Did you know that there are over 30,000 verses in the Bible? That's a lot of verses. That's a lot of teaching. Where to start? What to learn? Which is most important?
As I come across verses that seem to speak to me, I write them down. I write some on index cards and have them on my desk and on my night stand. I sometimes have them in my purse and have taken them with me to art shows. There are some jotted down on my calendar and on the side and back of my "to do" list. I have some jotted on the corners of used envelopes and even in the margins of books I'm reading. I have a small journal where I keep most of them and that book is getting fuller and fuller. This morning I was reading through the ones in my journal and, trust me, that is like taking a fuel injected vitamin pack first thing in the morning. It just seems to feed every single need I have, line after line after line. After I read a few pages in my journal, I went to the Bible to begin study there. Now, if there are in fact over 30,000 verses in the Bible and maybe forty or fifty in my journal and if, out of all those verses, I come across the same verse twice in a twenty minute time span, don't you think that the Lord is telling me that I need to do something with that verse, to use it somehow? I do. So, here it is.
"Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear My voice behind you saying, 'This is the way; walk in it.'" Isaiah 30:21
When I was my sickest during chemo, I found that verse and it brought me great comfort and I think God wants someone else to see it today knowing that it will bring that same comfort to them. When we're at a crossroad, if we will just listen for His voice, we'll hear it. We don't need to worry about which direction to take because His voice will automatically take us in the direction we're supposed to go.
After my second chemo treatment last year, I knew that the oncologist that was treating me was not who I was supposed to be with. I had felt a discomfort about him before but didn't realize that I could just fire him. Then the prompting, God's voice, became stronger and stronger until I knew that He was leading me in a different direction. If I had stayed with the first oncologist, I know now I would have never finished treatment. When Dr. Popatia, my new oncologist said, "Thank God you came to me", it was a confirmation that His voice had taken me where I was supposed to go.
One of the greatest things about being a child of God is that our path is pretty much laid out for us. And if we don't see it clearly enough, we simply have to ask His will be done and then just sit back for an amazing ride. That ride might be a little bumpy at times and even a little scary at other times, and sometimes it might be way more than a little scary, but knowing that He's right there behind us is still all the direction we need.
Precious Lord, Jehovah Rapha,
Thank You for Your voice behind us, guiding and directing us so that we know that we're going in the direction you intended for us. Give us the strength and fortitude today to recognize and avoid the detours that are intended to take us in the wrong direction as we listen for Your voice every step of our journey.
Lord, we thank You for the journey we are on. Maybe not a journey we would have chosen for ourselves but we know that You have a purpose for it and we love You and trust You to use our journey for only good and we are grateful.
In Jesus' precious name.
Amen
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