Nashville, Tennessee, United States - The Upper Room Daily Devotional "Running Away" for Thursday, 4 September 2014 - Read Proverbs 3:1-12

Nashville, Tennessee, United States - The Upper Room Daily Devotional "Running Away" for Thursday, 4 September 2014 - Read Proverbs 3: Don’t Assume You Know It All
1-2 Good friend, don’t forget all I’ve taught you;
    take to heart my commands.
They’ll help you live a long, long time,
    a long life lived full and well.
3-4 Don’t lose your grip on Love and Loyalty.
    Tie them around your neck; carve their initials on your heart.
Earn a reputation for living well
    in God’s eyes and the eyes of the people.
5-12 Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
    don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
    he’s the one who will keep you on track.
Don’t assume that you know it all.
    Run to God! Run from evil!
Your body will glow with health,
    your very bones will vibrate with life!
Honor God with everything you own;
    give him the first and the best.
Your barns will burst,
    your wine vats will brim over.
But don’t, dear friend, resent God’s discipline;
    don’t sulk under his loving correction.
It’s the child he loves that God corrects;
    a father’s delight is behind all this.
Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship. . . .[Then] he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.(Jonah 1:3 (NIV))
Jonah knew what he was supposed to do. He was commissioned to go east to Nineveh, but he went to the sailing company and bought a ticket to go far away to the west. Maybe he was afraid or confused or simply unwilling to accept God’s command. Perhaps he thought he knew better. God gave him freedom to disobey, to choose his own path, but God also responded with a storm and later by allowing Jonah an unpleasant stay in the stomach of a whale. Later Jonah argued his case with God, but eventually he went to Nineveh as originally proposed.
Like Jonah, we may resist God’s leading, reasoning that something else is more appealing or more likely to be successful. Deep down we may be willful, angry, or just plain scared. God gives us freedom to choose our own path, but God will meet us on whatever path we take and will lead us further on the good route he has for us. As our savior and deliverer, God responds to our decisions with more promptings to follow the purpose he has set for us and calls us to grow in faith and trust.
The Author: Rosemary Feull (Cambridgeshire, England)
Thought for the Day: God guides us and gives us freedom to choose our way.
Prayer: Dear God, we confess that we often ignore or reject your guidance. Forgive us and help us to trust that the things you desire for us are good. Amen.
Prayer focus: To trust God’s guidance
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