Thursday, August 20 2020 Devotional
“On that day your mouth will be opened to the fugitive, and you shall speak and be no longer mute. So you will be a sign to them, and they will know that I am the Lord." Ezekiel 24:27 Over the years my wife and I have found that whatever God gives me to teach from His Word, as I teach it He will turn our life into a living illustration of whatever He is trying to communicate. It’s gotten to a point where when I see that the Lord is leading me to preach or teach a series on, say, trusting God in the face of difficult trials, we approach it with some apprehension: “What’s going to happen now?“ I’ve caught myself thinking like Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof: “I know, I know, we are Your chosen people! But once in a while, can’t You choose someone else?” I’ve talked with other pastors and Bible teachers and it’s not just me; it seems to be a pretty common experience. Way back in the Old Testament, Ezekiel tells how God turned him into a living illustration of the very things he was prophesying. And it’s not just preachers and teachers, either. God will use each of us to communicate His truth by our lives to those who are watching. Above all, our lives are turned into a demonstration of His grace, His forgiveness and His sustaining power. Our children, our grandchildren, our neighbors, and all sorts of people that we may not even realize are watching us, are observing and learning how Christians do it, and how God keeps His promises to us. How does a Christian do marriage? How do Christians raise children? How does a child of God handle financial reversals? How does God sustain a believer through a long, painful battle with cancer? (I’d like to be turned into an illustration of how a Christian responds after winning the lottery...) It’s a wonderful, sometimes scary, awesome experience, realizing that in this chaotic world, nothing in our lives is without purpose or random. God is truly in control and He will not allow anything to touch us but what He will use to accomplish His purpose. Even when we don’t understand what that purpose could possibly be, it doesn’t matter. Your loving, all-powerful Father is doing something in and through you, and it’s something really, really good. You can trust Him. Lord, help me to store your Word up in my heart, so that it will carry me through whatever comes. Let me be a demonstration of Your loving power even when I’m not aware of it. My life is Yours; I trust You with every detail of it. Hold me close, and walk me through this. Amen.
Pastor Dan Giles