"In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." (Proverbs 3:6 KJV)Pretty-much every day (at approximately 95% consistency) I begin by reading the short Upper Room Meditation, available on line - click here
. It serves as a great jumping-off place for the ongoing formative conversations with God that help keep me dialed in as I think, imagine, vision and write.Today's scripture caught my attention for two reasons.
- It speaks to me clearly, especially in terms of my "Life Examined" credo.
- My son, Andrew, has adopted the reference as his "signature" text. Every time I read an email from him, or check his facebook page, "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths" stares right back from the page. If that's not encouraging for a father, then I don't know what is!
Coasting always follows gravity. Faith requires a little horsepower to move forward and up. Jesus always welcomed challenging questions... although if we're looking for trite or tidy answers, the Great Teacher did not - will not - compromise the truth in order to play that particular game. (such sophistry is more typically served, pre-wrapped and luke-warm, by televangelists and prosperity gospel pushers)
As I think about it, the Bible has earned my trust because it is such a critical element in my ongoing exploration of this adventure called "walking with God." Truth that works is at once both instructive and incisive. This is always the case with scripture. God's Word thrusts deep.Reading the Bible opens up new vistas of understanding for me - and at the same time breaks open new questions. It's kind of a Hubble Telescope in that regard. Typically, rather than causing doubt, these new questions lead me to new insights... although it is often a bumpy road.
But that is enough for today. I plan to continue opening this particular window into my muddled thinking.
In the meanwhile... "In all thy ways acknowledge [God], and [God] shall direct [all of our] paths." (Proverbs 3:6 - paraphrased)
Peace - DEREK
1 comment:
So...your post inspired me to write a counselor devotion:
It is a challenge in our day-to-day lives to constantly acknowledge God’s presence. Sure, we give God credit where credit is due, but that acknowledgement is not a constant discipline for many of us. While we are at Cedarkirk, however, we have a unique opportunity to allow God to truly penetrate our actions and guide our paths. Whether it means that we pause during archery to admire the forest that surrounds us or that we take our campers stargazing or that we make a more deliberate attempt to carve out a portion of the day to do Bible Study, God’s presence is undeniable while we are in our little camp bubble and we are constantly aware of Him and we are constantly acknowledging Him.
But what happens when you leave the little camp bubble? A friend of mine once said, “Coasting always follows gravity. Faith requires a little horsepower to move forward and up.” While I find what my friend was saying to be true, I personally don’t care to let my spiritual life simply coast along. With the end of the summer rapidly approaching, a question that has to be asked is: How we can continue to keep the momentum that we’ve built up at camp, so that we aren’t just coasting along in our faith? It is difficult, even impossible, to recreate what you have experienced with the staff and with the campers this summer once you leave camp, but you can take away the lessons that you learn and incorporate them into your life. What are those lessons going to be for you? More importantly, how are you going to use them?
Continue to acknowledge God in all that you do here at camp, pray about what you are going to take away from the experience that you’ve had out here, and allow God to guide your ways – both here at camp and out in the real world.
Post a Comment