“You can’t experience God’s next thing if you don’t do the first thing.”
Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today –May 23, 2023
If you are faithful in the little things, you will be faithful in the large ones. Luke 16:10a, NLT
There are many things in life we cannot control. We cannot control what happens next week, let alone what happens five minutes from now. But what we can do is be faithful to do what is right in front of us. And when we do what is right in front of us, God can use it as a steppingstone to His unfolding and ultimate plan for our lives.
Most people want to know what God’s will is for them because they want to be able to get from where they are to where they want to be in one easy-to-understand leap. (I can relate!)
But that is not usually how God works. He only gives us enough light for the step we are standing on. He doesn’t roll out His will and plan for us from here to forever.
Many times we ask, “God, what is your will for my life? What do you want me to do?”
We bend our knees and cry out for a clear answer that will alleviate every question about our lives far into the future. But most often He doesn’t give us the answer we desire. Instead, He gives us His will for the moment that will lead to His will for next year or five years from now.
God’s will is that you are obedient to do what is in front of you. When you do what is in front of you, it’s like a link in a longer chain that stretches into the future. It’s like a sentence in an unfolding chapter. It’s a first step in a journey.
“You cannot see what He is doing in His unfolding, but this is what it means to walk by faith and not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).
When God requires us to walk by faith, it’s because He doesn’t want us to depend on ourselves. He wants us to depend on Him. If we could clearly see into the future, there would be no need for dependence, and we could become puffed up and prideful.
In 1997, God led me to Houston, Texas where I became an art teacher at an elementary school. I had a desire to become a writer when I was in high school but before I graduated, I put that dream on the shelf, thinking it wasn’t practical.
When I moved to Houston to teach, I couldn’t have imagined that it would lead me to begin a writing and speaking career.
For several years in Texas, I sat under a gifted Sunday school teacher, and her lessons renewed the desire in my heart to write.
In obedience to an internal compulsion and pulling that I couldn’t ignore, I began to put words on a page and laid out ideas for my first book. At the time, I had no idea that the words that I wrote then would lead me right here to you.
God’s will for our lives unfolds moment by moment, day by day, as we are obedient to do what He has placed right in front of us.
Be obedient to do the small things today. This is God’s will for you. Then watch Him unfold his plan over time! He will prove faithful—and He will delightfully surprise you too!
You can’t experience God’s next thing if you don’t do the first thing.
“Do not despise the small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plum line in Zarubbabel’s hand” (Zechariah 4:10, NLT).
Prayer
Lord, I commit to be faithful to you in the little things. I will walk by faith. Thank you Jesus, for being faithful to me. Amen.
Application
Do what God has placed in front of you today.
Related Reading
2 Corinthians 5:7; Romans 1:17; John 14:23
Worship Resource
Don Moen: Trust and Obey
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