Oakwood Church Fresh Start Women's Devotional Encouragement for Today Hartland Delafield

Conflicting Ways
By Sarah Walker

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8-9 (ESV)

We are bombarded day after day about how we can (and should) have things our way. From advertising campaigns to the sheer number of choices we have when we shop, it appears our desires reign supreme. No one governs us except ourselves, and we ought not interfere with another person’s ability to make their own choices either. All too easily, we can adopt the thinking that we deserve to have or do whatever we desire. We unconsciously can start to live our lives devoted to this cause of “Me” and “My Way.”

But in doing so, do we lose sight of God’s plan for us? Do we get so ensnared in seeking out whatever we want that we lose track of what God wants? Has Christianity become more of a buffet line where we can choose whatever “truths” we want to believe and not consume the rest?

Oh friends, how we miss out on doing what God has planned for us when our primary focus becomes ourselves. We were designed to reflect God. To seek out His way. His plans. His truth. His life. And all too often we have exchanged those truths of God for a lie. [1] Yes, we need to honor who God made us to be. Yes, we need to know who we are, and what our desires are. But have we gotten so focused on ourselves that we have taken our eyes off God?

God tells us His ways in the Bible. Over time, cultures have come and gone believing different things, but God’s Word has lasted and will stand forever. [2] When we live our lives more focused on God than on ourselves, we are truly living the way we were designed to live. God made each of us for a purpose. And that purpose is not to be self-serving but to live our lives wholly devoted to God.  Submitting our desires to Him, and allowing ourselves to rest in Him. No matter what the swirling streams of opinions tell us…will we prioritize ourselves and our desires, or will we choose to stand firm on God and His truths?

GOING DEEPER:

1.    Is your life devoted to yourself and your desires, or to God and His desires?

2.    Read Psalm 25:4-5 and make that your prayer whenever you need help following God’s ways.

FURTHER READING:
Psalm 25:4-5; Hosea 14:9; 1 Corinthians 1:25

Sarah is married to Scott and is a full-time mom to their two young sons. She and Scott are involved in a small group focused on prayer and are expecting to welcome their third son in January.

[1] Romans 1:24-25 
[2] Isaiah 40:8