Week
6 Trust and Peace
Day 41
Procrastination’s
Cure
Trust
in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6
~~~
One night--and I really don't know whether I was asleep or awake--it came
strongly to me that I should babysit my grandsons the following day so that my
daughter, who was recovering from a cold, could sleep.
The next morning I shook off this impression as one would a dream. It
didn't seem to stand up to the light of day; my husband wanted my help with a
project, and when I talked to our daughter she sounded fine. I decided I
would make supper for her family rather than offering to babysit.
When I delivered the meal at the end of the day, I looked into my child’s
weary face and realized I had resisted the Holy Spirit. I had rationalized my
way out of an assignment because I couldn't quite see how to carry it out, but
after the fact I understood I had allowed my own logic to trump the still, small
voice of the Holy Spirit. My daughter and her family were well fed by the
supper I delivered to their house, but she wasn’t well rested as the Lord had intended.
During that afternoon I had tried unsuccessfully to fight
procrastination, and finally had accomplished just a small amount of work in
our old basement. Again, with the 20/20 vision of hindsight, I understood
that my procrastination had its roots in my earlier disobedience; I wasn't
where I was supposed to be nor was I doing what I was supposed to
do!
So many of us suffer the curse of procrastination and feel despair when
we are unable to make ourselves complete some self-appointed task. We don’t
connect disobedience to the Holy Spirit with our inability to be fruitful in
other areas of our lives, but submission to the Holy Spirit’s lead is
procrastination’s cure. That is because when we do what He asks when He asks us
to do it, we have his help through “…the immeasurable greatness of his power
toward us who believe” (Ephesians 1:19). He works both in our circumstances and
in our human desires so that our efforts are facilitated from within and
without. God will not support any effort of which He is not the author, but
when we walk in His way we find His saving help is our protection, and that He
sustains us along the way.[i]
We must pray to recognize and obey the Holy Spirit’s voice so that we may
offer right sacrifices to the Lord. Remember Cain, who offered a basket of
fruit rather than the blood sacrifice God required, and then became angry when
his offering was rejected. We rob ourselves of peace of mind and heart when we
quench the Holy Spirit’s nudges. His voice is quiet, and requires our
attentive, submissive focus along with our willingness to go His way and not
our own. But when we walk according to the Spirit’s lead, we are freed of the
struggle to resist Him. The result is peace of mind and heart.
God’s grace covers us when the distress of resisting Him leads us to
repentance, and we are grateful, so grateful for His grace. But let’s pray
to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s voice, and for grace to walk in the way He
leads.
Pray: Father, please forgive me
for walking in my own way and not Yours. Forgive me for the ways I have
resisted Your Holy Spirit’s lead. Please improve my spiritual hearing,
sensitize my heart to Your guidance, and grant me a willing spirit so that I
may have the joy and peace of walking in Your way. In Jesus’ Name, amen.
~~~
Offer
sacrifices in the right spirit,
and trust the Lord.
Psalm 4:5 NLT
and trust the Lord.
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