January 8, 2013 … Letting God Take It

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2013 - Day 8

Passage of the Day: 2nd Samuel 16: 11-12 [NLT] …  
11 Then David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “My own son is trying to kill me. Doesn’t this relative of Saul have even more reason to do so? Leave him alone and let him curse, for the Lord has told him to do it 12 And perhaps the Lord will see that I am being wronged and will bless me because of these curses today.”  
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Contextual Reference Passage: … To study today’s highlight passage in context, go to 2nd Samuel 16 … by using this link … 
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Reference Passage: 1st Peter 5: 7 : [NLT] … {Choosing to let the horizontal cares of the world be dealt with by our vertical relationship with God. } …  
Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about what happens to you. 

My Journal for Today: Got any footholds of anger or anguish or revenge in your life that you’re holding onto tightly and you know is separating you from a deeper relationship with God?

Today, Oz Hillman, the editor of my daily devotional reading, points in Scripture to an incident where King David, who had a lot on his mind with his son, Absalom, trying to kill him and assume the throne, was confronted by someone from Saul’s family who hated him enough to throw rocks at the king. If you’ve read 2nd Samuel 16 for the context of this story, you’ll see that David could have had this man, Shimei, killed; … but he didn’t. He let it go, having faith that God would deal this issue; and David even reasoned that if he turned it over to God, perhaps the Lord would bless him in some way.

So, we need to ask ourselves, and I repeat my question from above. Are we holding on to any issues in our horizontal dealings in life which need to be turned over vertically to God? Maybe we have someone where selfish anger or bitterness is holding us back from forgiving that person. Perhaps there’s some lingering sin stronghold, maybe a substance abuse issue or an obsession with pornography, which blunts our relationship with Christ. Whatever it is, we need to follow the exhortation of the Apostle Peter in the reference passage which I’ve quoted above from 1st Peter 5: 7.

We need to take this horizontal issue in our here-and-now life and turn it over to our vertical relationship with God, Who cared enough to deal with our most plaguing issue in life, our sin, by sending His Son to take that burden on Himself … vertically and eternally. Whatever it is that is getting in the way of our vertical fellowship with God, we need to cast that horizontal issue aside and let God deal with it.

I’ve got my own horizontal sin strongholds that I need to pray that God will take over today. You’ll have to pray for God to take yours and release you to have a more abiding relationship with our Lord.

As the old Nike slogan says, … ”Just do it!

My Prayer for Today Lord, you know my horizontally-based issues in life, … those which stand between us. Take them, Lord, … especially the gluttony; and give me more of Your grace in the vertical to deal with life more effectively and for Your glory. … Amen