Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – March 24, 2020
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. Isaiah 55:8
There are some circumstances in life that just don’t make sense to us because we don’t see things the way the Lord sees them. They may even seem like a waste of time and energy, as if nothing good will come from them. And, we may not be able to understand why the Lord would allow us to endure such trouble.
I recently heard a story about a woman named Kate who experienced this very thing. In her forties, she had a stroke. As a result, she was unable to speak or walk for a season—and she was very angry about it. She had always led an active lifestyle: biking, skiing, and hiking. She was always busy doing this and that, going here and there—and had little time for God.
One evening, while lying on the couch without the ability to move or speak, she was seething about her predicament. She called out to the Lord in anger, “Why? Why me? Why not someone else?!”
She wasn’t in the mood to hear from God, but He unexpectedly and gently spoke to her heart. “Because you didn’t have time for me.”
In that one sentence the Lord was saying, “I love you so much that I will use whatever it takes to draw you near to myself. I know that I am best for you. I know I can give you the abundant life, peace, joy, and fulfillment that you have been looking for. Because I love you, I want to give you time so you can be quiet and still and focus on me. I want to bring wholeness to your life through this hardship.”
Kate recovered from her stroke and can now see how the Lord used her experience for her good. Wow! What affection He has for us. What passionate love! He knows that He is best for us, and He knows that when He is second place in our lives, we suffer. Like a loving parent who understands what is best for their children, He will do—or allow—whatever is needed to draw us to Himself. Now, that’s amazing grace and mercy in action!
“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us” (1 John 4:16a).
Prayer
Lord, when things don’t make sense and life hurts, help me to walk by faith and not by sight. Help me to trust your heart and the great love you have for me. Amen.
Application
Are you experiencing a hardship now in your life? Rather than looking at it as an inconvenience or wasted experience, ask the Lord to reveal to you what He wants you to learn through it. Ask Him to reveal His deep love to you.
Related Reading
Romans 16:27; John 12:13; 2 Corinthians 13:11
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Lord, help me to walk by faith and not by sight…Wow! Have read or heard that numerous times but this time it didn’t feel like yeah, yeah, yeah, give me something practical…Lol Thanks Shanna
Your daily devotionals have given me the strength and courage to move on through circumstances since my wife left me after 29 years. “ God will do or -allow – whatever is needed to draw us to Himself”, I never fully understand this until I read it in the recent devotional, thank you Jesus. Along with the other authors, Shana Schutte devotionals and prayers have been a lifesaver for me, seems as though the Lord was speaking directly to me in many of them “and so we have come to know and rely and the love God has for us” 1John 4:16.