REPOST Today’s AMI QT Devotional was first posted on December 10, 2014.
Devotional Thought for This Morning
“‘God’s Thoughts Are Higher Than Ours.’ Really?”
Proverbs 21:30
“No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel can avail against the Lord.”
George Mueller, the well-known man of faith and director of the Ashley Down orphanage in the late 1800s, recounted an important transitional period in his life. After college, he felt that God was calling him to begin his missionary work in London, but at this time, Germany required all able men to serve in the army. He didn’t want to delay his missionary work, but felt stuck. It was at this time he became very sick to the point that he almost died. While this may have seemed unfortunate, it also rendered him unable to serve in the army. He was now able to begin his work as a missionary. (http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/church-history-for-kids/george-mueller-orphanages-built-by-prayer-11634869.html)
George Mueller’s testimony is filled with stories of miraculous provision of God. While they may seem like fantastic tales of supernatural acts of God, one thing is consistently clear: God will have His way. There are so many ways God surprises us and breaks the paradigm of what our own wisdom says is possible.
Our response to this reality should be twofold: We need to be more humble and to be more trusting. To be humble is to submit our plans in order to grasp and follow God’s plans. To be trusting is to adhere to God’s methodologies in order to fulfill what He calls us to in the way He calls us to. When we grow in humility and trust before the Lord, we will encounter the reality of Romans 8:31 (“If God is for us, who can be against us?”).
The amazing experiences of faith we see in George Mueller’s life is available to all of us as well. We are called to recognize that God’s thoughts are higher than ours, and to respond in humility and trust.
Is there anything God is calling you to that seems impossible to fulfill? Today, God is encouraging you to be humble and to trust that God will provide a way to fulfill His calling.
Prayer: Father, grow me in my trust in You. Give me a heart to lay down all my plans before You. I thank You that Your ways and Your thoughts are glorious and higher than mine. Amen
Bible Reading for Today:Genesis 8
Lunch Break Study
Read James 4:13-16: Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
Questions to Consider
- What issue is James pointing to in this text?
- Why is boasting (v. 16) evil?
- How do we rectify this mentality?
Notes
- It is the sin of arrogance and assumption.
- This boasting reflects a life that is not lived in the knowledge of the Lord. It fails to recognize that God is in control.
- It begins with the recognition that our life is limited and frail (v. 14).
Evening Reflection
If you desire greatness in the kingdom of God, it begins with humility and trust in the Lord. What are some areas in which you need to trust God? Has there been humility in your planning? Let this be a night of reflection and submission. Ask the Lord to reveal His plans and His heart, and align your own plans to His.