Every Day Light 4/13

April 13
Catching a Vision
For reading & meditation: Nehemiah 2:1-10
"If it pleases the king ' let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it." (v.5)

We ended yesterday with the thought that waiting for God's purposes to come to pass is more the rule than the exception in the Christian life. Does this mean that for most of our Christian life we should do nothing but wait for God to move? No. Clearly there are certain aspects of the Christian life which require immediate and daily attention, and for which we have all the guidance we need. We don't need to wait on God, for example, to know what we should do about forgiving those who have hurt us, or sharing our faith with the unconverted. Those purposes of God are to be seen as standard operating procedure and are clearly set out in His Word. I am referring here, not so much to His general purposes, but to His individual purposes - those special plans which He wants to achieve through us personally. Every Christian has the responsibility of coming before God to seek to discover just what it is that the Lord wants to achieve through his or her life. And as we are faithful in reading His Word, obeying His commands, and communing with Him in prayer, we can expect Him to reveal those special plans for our lives. Take our reading today: Nehemiah served the king faithfully, but when he heard about the disgraceful condition of God's city, Jerusalem, he caught a vision of rebuilding the walls. God then worked in the king's heart to give him a desire to assist Nehemiah in achieving that vision. Have you caught the vision of what God wants to achieve through your own individual life and witness on this earth? If not, why not?

Prayer:

Gracious Father, give me, I pray, a clear picture of what You want to achieve through my own personal life and witness for You. I have kept myself in the dark too long; now I want to step out into the light - Your light. Amen.

For further study:

Genesis 15; Proverbs 29:18

1. What vision did God give Abraham?

2. How long did it take to be fulfilled?