Wisdom For Today // Wisdom to Transform Your Life, Part 9

A Different Perspective Official Podcast

Every morning we get up out of bed and we have to face yet another day. Some days, it’s going to be a good day. Other days … not so much. So what wisdom does God have for you, today?

I don’t know how it is for you, but for me, wherever I happen to be, every morning starts of pretty much the same way. I wake up, shave, clean my teeth, shower, get dressed, have breakfast … and then it’s off to work or if it’s a weekend, mostly, it’s time for a rest.

As at today, I have lived 21,163 days on this earth and, other than the fact that I didn’t have to shave when I was young, and I went to school rather than to work, each day has started, pretty much the same way.

It’s a bit scary when you think of it like that isn’t it?

But for each and every day that you and I have left on this earth God has some powerful wisdom ready and waiting. The first piece of that, that I’d like to share with you is this:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22-23)

That was written at a time of complete devastation. Jerusalem and the temple had been destroyed, and God’s people had either been killed or taken into captivity to Babylon.

Sometimes our lives feel like that too. Complete devastation. Either because something bad has happened to us, or because we, through our own stupidity, through our own sin, have brought it on ourselves.

But each and every morning, no matter how bad things were yesterday, no matter how dark it was during the night for you, the sun comes up, right? Nothing stops the sun from coming up.

And it’s exactly the same with God’s steadfast love for you. It never ceases. When you open your eyes each morning you can be certain of two things. Either the sun has or soon will come up, and the steadfast love of the Lord for you hasn’t failed. In fact just as the sun does its thing each and every day for you, so the mercies of the Lord are new for you, each and every morning.

But … but … I don’t deserve it. Nope. Neither do I. But that’s the whole point. Mercy is only mercy when it’s undeserved. And the completely undeserved favour of God, the mercy of God, the forgiveness of God, the steadfast love of God is new for you, each and every morning.

That means that you can roll out of bed, put your feet on the ground, open your eyes and rejoice. You can live each moment of today … the good, the bad and the ugly … filled with the joy of the Lord.

Because the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning.

And that’s why, before the day begins, I want to tap into those mercies.

After my morning ritual of shave, teeth, shower and make a cup of coffee … the very next thing that happens for me, is that I wander into my study, I close the door and I spend a half an hour or so with God.

But the big temptation is to get distracted. What’s come in on the email overnight? How many likes did I get on Facebook? What’s in the news? These days, technology being what it is, the whole world is ready and waiting for you in the palm of your hand.

And I think it’s because of that, that we’ve forgotten how to settle down, quietly, and spend some time with God. To, in essence, wait on God.

The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. (Lamentations 3:25-26)

The concept of waiting for anything these days is almost, like … Hang on, wait? Why do I want to wait for something?

We live in an instant world. Hey, most of get touchy when the internet’s running a bit too slow, or if there are two people ahead of us in the ATM queue. Wait? Wait? But … just let these words sink into your heart.

The Lord is good to those who wait for him, the soul that seeks him.

How do you kick your mornings off? Is there any time there for waiting on the Lord?

Just yesterday, I was having a conversation with a man about exercise. And he said, “Well, I don’t really have time.” So, I asked him, “Do you have time to get sick? Do you have time to be tired and drowsy? Because they’re some of the consequences of not getting enough exercise.

So if perhaps you find yourself 'too busy' to wait on God, let me ask you, “Do you have time to miss out on the goodness of God?” Because that’s the full effect of this Scripture here. God is good to those who wait for Him.

And that word 'wait' means to look for eagerly, to hope, expect, anticipate … to linger in that place. I think in this world of 24/7 connectivity and instant gratification, so many people are missing out on the goodness of God in their day, because we’ve forgotten how to wait on Him.

So here’s the challenge that I believe God is setting before you today. Build in just a bit of time, ten, fifteen, twenty minutes of quiet time alone with Him … and spend some of it just waiting on God. Reading His Word, yes. Praying, yes. But also waiting, quietly. Hoping, expecting, anticipating the goodness of God. Because He is good to those who wait for Him. And that goodness is something that never, ever leaves you, the whole day long.

Sometimes you read a story in the Bible and you kind of gloss over it without realising how powerful and profound it is. Here’s a great example.

The Israelites have just escaped from slavery in Egypt and Pharaoh and his army – the greatest army on the earth at the time – are about to chase them and destroy them. Scary times.

But here’s something interesting that we’re told about how God behaved in this situation:

The Lord went in front of them in a pillar of cloud by day, to lead them along the way, and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light, so that they might travel by day and by night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people. (Exodus 13:21-22)

Well, that’s not quite true, because in the next chapter, we read that God positioned this pillar behind the Israelites, between them and the pursuing Egyptian army to protect them.

That being said, for the next 40 years, that pillar of cloud and fire never left them in the wilderness.

Well, okay, I guess most of us have heard that story a hundred times. Yeah sure … pillar of cloud by day, pillar of fire by night. I get it. But do you? Really?

You see what’s so powerful about this is that back in that day – and in fact, still today – all the other gods that other nations worshipped, lived in temples that had been built on hilltops. The gods didn’t come to the people, indeed they couldn’t, so the people had to go to their temples to worship them.

But the God of Israel went on the journey with His people. Back then, that was a mind-blowingly radical concept. In fact if you travel to countries where there is a lot of idol worship, it’s still a mind-blowingly radical concept.

This idea that God is on the journey with you, to protect you from your enemies, to give you shelter from the harsh sun by day, to give you warmth and light by night.

But that’s exactly what’s going on in your life right now. If you believe in Jesus, the Presence of God never leaves you. God is on your journey with you to guide, protect, shelter and love you every step of the way just as He was with Israel.

Only now, now He’s put His Spirit in you … and He will never leave you or forsake you. So … the upshot of all that is that every step you take, you can take in the confidence that your God, your mighty, loving, powerful, wonderful God, is on your journey with you.

You can actually live your life as though it’s true. Because it is.