Saturday, December 28, 2013

December 28, 2013 … His way or mine?!

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2013 - Day 362

Devotional Song: Go to this link  – to hear Daniel O’Donnell singing, Here I Am Lord, … a prayer of surrender of self to the way of the Savior; … and GO TO THIS LINK  – to hear the alternative way of self over Savior, with Frank Sinatra singing My Way. It’s our choice – His or ours.
=============


Highlight Passage #1 - NKJV: Numbers 20: 7-8 …11-12 [My way or God’s way?]  
7 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 8 “Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.” … 
11 Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank. 12 Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”  
============
Highlight Context - NKJV: Numbers, Chapter 20, Verses 1-13… GO TO THIS LINK … [Our choice – God’s way or mine! ] … 
============

Reference Passage #1: Luke 9: 23 … [NKJV] … [Jesus's choice – His way or my way..] …  
23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. …”

My Journal for Today: Today’s lesson by Os Hillman for the in-the-trenches, born-again, believer has recurred several times during his year of devotional studies; and it is a lesson I personally know all too well from my life experience. And I’ve titled the lesson as above: ”His way or mine?!” And I give it this title because 24/7 of each day – actually every moment of every day – we’ve been given a choice by God, just as He gave the choice to Moses in Numbers, Chapter 20.

You probably know the story well. Moses was given God’s charge to show His recalcitrant peoples how God will provide for them out of their obedience to Him; and God gave some very explicit instructions to Moses to speak to the rock which would allow God to provide the water that His children needed. However, either in his pride or anger, Moses struck the rock with the wondrous rod God had given to him; and God, in his mercy, provided the water; but Moses’ disobedience cost him dearly, … because he was not allowed to set foot in the promised land, himself, because of Moses doing life his way rather than God’s.

This is a simple lesson, isn’t it? Jesus articulated it clearly in the passage - Luke 9: 23 - that I’ve likely repeated more this year than any other, where Jesus basically says, ”It’s MY way or the highway!!” However, this is a lesson that even the great follower, Moses, had trouble grasping; and because he had a moment of weakness and disobedience, it cost him dearly.

 My friend, sin, especially that of disobedience, ALWAYS has consequences; and I’m praying today that knowing the truth of this lesson, I’ll just live in surrender to my Lord, … following His way, no matter where He will lead me.

My Prayer for Today … Oh Lord, You show me the way … YOUR way; … and I will follow. … Amen

Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online blog entitled Today God Is First [TGIF], authored by Os Hillman. If you GO TO THIS LINK  on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read Hillman’s TGIF blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.

No comments: