Teach me how to live, O Lord. Lead me along the right path, for my enemies are waiting for me. Do not let me fall into their hands. For they accuse me of things I’ve never done; with every breath they threaten me with violence. Yet I am confident I will see the Lord’s goodness while I am here in the land of the living. Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord. Psalm 27:11-14
Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Proverbs 3:5-6
We begin today's devotion by recalling that being a new person with a new life is what this series is all about and that exchanging insecurity for security has a lot to do with how fully we become the new person with a new life that Christ has in store for us. We have been looking this week at a story where Peter faced a difficult situation that revealed his insecurity. We know from our own experience how adverse circumstances and people come up against us and pose a genuine threat to our personal well-being. We have learned from Peter how important it is to defer to Jesus because he can handle these things much better than we can. When Peter finally does turn to Jesus, Jesus handles the situation and tomorrow we will explore how Jesus did that. Yesterday we considered the importance of waiting on the Lord because Jesus does not always immediately address the challenges we face. Today we continue to look at what it means to wait on the Lord.
Consider this: waiting on the Lord is not the same as waiting for him to act on our behalf. Earlier in the week we looked at another part of Psalm 27, where the Psalmist made a statement about what he wanted most from God. He said that he wanted to live in God's presence every day of his life so that when troubles came that's where he would be found, and God would hide him and set him on a high rock out of reach of all his enemies. This is what waiting on the Lord looks like. The focus of waiting on the Lord is more about God himself than it is about what he will do for us. The Psalmist leans upon and rests in the Lord. As a result, the Lord becomes more real to him than the problems he faces. He is secure, protected, and safe in God's presence. He is free from doubt, fear, and insecurity. If our security rests on God solving our problems then insecurity will be an ongoing issue for us as we wait for God to act on our behalf (this is why, like Peter, we so often act on our own behalf) but if we learn to wait on the Lord, it will make all the difference.
Lord, I echo the prayer of the Psalmist in the Psalm above, "Teach me how to live, O Lord. Lead me along the right path." I come to you Lord wanting to be one who truly waits on you. Make me into the new person you desire me to be so that I truly live my life in new ways. Lord, I really do want to live in your presence more than anything else and I am ready to have it be that you become more real to me than the troubles I face day in and day out. Amen!
