2 minute read.
Daily Reading: 1 Chronicles 9:1-10:14 ESV, Acts 27:21-44 ESV, Psalm 8:1-9 ESV, Proverbs 18:23-24 ESV
Daily Verse: “Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss.” (Acts 27:21 ESV)
HUBRIS (5196): “Primarily denotes “wantonness, insolence,”: then, “an act of wanton violence, an outrage, injury,” Acts 27:21 “harm.”[I]
Wanton violence.
Decisions we make cause injury to ourselves. Discerning God’s will challenges the most devout believer. God asks us to put our desires on the back burner as we pursue His purpose for our life. Dying to self grows us. Everyone wants their way; typically, God has a different direction for us to go.
Paul, led by the Spirit, doesn’t think they should set sail, but the sailors disagreed and went anyway. Let the suffering begin for the crew because they wouldn’t listen.
God doesn’t give us a road map for life. Instead, our Creator wants us to follow Him. Leading the Israelites in the desert, God used a cloud during the day and fire by night. They didn’t have a travel itinerary because they trusted the Maker’s guidance.
God navigates.
Without a doubt, the best way to let God lead you happens when you engage with the Scriptures daily. Zig Ziglar, Christ follower and motivational speaker from the 1970s and ’80s, sums up the importance of reading the Bible well:
“I read the paper every day and the Bible every day; that way, I know what both sides are up to.”
Reading God’s word reveals truth you can find no other way. However, if you don’t put in the time and effort to discover what the Bible says, you’ll never know its power. Relying on other people to do the work for you doesn’t have the punch reading scripture on your own does.
Set a goal for yourself to read God’s word daily for a period. No devotional, not even mine (said with a smile on my face), just the Bible. Read the book of John first, which records Jesus’s miracles; it will make you want to read more. Ask God to let your spirit engage with His Word and see what happens.
[i] Strong, J., & Strong, J. (2010). The New Strong’s expanded exhaustive concordance of the Bible. Greek Dictionary of the New Testament (p. 255) Thomas Nelson
