Your Daily Devotional for October 21, 2006

 

October 21, 2006

 

 

First Things First

by Dr. Paul Chappell

 

 

 

“Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”

 

Psalm 46:10

 

 

A new stress diet has recently been released.  For breakfast you have half a grapefruit, one piece of whole-wheat toast, and 8 oz. skim milk. At lunch you have 4 oz. lean broiled chicken breast, one cup steamed zucchini, one Oreo cookie, and herbal tea. For a mid-afternoon snack you have the rest of the package of the Oreo cookies, one quart rocky road ice cream, and a jar of hot fudge. For dinner the menu is two loaves of garlic bread, a large mushroom and pepperoni pizza, one large pitcher of root beer, three Milky Ways, and an entire frozen cheesecake eaten directly from the freezer.

 

This diet looks all too familiar for some of us! But as we get caught up in the rush of the day, we seem to lose time for important things—such as spending time with our family or even spending time with God. We can get so wrapped up with the work of this world that we get too worn out to serve Christ. If you find yourself too tired to go soulwinning, or too tired to get up and go to church on Sunday mornings, then it’s time to pace yourself.

 

God says in our verse today, “Be still.” It can be challenging to find time to be still! Yet, God wants us to stop and come to Him with our full attention on Him and His will for us. Have you ever gone throughout your day and thought that there was no way you could squeeze God in? Between meetings to attend, projects to do, shopping to get done, and the numerous other tasks to accomplish, spending time with God seems impossible!

 

The Bible also says in Psalm 27:14, “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.” When you feel as if your strength is running thin, God says to wait on Him. He says to seek Him and to simply wait. As you spend time with Him, He will renew your strength to continue on.

Friend, the more you have to do, the more time you need to spend with God! You may think that there is no way you could get everything done and still spend quality time with Him, but the Bible says to be still. God knows all that you have to do, and yet He wants you to come to Him. Don’t you think that if you start off your day by going to Him and spending time with Him, He can take care of everything else you have to do that day?

 

I would challenge you to prove God in this area. Sit down one day, take some time out of your busy schedule, and spend some quality time with God. Forget everything that you have to do that day and focus on Him. Let Him speak to you and simply tell Him that you have much to accomplish and that you need His help to get it all done. He will honor your choice to put Him first, before the cares of this world.

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