JANUARY 28, 2010

DON'T PICK

THE LOCK

Scripture Reading--Psalm 37:23

"The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord:

and he delighteth in his way."

My dad was trying to finish a paint job. If he could get it done, he hoped to go away that weekend. Suddenly a gust of wind blew the ladder over, causing the paint to spill all over the porch. Was the event just a coincidence?

My brother was considering going back to his college for an alumni basketball game. He prayed about whether to go. The week before the game, he was playing pickup basketball when he tore his Achilles tendon. Was his injury just an accident?

Some people, even Christians, assume life "just happens." Resting on fate or chance, they wait to see what will happen. To children of God who are walking with God, however, the events of life are not coincidences accidents. God is in control of everything. You see, not only are the "steps of a good man...ordered by the Lord." God orders the stops, too. He uses divinely directed circumstances to lead His children.

God opens and closes doors by directing or permitting certain events to occur. My father and brother came to know what God wanted them to do because of circumstances God allowed to impact their lives.

One word of caution is essential. Circumstances aren't always the Lord's leading. They are God's leading only when they are blended with the leading of God's Word and godly counsel.

Sometimes God creates a situation and uses it to open a new door of opportunity. When God leads this way, we can rejoice that He's at work to order our steps. Someone once said, "Try the doorknob. Just don't pick the lock." If the door of circumstance opens, step through it; but don't force a situation God doesn't allow to develop.

APPLICATION: Read Acts 16:6-10. See how God closed two doors to open another one.

--Tom Palmer--

READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN " 1 " YEAR: Exodus cc. 1-4