11-24-18 Daily Devotion
November 24, 2018
Your Need—God’s Opportunity
Every time we follow God’s leading, our obedience opens the door for Him to do great things in our life. Yet we often resist obeying, because His directions appear impractical or unreasonable—and so we doubt His intentions toward us.
Naaman couldn’t understand why the Lord would tell him to go wash seven times in the Jordan River. He thought he’d already exercised faith in coming to the prophet Elisha. He’d hoped for a spectacular supernatural healing of his disease—not irrational-sounding instructions to go on what seemed a fool’s mission. After all, the great Syrian commander didn’t see anyone else dipping in the muddy waters and being healed. But God’s instructions were specifically for him and no one else.
If you decide you’ll do what God says only on the basis of what you see others doing, you’ll miss out on His best for you. Suppose Naaman decided he just couldn’t do something that appeared so crazy. He would have died a leper. Likewise, when you hold out on obeying God completely, you’ll never know what He’d have done in your life if only you had trusted Him.
Needs are opportunities for God to transform the lives of His children. He knows that for us to become everything He created us to be, we must learn to believe in—and act on—His trustworthiness.
When facing a challenge, you have two choices. One is to focus on what you lack and how God doesn’t appear to be responding the way you want. The other option is to recognize that your need indicates His desire to teach you something. Then you can rejoice over all that He plans to accomplish.
Bible in One Year: Romans 7-9
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