04/15/2025
This morning, I am sifting through my life and identifying those things which God has asked of me that remain undone. For the most part I have done the big things, but what about those details that didn't seem too significant or relevant to the big picture... did I gloss over them and leave any of them undone?
I was reading my morning devotional today and Pastor Oswald Chambers struck me square between the eyes when he recalled the story of King Asa. This king brought Israel back to God in a powerful way, he even took the title of queen mother from his own mother because she was found to have an image of Asherah in her possession (which he also took from her and destroyed). But even though he was diligent in his obedience to God, he left one task undone... he didn’t tear down the high places where Asherah was worshiped.
“But the high places were not taken out of Israel. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was wholly true all his days.”
2 Chronicles 15:17 ESV
Asa hadn’t destroyed the worship places where people had worshiped a god other than Yahweh.
The question I asked myself this morning was this; do I have high places that still remain in my life of faith? Do I have things that God has told me to no longer do, or places I should no longer visit that haven't been eradicated from my life? Perhaps I haven’t denounced some depravity or have allowed a certain tolerance of sin to remain in my life? As I look more closely at myself will I find that I have generally been living a spiritual life that appears to be pure, but that, like Asa, has some lesser lingering remnants of the old man who I once was still in place?
There is an old saying that is familiar to us, which is attributed to having first been uttered by Gustave Flaubert in the 1800s. It goes like this... "The devil is in the details!" You have probably said this yourself, but that isn't the actual quote of Flaubert. What he actually said was "God is in the details!" His saying was later changed from saying "God", and having a positive connotation, to become "Satan" and having a negative one. Personally, the original idea of having God encourage us to pay close attention to the details, is much more appealing than implying that Satan is waiting to ensnare us in them. Yet whether we choose to voice this thought in a negative or positive manner, we understand that the details of our spirituality are incredibly important and are very critical battles we must fight in the war against sin in our lives.
Asa didn't destroy the high places, Moses didn't speak to the rock, Joshua didn't kill the Canaanites, Peter denied Jesus; the Bible is full of details in His will that were missed... and so are our own lives. The remnants of our old selves remain in us, and they can become not so obscure details of unfinished spiritual business. God says, "Love thy neighbor" and we do this in hundreds of ways; until one day we ignore a member of our own family who we expect more of than all those others. Do you see the unfinished detail? We are told not to use the Lord's name in vain and so we change an expression to skirt around actually profaning His name by saying “dang” instead of “damn”. Do you see the unfinished detail?
Yes, we all have high places that still need to be razed. We have those seemingly insignificant details of God’s will which remain unfinished. As we become introspective will we find that we are all like Asa in some regard? Well, this morning is a good time to begin searching out those tiny details; then, one by one, completing or banishing them and thus fully obeying what God originally told us to do.
Our search for pureness of faith and heart takes a lifetime of living, and there will be a myriad of details, but then again, isn’t that what God wants of us; our worship, our love, and our attention... right down to the smallest detail? Pastor Chambers ended his devotional writing today with a similar thought when he wrote these words:
"God wants you to be entirely His, and this means that you have to watch to keep yourself fit. It takes a tremendous amount of time. Some of us expect to "clear the numberless ascensions" in about two minutes." - Oswald Chambers
When I read this thought I asked myself another convicting question…Is that me? Are you asking yourself if that is you? Are we two minute Christians? Are we living wonderful lives of faith for most of our years only to fail in the details of our calling during the final two minutes? Are we being disobedient by failing to complete some detail?
Prayer:
Father, thank you for calling me to serve you, and to do all the tasks, large and small, that you lay before me. Thank you for leading me to places in my faith that I never thought possible, and that seemed so far out of reach. Lord don't let me stumble as I approach the finish line by leaving some obscure detail of your will undone. Help me Father to hear your voice and obey your desire in full by paying close attention to the tiniest of details. Father God, I often rush to complete as much of your will as I possibly can, but in my burning desire to serve you more I can lose sight of the fact that it is the smallest details which cause me to stumble most. It is in them that I have missed obeying you to perfection and have failed at what you have asked of me. You are a patient God, and although I gauge my life on the quantity in which I serve you... your intention is that I serve you perfectly. Help me, Father, to have the determination to complete each request you ask of me... even those that might seem insignificant to me as I rush on to accomplish what I feel are the bigger or more glorious victories for you. Jesus, slow my pace so that I walk perfectly beside you rather than ahead, leaving stones unturned as I do so. Let me seek out my salvation in every detail and realize that even as you are perfect in all you do... I should be perfect too. Show me that each perfect thing I complete in service of the Lord is better than the many which I have partially completed, or those I have left undone. Father, hear me as I praise your name once I have completed your will in its entirety. Hear me Lord as I kneel before you in prayer and thank you for the peace and joy that I have received through your pleasure… and through the knowledge that I have paid close attention to every detail of your will, leaving no stone unturned in the process. Great are you Abba, and perfect are you in all you ask and do, even to the smallest detail of your will and plan for me.
Amen, Amen, Amen!
“But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!””
Luke 11:28
“But this command I gave them: ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’”
Jeremiah 7:23 ESV
““Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.””
Matthew 7:21 ESV
Rich Forbes