Monday 18 Oct 2010

Monday Reading: Psalm 141:3-5
 
Key Verse: Psalm 141:5
5  Let the righteous strike me; it shall be a kindness; and let him correct me, it is oil on my head, let not my head refuse it;...
 
Devotion:
We all like to think that we can control what we do and say but as soon as someone dares to get us upset all of our rules that we have go out of the window! We do have to admit that what we do and say is more often controlled by our reactions rather than our actions. Reactions are things that are learned over time by repeated actions to something other action; pretty soon we learn to do some things without thinking about them. That is where we run into dangerous ground because we typically learn those reactions at a young age and keep them with us as we grow. If we have learned those reactions before we come to know God and before we try to sort out our lives with Christ then we have a problem of trying to “un-learn” those reactions!

God is the one who is going to be our guide as we learn to leave our old lives behind and grow in our new life with Him. He wants us to be able to leave all those old ways and even those reactions behind and strengthen our resolve in His ways. He is the one who will guide us away from those evil thoughts and those evil ways. He is the one who will recognise those ways before we do. He is the one who will guide us towards His ways and His will in our lives. We are the one who have to listen.

But are we really committed to learning from Him. If we are then we will have no problem with verse 5. If we are not fully committed then we will not want anyone to come our way and tell us off for doing things that we have always done. Yes it is hard. Yes it will take time. No we will not enjoy getting into trouble. But if that is what it takes to get us out of that troubled life that we have dug for ourselves then we should be willing to endure it all the way. The more we listen the more we will find that we can avoid getting into trouble. The less we are willing to listen the more we will find we get into trouble... and that goes for any law in life! Let God be your guide and allow Him to correct you!

Points to Ponder:
Do you like trouble?

Are you willing to be corrected?