03/04/2025
Are we being busy for Jesus, so busy that we never stop long enough to hear what He is really calling us to do? I worry about this often. I fill my life with the things that I know are similar to those things which Jesus did, or has told us in scripture to do, but are these really things that He is asking of me right now? Today? Every day is new, and the Lord's mercies and compassions are new as well. So how is it that I feel inclined to latch onto a single thing that the Lord has told me to do and revisit it every day?
“It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”
Lamentations 3:22-23 KJV
After much thought and searching the scripture, I have come to the conclusion that we are faced with two types of callings... the steadfast that we perform every day, and the transitory that are for a specific purpose or time or day.
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”
1 Corinthians 15:58 KJV
Our life of faith is a journey, and we travel a given road as we make our way through it. In making this trip, there are certain things we must do every day... we must be true to where we have been told to go, we must take care of our donkey, and we must find provisions to sustain ourselves, but like every road there are many sights and wonders along the way and frequent challenges and obstacles. When we rise each morning, we ask the Lord if we are still on the right road, and then throughout the day we ask repeatedly if there is something special we need to do that day, or ask for his help in overcoming the snares we encounter.
“And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.”
Isaiah 30:21 KJV
Every day is new, and our walk with the Lord begins anew in it. I am not saying that we should forget all we have experienced or those lessons of faith we have learned, but that there will be new experiences and lessons designed specifically for each day. We are meant to listen for corrections, and then for those new things He would have us do. Traveling the way of life like this is not a new revelation, but one that has been with us throughout biblical times. Listen to this passage from Deuteronomy with fresh ears…
“And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, To keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?”
Deuteronomy 10:12-13 KJV
So, we might have a calling that God has asked us to do each and every day for our entire lives, but we will also experience new and wonderful callings as well... some of these for a moment or a season, while others will join those we are already doing for a lifetime. Our long-term callings require patience, determination, and longsuffering, while the others will need for us to display such things as rapid discernment, instant faith, trust, and a quick reaction to His Word and desire. All are part of the same journey. Today, without abandoning those things we have already been called to do, let’s still ourselves, and ask the Lord if there is something new that He desires us to do during this new day… and then let’s revisit those things we have been doing for Him every day without fail, and ask Him if they are still what He desires us to be doing, and not just routines that we have been faithfully, and quite possibly blindly, following.
Like God’s love, and mercy, He continuously calls us to serve Him, but while some of the tasks He gives us never cease, others are new every morning… have you ever read this scripture from Lamentations and understood it in this way? Have you realized that although His love for us never ceases but that his mercy, although constant, is always new and changing in its manifestation? Do you see how this requires us to have great faith as we go about serving Him in each new day?
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
Lamentations 3:21-23
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for the journey we are on together. I ask that you guide me always and show me every wonder you have prepared for me. I pray Lord that I never assume that I know the way you would have me go, but that I listen always for your voice, feel your hand on my shoulder, and watch your eyes as they guide me with a glance. Holy Father, lead me around the snares and hardships as we travel together, but if perchance I should stumble... lift me up in your loving and merciful arms. Let no effort along the way take my eyes from you, or my heart from your will. Father, let me be still before the dawn and hear your voice as it calls; let me recall the echoes of the lifelong callings you have given me and the fresh new transitory ones that you desire of me for today... then lead me on in both. Increase my measure of faith with each new day so that I can accomplish all that you desire of me... the new with the old, and the momentary as well as the eternal and long-suffering. They are all callings that are your will for me. Over the course of my life you have told me to pray for certain people every day for the remainder of my days, but those prayers are formed and shaped anew each day… help me Abba to be attentive to your voice as you speak fresh to me, even as I travel old and familiar roads and ways with you. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who never grows stale in my life, and who is new in me each morning, and in every prayer that I pray. Holy is your Word which never fades and is forever fresh just as it remains true from Isaiah to Peter. Your Word stands forever… even though the grass and flowers may wither and fall you are new in me always. Hear and guide my prayers today but always hear me say Amen as I claim your Word and hear your constant whispers. Old and new, let me cherish and keep them fresh in my heart.
Amen.
“The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.”
Isaiah 40:8 ESV
“for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.”
1 Peter 1:24-25 ESV
“1Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.”
Psalm 1:1-3 ESV
Rich Forbes