow your commands and ask you to continually mold me into your image.

In His Hands

“Restlessness and impatience change nothing except our peace and joy. Peace does not dwell in outward things, but in the heart prepared to wait trustfully and quietly on him who has all things safely in his hands.”

Help me to remember, Lord that You do, indeed, hold all things in your hands. Help my heart to wait on You and trust your will for my life.

Do Small Things

“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” — Mother Teresa

Teach me, Lord, to do the small things that will make a difference in another’s life. Teach me to do this with great love.

Remember His Deeds

Yes, Lord, I remember the stories from your word, how you parted the Red Sea, how your son was born of a virgin. I remember the ways He healed, both body and spirit. And Lord, I remember the miracles you have performed in my own life. You are mightly, indeed.

As the Deer Pants for Water

In late August the hot sun scorches the earth.  The brittle grass browns and breaks.  Moisture-starved leaves yellow and flutter to the ground.  The baked earth, cracked in every direction, cries for rain.  Insects buzz in erratic dances—nothing else moves.  The stifling heat rises in nearly invisible waves.

Safe in her thicket, the deer stirs.  Hot and parched, she must drink.  Gingerly, she ventures to the brook to quench her thirst.  Frequently, she pauses to sniff the air, sensing wolves and other predators lurking nearby, eager to taste her flesh.  They too must drink, so her danger heightens as she nears the life-giving water.  In spite of the danger, her extreme thirst drives her to the stream, for she pants for water.  She mustdrink.

On a hot summer’s day, we guzzle glass after glass of cold, refreshing water, attempting to slake our thirst. If our souls truly pant for God the way the deer pants for water, what would we do?

O God, give me a thirst for you.  Make the thirst in me so strong I must satisfy it. Give me the discipline to drink deeply at your never-ending stream.

Psalms 42:1&2 “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God.

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.”

All of You

“An infinite God can give all of Himself to each of His children. He does not distribute Himself that each may have a part, but to each one He gives all of Himself as fully as if there were no others.”

― A.W. Tozer

Thank you, Father, for your undivided attention and love, for giving me and the rest of humanity, all of yourself.