Recalculating Devotional: Day 21

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.”
John 13:34-35 (NLT)

One thing I have learned in life is that there is no such thing as a personal decision. Every decision I have ever made has had an impact on someone besides me. The most Darrick-centered decision I could ever make will have an impact on my wife, my family, my friends, our church, someone. Not only that, but often my decisions will directly involve other people. If they didn’t, life would seem a lot easier.

When Jesus was having His final words of instruction with His closest followers, He gave them a new command that sounds pretty simple: “Love one another.” When he did this, He wasn’t just adding another command to the hundreds of Old Testament laws they were trying to live up to. He was summing them all up into one overriding commandment: love each other. How? The same way He had shown love to them – unconditionally. That’s how people would know that they were really Jesus-followers, by the way they loved each other and the people around them.

During the crusades in the thirteenth century, a French military leader was reported to say, “Kill them all, let God sort them out.” Here in John 13, Jesus is saying the exact opposite. He’s saying, “Love them all, and let God sort them out.”

The final question in Andy Stanley’s book on making decisions is the Relationship Question, which is, “What does love require of me?” It’s the question that reminds us that our decisions aren’t just our decisions and that we need to consider how our decisions will impact the people around us.

How life and culture-changing would it be if we all asked that question, “What does love require of me?” when we made all of our decisions?! It would be history-altering. Marriages would be preserved. Families would be reshaped. Communities would be, well, communities. And, Christians, the church would have an influence on our world like we have never seen.

For the last month, we have been talking about recalculating and decision making. I believe God does want to provide divine direction for our lives. The questions we have looked at this week are great tools that make a grid for us to use in making wise decisions. And none is greater than these simple words: “What does love require of me?”

What does love require of YOU today?

Recalculating Devotional: Day 20

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.
Ephesians 5:15-17 (NLT)

There are two groups of people that the Bible talks pretty consistently about from cover to cover: the wise and the foolish.

The Biblical writers continuously implore us to pursue wisdom and avoid foolishness. They also remind us to hang out with wise people and avoid fools. When the Bible talks about wisdom and foolishness, it is not referring to people who are smart and people who are stupid. It is not talking about the educated vs. the uneducated or those with high IQs and those with learning disabilities. It is referring to behavior, not thought. The difference between a wise person and a fool is what they
do with what they know.

This week we have been looking at some helpful questions from Andy Stanley’s book, Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets. In the book, he shares five questions we can ask when making our next move in life. The fourth question Stanley encourages us to ask is
the Maturity Question: “What is the wise thing to do?”

There are so many things at play when we make decisions. The situation. Our emotions. Our desires (I really want this!) The expectations of other people (My parents always wanted me to become a…). All of those factors can cause us to make unwise decisions because they make us, or someone who matters to us, happy. So, we need to ask ourselves, “What is the wise thing to do?”

The Apostle Paul encouraged the Christians in Ephesus to do the same thing. Paul told them to be careful how they lived and to make the most of every opportunity. He wanted them to use wisdom to avoid evil and foolishness. When you do that, Paul asserted, you will really understand what God’s will is. In order to filter out foolishness, Andy Stanley expands the Maturity Question in this way: “In light of my past experience, my current circumstances, and my future hopes and dreams, what is the wise thing to do?”

All of us have made decisions and seen how they turned out. We’ve been there before. What was the wise thing to do if we could do it all over again? What’s the wise thing to do
given our current situation? And what would be the wisest route to take based on our future plans? Peer pressure and personal desire can cause us to make some pretty bad decisions. But what is the wise thing to do?

The next time you have a decision to make, try applying the wisdom test to your decision. What is wise in the past, present, and future?

Recalculating Devotional: Day 19

The men said, “This is the day the Lord spoke of when he said to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.’” Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. Afterward, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe. He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, or lay my hand on him; for he is the anointed of the Lord.” With these words David sharply rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way.
1 Samuel 24:4-7 (NLT)

Ever been ready to make a decision and have that nagging feeling in your gut that you should reconsider? Or you heard a voice in the back of your mind warning you to rethink things (the voice might even sound like your mom). Maybe it was before you took out that big loan for the car you really couldn’t afford. Maybe it was before you said yes to a second date. Or maybe it was during that business partnership you’d been working on for months. You couldn’t put your finger on it, but there was just something that didn’t feel right.

When you felt that tug, what did you do? Did you listen or did you chalk it up to the late-night pizza you ate and plow ahead? In Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets, author Andy Stanley identifies five questions we should ask ourselves when making decisions. One of those questions he calls the ‘Conscience Question’ and it’s this: “Is there a tension that needs my attention?”

While we don’t want to live by gut feelings and second guesses, there is value in paying attention to those feelings.

David had been anointed to become the next king of Israel (see 1 Samuel 16). The only problem was that there was a current king of Israel named Saul and he wasn’t interested in giving up the throne. In fact, he was trying to eliminate the competition by killing David. He tried multiple times and had failed. Then God gave David a chance to turn the tables and take the throne. David and his small army of mercenaries were hiding in a cave from Saul and his army. As fortune would have it, while Saul was looking for David, he felt nature's call. So, he went into a cave to relieve himself (can you believe this is in the Bible?) And – you guessed it – it was the same cave David was hiding in.

As Saul began to do his business in the cave, David’s men saw a golden opportunity. It seemed like God had served Saul up to them on a silver platter. David could take him out and take the throne. And David may have thought about it. But when he did, there was a voice telling him not to do it, because if he did, he would be messing with the guy who God had currently chosen as Israel’s king. So David was “conscious-stricken” for what he was thinking and told his men he could never do what seemed so easy and so right. David’s gut check saved Saul’s life, and it preserved David’s integrity.

So what about you? How do you respond when making a big decision? What do you do with the tension? Could God be using the tension to get your attention?

Are you trying to make a decision in your life right now? Is there a tension that requires your attention?

Recalculating Devotional: Day 18

But Joseph refused. “Look,” he told her, “my master trusts me with everything in his entire household. No one here has more authority than I do. He has held back nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How could I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God.”
Genesis 39:8-9 (NLT)

When I was a kid, I really liked reading the “Choose your own adventure” books. At the end of those books, you had the opportunity to choose from a few alternate endings to the story. The story changed depending on the ending you chose.

All of us are writing a story with our lives, and the story we choose to write will determine how the story ends and how people will tell our story someday.

As a pastor, one of the privileges that I have is officiating funerals. Whenever I am preparing for a funeral, I make sure to meet with the family to find out as much as I can about the deceased. The best way to do that is to ask the people who knew them the best to tell me about them. It’s always interesting to hear the stories that people share.

All of us have and are writing a story with our lives. Yesterday I shared a question (Am I being honest with myself, really?) that author Andy Stanley says is a key to making good decisions. Today, I want to share a second question, “What story do I want to tell?” Stanley calls that the legacy question. What story do I want my life to tell, and, maybe more importantly, what story do I want others to tell about me.

The decisions we make and the directions we take all contribute to the story of our lives. We don’t tend to think about it that way. Decisions are for today and stories are for tomorrow. But your life is really a compilation of the decisions you make day after day.

Someone in the Bible who had to think about the story of his life was a young man named Joseph. You can read his story in Genesis 37-50. Joseph was the son of a wealthy man and he was hated by his brothers out of jealousy. In fact, they hated him so much they sold him as a slave and he ended up the property of an Egyptian named Potiphar.

Joseph had a lot of reasons to be bitter and give up in his life. But in challenging times of his life, Joseph kept thinking about his story. In Genesis 39, he has been continuously propositioned by Potiphar’s wife and she isn’t being subtle. Joseph is alone with her and has the opportunity to sleep with her and get away with it. But he chooses to run from temptation instead of giving in to it. Why? Because he knew what he wanted his story to be. He didn’t want to be, “Joseph who slept with the boss’ wife.” He wanted to be, “Joseph who did the right thing, even when no one saw what he was doing.”

When we are making decisions about the route we want to take in life, we need to ask, “What story do I want to tell?” The decisions you make today determine the story you can tell tomorrow.

What story do you want your life to tell? What do you hope people will say about you twenty years from now?

Recalculating Devotional: Day 17

This is what the Lord says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land. “But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit. “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.”
Jeremiah 17:5-10 (NLT)

In one of the all-time classic rock songs, The Who sing about a coming revolution and how they can’t wait to be a part of it. They’re not going to miss out on it, and in their words, they, “won’t get fooled again.”

It’s easy to get fooled, especially by the internet, and it’s possible to fool others too. But the person that I find I am most likely to fool is the person I see in the mirror every day. I have a great capacity for telling myself what I want to hear and then believing it. I get fooled again, all the time.

In his recently released book, Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets, pastor and author Andy Stanley writes about, “five questions to help determine your next move.” The first question, "the fooling yourself" question is what he calls the ‘integrity’ question, which is, “Am I being honest with myself, really?” Stanley makes the point that if we are going to make better decisions, we have to start by being honest with ourselves. We need to be willing to ask ourselves, “Why am I doing this…really?” and then be honest about it.

“Why am I avoiding him…really?”
“Why am I spending this money…really?”

Sounds simple, but it can be a challenge. Telling ourselves the truth can be hard.

In the book of Jeremiah, there is a king that wants Israel to stop being a puppet state for Babylon and decides to make an alliance with Egypt to accomplish it. Jeremiah tries to warn him that it’s not going to work out and attempts to get the king to be honest with himself to no avail. In describing the situation, Jeremiah writes, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things…” (Jeremiah 17:9).

He knew what you and I know, that we all have the capacity to tell ourselves what we want to hear. But if we are going to navigate life well, we need to make better decisions. And better decisions begin with asking the right questions. A great place to start is with the simple question, “Am I being honest with myself, really?”

Is there currently a situation you are in or a decision you need to make that you need to be honest with yourself about? Really?

Recalculating Devotional: Day 16

As for Philip, an angel of the Lord said to him, “Go south down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza.” So he started out, and he met the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under the Kandake, the queen of Ethiopia. The eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and he was now returning. Seated in his carriage, he was reading aloud from the book of the prophet Isaiah. The Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and walk along beside the carriage.”
Acts 8:26-29 (NLT)

Not too long ago, I was talking with a friend of mine who is a great cook. I was asking her about some of her favorite dishes and how she had learned to cook and bake. At one point I asked her if she was passing her knowledge and skills down to her kids. She told me that one of the biggest challenges in doing that was that she doesn’t have many
of her recipes written down. She just cooks by “feel” and even when she gets ahold of a new recipe, she always likes to change them up and try new things, often making them differently every time she cooks that dish. While the outcome is amazing, it’s tough for other people to learn those recipes or get them to turn out as well as the original.

That’s the way that I often feel when I am looking for divine direction for my life. I want God to provide specific, step-by-step directions that will take me from start to finish and give me a guaranteed outcome. But so often, I feel like I have just enough information and faith to take the next step.

In the book of Acts, one of the early leaders of the church is a guy named Philip. In Acts 8, God gives him some very specific direction for his life. He tells him which direction to head (south) on a specific road (the desert road from Jerusalem to Gaza). So Philip headed south on the desert road. Once he got going down that road, he ran into the treasurer of Ethiopia, who was reading the Old Testament book of Isaiah and trying to figure it out. As Philip walked by on the road, God spoke again and told him to go and walk alongside the Ethiopian’s chariot. Again, real specific and very clear.

There have been so many times I wished that God would guide me that clearly. But recently, as I read that passage again, I noted something that I had missed. While God spoke clearly to Philip, He only gave him small steps of obedience to follow. Get on the desert road between Jerusalem and Gaza. Check. Go south. Check. Walk next to that chariot. Check.

I realized that part of the reason God’s guidance in my life sometimes feels “fuzzy” is because I am trying to bring the entire route into focus. I want to see and know it all. But God is directing my steps. My next step. And the step after that. So, I am learning to listen and obey one step at a time. If you’ve ever felt the frustration of trying to figure out your route, try taking it one step at a time, and watch where God takes you.

Is there a clear next step that God has been showing you? What could help you take it? What could keep you from taking it?

Recalculating Devotional: Day 15

Moses replied, “Because the people come to me to get a ruling from God. When a dispute arises, they come to me, and I am the one who settles the case between the quarreling parties. I inform the people of God’s decrees and give them his instructions.” “This is not good!” Moses’ father-in-law exclaimed. “You’re going to wear yourself out—and the people, too. This job is too heavy a burden for you to handle all by yourself.
Exodus 18:15-18 (NLT)

Moses was a pretty capable guy. He had been through a lot in his life and had a deep well of experience to draw from, but he was wiped out and he was struggling. The nation of Israel had been living in captive slavery for over 400 years and Moses was the person God chose to lead them out of slavery. Because of his role as THE leader, everyone brought their disputes and disagreements to Moses.

Most biblical scholars estimate that the crowd Moses led through the desert was around two million people, and Moses, alone, was the judge who settled all their problems. The people were getting frustrated having to wait in line for days (weeks? months?) to get their case heard and Moses was burning out quick. Imagine settling people’s disputes all day long, six days a week, for weeks and weeks on end. Moses didn’t think he had a choice in the matter. It was his job and he was going to see it through until it killed him. Then one day his father-in-law, Jethro, stopped by to visit, and gave Moses the best advice he could have ever gotten: “Stop.”

Now, Jethro went on to give him some wise counsel about restructuring, but it all started with, “Stop, this is not good.” As we are trying to navigate our way through life, some of the best guidance we can receive from the Lord might be, “Stop, what you are doing is not good.” I know we all have places to go and people to see, and life seems to get faster and faster every day. But when you’re lost, sometimes the best thing you can do is stop. Maybe that’s what the Psalms mean by, “Be still, and know that I am God.”

When I have gotten lost, whether on a highway or a hiking trail, one of the biggest mistakes I have made is to go faster. To hit the gas or turn my hike into a jog, thinking the faster I go, the sooner I’ll find my way. We are always wanting God to show us where to go and how to get there, but have you ever felt like the guidance God had to give you was, “Stop. Slow down. Be still and let Me be God. I want to lead you, but right now, you need to wait.” God’s delays are not denials. If we can trust God to direct our paths, we can also trust Him when He says stop

Have you ever felt like God said, “Stop,” when you were asking Him for direction? How did you react to that? How did it turn out?

Recalculating Devotional: Day 14

So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.
Galatians 5:16-18 (NLT)

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. – Poet Robert Frost, "The Road Not Taken"

That line from poetry is probably one of the most famous lines in American poetry, maybe American literature. It is often quoted by speakers to challenge her or his audience to take the road less traveled – to not follow the crowd or to do the hard things that most people don’t want to do. All of us have come to places and moments in our lives where there is a fork in the road, and we have to decide which route we will take.

In fact, most of life is like that. Someone once said, “your life is the accumulation of every decision you’ve ever made.” The forks in the road or decisions that I have made that tend to stick with me the most were the ones where I clearly knew the right path, the wise path, and the healthy path, but still chose the other path. Usually, I have done that because the other path led me where I wanted to go, despite the consequences.

In Galatians, a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in a region called Galatia (modern-day Turkey). In his letter, Paul compares the results of our sinful nature (sexual immorality, drunkenness, envy, greed, etc.) with the ‘fruit’ of the Holy Spirit (love, joy, peace, etc.). There is a fork in the road, Paul seems to be saying, and you should choose the right path – the road less traveled. How to do this? Be directed by the Holy Spirit and let Him guide your lives.

The Holy Spirit wants to provide us with divine direction, leading us down the right roads and keeping us from the pain and consequences of wrong road living. Like a GPS for your soul, God wants to help you navigate the turns and choose the right path, even when it is the road less traveled.

Have you ever realized that you were headed down the wrong path and chosen to keep going anyway? What is it that kept you going that way? What do you think it means to let the Holy Spirit guide your life?

Recalculating Devotional: Day 13

You have made a wide path for my feet to keep them from slipping.
2 Samuel 22:37 (NLT)

I’m not much of a mountain climber. In fact, I’m not a mountain climber at all. I don’t even own a Patagonia coat. But about fifteen years ago I was in Chile, near the border
of Argentina, and I accidentally climbed a mountain (it was probably actually a foothill) in the Andes. My friend Rob and I were there to help plan a mission adventure for high school students. The camp we were staying at was at the foothills of the mountains and one day, Rob and I decided to do a little exploring. We kept getting higher, and pretty soon the trees and grass we had been walking through became rock and cliffs. For some reason, we kept deciding to climb, “just a little higher,” until eventually, I knew we had reached the point of no return. There was no way I was going to try and descend back down the rock face we had just climbed. So, we had to keep going until we made it to the top.

Eventually, we did get there, took a bunch of pictures, and rejoiced that we were still alive and in one piece. Then we discovered the really good news. On the backside of this foothill/mountain, we had just climbed, there was a path that led back down to the main road. And it wasn’t just a path. It was a wide path. Dirt road-like in most places. It made the trip back to our camp much easier than the trip to the mountain top.

In 2 Samuel 22, David, the king of Israel, was singing a song of praise to God. He was thanking God for all the things He had provided to David over his lifetime. And in verse 37 he sings, “You have made a wide path for my feet to keep them from slipping.”

David had spent many days and nights in the wilderness, climbing mountains and racing down them, either in pursuit of his military enemies or running from them. He did all of that in sandals or bare feet. David knew the value of wide, non-slip pathways. But David wasn’t just talking about geography. He was talking about his life. He was thanking God for leading him, for giving him divine direction throughout his life. He was thankful for God providing wide-pathways and making them clear. That’s the beauty of following God’s direction for our lives: He wants to make the path wide and keep us from slipping.

How has God made wide paths in your life? Is there a decision that you need to make where you could really use a wide, clear path forward?

Recalculating Devotional: Day 12

So Moses told the people, “You must be careful to obey all the commands of the Lord your God, following his instructions in every detail. Stay on the path that the Lord your God has commanded you to follow. Then you will live long and prosperous lives in the land you are about to enter and occupy.
Deuteronomy 5:32-33 (NLT)

Moses is one of the most well-known people in the Bible and perhaps all of history. Even people who don’t attend church, read the Bible, or know much about Christianity tend to know a little bit about Moses (Ten Commandments, part the Red Sea, etc.) You can find his story at the beginning of the Bible, in Exodus-Deuteronomy.

The tribes of Israel had spent 400+ years as slaves in Egypt and kept crying out to God to get them out of there. God heard their prayers and He sent Moses to deliver them from slavery and lead them to a new land where they could live and thrive as a nation. That trip took a LONG time and while the people were getting ready for a new home, God wanted to get them ready to be a new people. So, one of the jobs God gave Moses was to write down and teach them a set of laws to live by, since they were no longer slaves, but an independent nation. The Ten Commandments are at the core of the law God gave Moses, but there is a lot more to it.

Toward the end of his life, Moses reminded the people about the law that God had given and how important it was to remember it, and more importantly, to follow it. In Deuteronomy 5 he writes, “…be careful to obey all the commands of the Lord your God, following His instructions in every detail.” Then he tells them to “stay on the path.” Some versions of the Bible translate it this way, “do not turn to the right or the left…”

You see, the Israelites had a tendency to kind of stray off the path. They liked to live on the edge of what God had instructed them to do. They wanted to kind-of-sort-of-almost do what God said, but they tended to drift.

Honestly, I do the same thing. Instead of asking, “What does God want for me?” I ask, “What can I get away with and still be ok?” Maybe you do the same thing. There’s something about wanting our own way that’s hard to shake. But while we want our own way, God wants what’s best. Moses told the people that if they would stick to the path and not stray to the right or the left (no political commentary intended), they would experience long and prosperous lives. When we ask God for direction and then follow the path where He leads us, we will end up right where we want to be.

Where are you most likely to stray from God’s path for your life? Is it worth trading a long and prosperous life for?

Recalculating Devotional: Day 11

So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
2 Corinthians 5:16-17 (NLT)

One of my best friends is a guy named Bob. In the 1980’s, during the farm crisis, Bob, like a lot of his friends and neighbors, lost everything. He told me how hard it was to see his livestock sold and his machinery driven away. He was in the hole for a lot of money and most of his family and friends were encouraging him to declare bankruptcy like everyone else. But Bob said no and met with every one of his creditors, promising that no matter how long it took, he would repay every penny, even though he had no idea
how. He felt that was what God wanted him to do.

Not too long after that, Bob got a job driving a dump truck, and eventually, he started his own excavation business. God kept blessing Bob’s new business and he kept working hard and within a few years, he had repaid every one of his creditors, much to their surprise. Today, Bob’s business is flourishing and he has been a blessing to hundreds of people, including me.

It is an incredible turnaround story and I love telling it. But if you ask Bob about that turnaround, he will quickly tell you that it isn’t the biggest turnaround in his life. That, he will tell you, is when he gave his life to Christ. That’s when everything really changed in his life. Bob has experienced what Paul meant about in 2 Corinthians 5 when he wrote, “…anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” Talk about a recalculation!

When we become Christians (followers of Jesus) the old us gets left behind and we get to start brand new. In fact, the literal definition of the word repentance is, “a 180-degree turn.” Whenever I miss a turn when I am driving, my GPS will recalculate my route, and often its smooth voice tells me to “make a U-turn”. God does that same thing for us when we put our faith in Him. He helps us to recalculate and sets us on a new path. Our old route is gone, we’re on a new trajectory!

Have you made the decision to follow Jesus? If so, how has your life been recalculated? If not, what has stopped you from making that u-turn?

Recalculating Devotional: Day 10

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.
Proverbs3:5-6 (NLT)

My freshman year of college, I borrowed a friend’s car (I didn’t have one of my own) so I could take a group of friends to the movies. I was especially interested in taking one of the girls in the group to the movies and wanted to play it cool so she’d be impressed.

Our college was in the middle of downtown Minneapolis and the theaters were at a mall in the suburbs. I had been out there a couple of times although I wasn’t driving and
didn’t really pay attention. But I had a pretty good idea of where I needed to go and I had the keys, so away we went. I had been driving for about thirty minutes (it should have taken 15 minutes) when people started to question my navigational skills and suggesting we stop for directions, which of course, was out of the question. So, instead of asking for directions and getting back on the right path, I continued to drive, confident that I could figure it out.

Well, to make a long story short, I drove around for almost an hour, never found the mall, and we missed the movie. It took me a while to live that one down and it taught me a valuable lesson: don’t overestimate your ability to get there on your own.

King Solomon was known as the wisest man who had ever lived, and he wrote most of the Proverbs, a collection of wise sayings. In Proverbs 3, he reminds us not to depend on our own ability (understanding) and to instead trust in the Lord. The result? “He will show you which path to take.” Thanks to the GPS in my vehicle and in my phone, I don’t really get lost too often anymore. I am also willing to stop and ask someone now. But there are definitely times that I feel lost in life. There are times when I really struggle with a decision to make or a direction to take. There are also times when I know I need to “recalculate” an area of my life. That’s when these words from Proverbs come to mind. They remind me that if I will seek God and trust Him with my life, He will show me the right path to take.

Is there a decision you are trying to make, or a turn around you need to make? How much are you trusting the Lord to direct you?

Recalculating Devotional: Day 9

Early the next morning Joshua and all the Israelites left Acacia Grove and arrived at the banks of the Jordan River, where they camped before crossing. Three days later the Israelite officers went through the camp, giving these instructions to the people: “When you see the Levitical priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God, move out from your positions and follow them. Since you have never traveled this way before, they will guide you.
Joshua 3:1-4 (NLT)

When you are traveling somewhere you’ve never been before or you are in unfamiliar surroundings, one of the greatest gifts you could have is an experienced guide. Someone you can trust who knows the way.

Last January, I was part of a group from Journey Church that traveled to South Africa to work with Blessman Ministries, one of our mission partners. One of the things we got to do on our trip was to go on a photo safari. It was an amazing experience seeing zebra, giraffes, rhinos, elephants, and lions in the wild. At one point on our safari, our guide stopped the vehicle and showed us some really big lion prints in the dirt road we were traveling on. The tracks were headed one way, so our guide took us the other way.

I couldn’t imagine wandering around that area by myself with no idea where I was going or what was out there. Maybe you’ve felt that way at times in your life. When you moved to a new city, started at a new school, or tried to figure out how to be married as a newlywed. I have experienced many, “What am I doing here?!” moments in my life.

That’s probably how Israel felt when they were getting ready to go to the Promised Land, a place God was giving them so they could live and grow there. There were only two problems: One – people already lived in that land and weren’t interested in leaving. Two – no one in Israel’s travel party had been there before. They didn’t know where they were going. So, God told them (through Joshua) to follow Him. They were supposed to wait for the Ark, which represented God’s presence, to go in front of them and follow it. They had no idea where to go and God’s solution was to lead them. GOD became their GPS. And it worked!

Here’s the great news. Wherever your life takes you and whatever path you have to walk, God has already been there and He will lead you. You just have to choose to follow His path and not the best one you can come up with. You haven’t traveled this way before, let Him guide you.

When you are facing uncertain circumstances in life, where do you look for direction? Who or what do you follow?

Recalculating Devotional: Day 8

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right path for his name’s sake.
Psalm 23:1-3 (NLT)

During my lifetime, the tools we use to navigate have changed a lot. As a kid, when our family went on trips, my dad would drive the car down the highway while my mom unfolded a giant map and plotted the shortest and quickest route to our destination. He was the pilot, she was the navigator. Eventually, our glove box full of road maps was replaced by an atlas, which was a book full of maps of every state. We swapped a poster size road map for an oversize book full of them.

Somewhere in the ’90s, the internet helped us find MapQuest (which was an early, clumsy cousin of Google Maps). You would plug in your starting point and your destination and MapQuest would give you a route, which you would then use to print out pages of driving directions. Then along came the GPS for your car, which had to be constantly updated. These days, we all just open an app on our phone or tell it where we want to go, and step-by-step it gets us there. No one gets lost anymore.

One of the great bonuses of swapping our maps for apps is that a GPS has the ability to recalculate. When you miss a turn, change your destination, or when the route changes, you don’t need to buy a new map or print out new directions. Your GPS recalculates the path for you.

Wouldn’t it be great to have a GPS for life? We do. In Psalm 23 (the Lord is my Shepherd psalm), we read that God guides us onto the right path for His name’s sake. Like a shepherd that tracks down a wandering lamb and gets it back to the right place or a friendly voice that recalculates our route and gets us on the right path, the Holy Spirit will guide us when we choose to listen to God wants to say to us. The key for us is what Jesus said in the New Testament. “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me…” (John 10:14). When we listen for His voice, He directs our steps.

What is the most lost you have ever been on a trip? What did you do? When you feel lost in life, who do you listen to as you recalculate?

Recalculating Devotional: Day 7

But now I have finished my work in these regions, and after all these long years of waiting, I am eager to visit you. I am planning to go to Spain, and when I do, I will stop off in Rome. And after I have enjoyed your fellowship for a little while, you can provide for my journey.
Romans 15:23-24 (NLT)

If you could take your dream trip anywhere in the world, where would you go? A chalet in the Alps? Kicking it at the beach on a South Pacific island? Site seeing through Europe? A Caribbean cruise? Maybe a week in a kingdom run by a mouse? There are so many amazing places in the world, it’s hard to choose just one place.

The Apostle Paul had a dream destination. For years he planned and waited for an opportunity to go to the most important city on the planet at that time – Rome. It was the capital of the Roman Empire and the most powerful and influential place Paul could think of to preach the Gospel. In his letter to the Christians in Rome, Paul wrote that “after all these long years of waiting, I am eager to visit you.” Paul’s dream was about to come true! He would travel to Rome as a preacher to tell as many people as possible about the resurrected Christ.

Well, Paul did eventually make it to Rome, but not as a preacher. Paul got to Rome as a prisoner. He had been arrested and imprisoned for preaching about Jesus and because riots broke out wherever he did so. So now he was being sent to Rome for a trial before Caesar. Instead of arriving in Rome in style, Paul arrived in chains. But that didn’t deter Paul.

For two years Paul told anyone he could about Jesus, which started to lite a flame that became a fire. When Paul arrived in Rome, one-half of one percent of the world had heard of Jesus (and no one in Rome had heard of Paul). But centuries later, almost 3 billion people are Christians, and there is a statue of the Apostle Paul in Rome. The point? God will always get you where you need to go, even if the route doesn’t look like what you planned. But it’s ok, because you can trust Him.

How has your life turned out as you imagined? How has it turned out differently than you imagined? How have you seen God working in all of it?

Recalculating Devotional: Day 6

Next Paul and Silas traveled through the area of Phrygia and Galatia, because the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching the word in the province of Asia at that time. Then coming to the borders of Mysia, they headed north for the province of Bithynia, but again the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go there. So instead, they went on through Mysia to the seaport of Troas. That night Paul had a vision: A man from Macedonia in northern Greece was standing there, pleading with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” So we decided to leave for Macedonia at once, having concluded that God was calling us to preach the Good News there.
Acts 16:6-10 (NLT)

Have you ever had a door slam closed on something that you were sure was going to be a great opportunity for you? Your life was headed in a great direction and then you ran into a “ROAD CLOSED” sign.

One time it happened to me was during my junior year of college. I had been car-less for the first two and a half years of school. I had to rely on public transportation or bumming rides off my friends to get around the Twin Cities where my college was located. Then an opportunity to get a brand new car for free came my way. I got the chance to shoot for one during half-time of a minor league basketball game. I won the contest that night and got invited back for a “shoot off” against the other high scorers from the season. I kept shooting and I kept winning and I ended up in the finals. It was down to me and one other guy for the car. The day of the final game I spent hours at the local YMCA working on my shots and imagining grabbing the keys to that car. I was sure that God was going to help me get that car since I couldn’t afford one of my own. So that night I showed up, shot well, and had the highest score I got during the entire contest. And I lost. We met at half court and the other guy got handed the car keys, I got a handshake. It felt like the door had slammed in my face.

Maybe you’ve had that feeling. It might have been not getting the job you were sure you had locked up. You didn’t get into your chosen college and had to settle for your ‘safety school.’ Your relationship with ‘the one’ didn’t pan out. Or you walked out of the doctor’s office with a diagnosis you never saw coming.

In Acts 16 we read about a trip that the Apostle Paul and his friend Silas took. Two different times they had a plan and two different times, God closed that door. It had to be frustrating and it had to make Paul wonder if he was doing the right thing. But instead of giving up or going home, Paul and Silas waited. They put their focus on God instead of on their agenda. And eventually, God opened a new door that ended up having a global impact (check out the story in Acts 16). We often see a closed door as REJECTION, but God often uses closed doors for REDIRECTION. We focus on our plans, but God directs our steps. Paul and Silas trusted God for divine direction and it worked out for them. I am confident God will do that for you too.

When is the last time you faced a closed door? How did you respond? What did God teach you through that experience?

Recalculating Devotional: Day 5

Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.
Psalm 119:105 (NLT)

Driving in the city and driving out in the country are two very different experiences. When you drive in the city, here are all kinds of lights to help guide you. Street lights, lighted signs and buildings, porch lights, light streaming from the windows of homes and businesses. Light everywhere. It’s pretty easy to see what’s ahead and to find your way to where you’re going. It’s a well-lit pathway. Sometimes it’s so well lit, we even forget to turn on our headlights when driving. That never happens in the country.

In the country, streetlights are few and far between. There are fewer homes and even fewer businesses, and they often close early. The path you are traveling is not nearly as well-lit or clear. Out there you are not going to forget to turn on your headlights. You have to have them to see where you are going. But headlights don’t illuminate the path all the way to your destination, they give you enough light in front of your car to keep you going forward.

I don’t know about you, but I like a well-lit pathway. I like to know where I am going and not have to worry about finding my way or missing my turn. There have been times when God has made my path just that clear. But often my life feels more like a drive in the country, figuring things out turn by turn as my headlights help me to keep going. The good news is this, God wants to work both ways in our lives. Sometimes He will give us a light for our path, and we will be able to run with it. At other times, He will provide a lamp for our feet and help us to take the next step. We won’t always be able to see to the end of the road, but we can trust Him with our next steps.

What pathway is God illuminating or step is He lighting up for you right now?

Recalculating Devotional: Day 4

At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?” Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.”
John 6:66-69 (NLT)

The old saying is, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going,” but we all know that when the going gets tough, the crowd tends to get smaller. Admiral William McRaven (US Navy, retired), shares about his experiences during “Hell Week” as he became a Navy Seal. McRaven recounts hours spent swimming in freezing water, running miles in the sand, and existing on little to no sleep. During the entire week, instructors kept reminding them of one fact: you can quit any time you want. All a trainee had to do we walk over to a bell and ring it three times and it was over. No more running, no more freezing, no more pain. They could enjoy a warm meal and a warm bed, they just had to ring the bell. Any many, many, many people have rung that bell.

In John 6, there was a “ring the bell” moment. As Jesus engaged people with His teaching, performed miracles, and even fed them, the crowds that followed Him had continued to swell. Then, Jesus began to let them know about the cost of becoming one of His followers. When the going got tough, they got going. Jesus asked His closest followers, the twelve disciples, if they wanted to leave too. Peter spoke up for the group and told Jesus they weren’t going anywhere because He [Jesus] had the words of life. In other words, the cost of following Jesus was worth it because He alone could lead them to eternal life. What a great reminder for us as we pray! That when we ask God for wisdom and take time to listen, He can give us the right words, the words that bring eternal perspective and eternal life. “Speak Lord, Your servant is listening, because you have the words that give eternal life.”

What are some of the words of Jesus that have been most helpful to you in your life?

Recalculating Devotional: Day 3

Samuel did not yet know the Lord because he had ever had a message from the Lord before. So the Lord called a third time, and once more Samuel got up and went to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?” Then Eli realized it was the Lord who was calling the boy. So he said to Samuel, “Go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went back to bed. And the Lord came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel replied, “Speak, your servant is listening.”
1 Samuel 3:7-10 (NLT)

Have you ever spent time with someone who’s idea of conversation is doing all the talking? You can feel like the only time they listen to you or ask for your opinion is to set up the thing they want to say next (FULL DISCLOSURE: I am sure that I am that person who won’t stop talking sometimes). When I am in a conversation like that, I feel like an adult in a Charlie Brown cartoon. Whenever I am talking, all they hear is, “Wawawawawawawaa….” Maybe that’s why James says in the New Testament that we should be, “quick to listen and slow to speak” (James 1:19). Often, I am so eager to say what I want to say that I don’t always hear what I need to hear.

I think that same principle carries over into prayer. Prayer is a conversation with God, but we often do most of the talking in that conversation. We share our questions, our needs, or wants, even our complaints, but how often do you or I LISTEN when we pray? Answering for myself, I will say, “not enough.” In 1 Samuel 3, Samuel was a young man who would eventually become the spiritual leader of Israel. God wanted to speak to him and he wasn’t sure what to do. So he followed some good advice from his mentor, Eli, and simply said, “Speak Lord, your servant is listening.” What a great way to approach God! What would it look like if the next time you prayed, you focused on listening before you began speaking? Or if you shared your heart with God and then waited, expecting Him to answer you? Today, when you pray, try James’ advice: be quick to listen and slow to speak. Allow God to give you the divine direction you need.

When can you set aside some time to be quiet and say to God, “Speak, your servant is listening?”

Recalculating Devotional: Day 2

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.
James 1:5-6 (NLT)

When I was a kid, I went garage sale-ing with my mom and for 25 cents I picked up a treasure – a Magic 8-Ball! Remember those? They’ve been around since the 1950’s and they are still making them today. The “magic” of the Magic 8-Ball is that you ask it a yes or no question, shake it up, then look at the window on the side of it to see what the answer is. You could get anything from, “It is decidedly so,” to, “Ask again later,” to, “Outlook not so good,” as an answer.

While it was fun to ask the ball goofy questions and see what it would say, most of us didn’t use the Magic 8-Ball to help us solve real problems or figure out our futures. My guess is that you didn’t use a toy that you can purchase for under $10 when you decided to propose or say yes to a proposal. You didn’t shake it up before choosing a college, a career, or a city to live in. But where do you turn when you need direction in your life? How do you make wise decisions?

James was the half-brother of Jesus and the author of the book of James in the New Testament. His instruction to us in James 1:5 is that when we need wisdom, when we are not sure what to do and need insight that will help us make the right decision, we should ask God for it. When we do, James writes, He will give it to us and He won’t rebuke us for asking. If you’ve ever had a teacher, a coach, a parent, or a boss bite your head off for asking a question they thought you should already know the answer to, you know how uncool that is. But James says God is not like that. He wants to give us divine direction. He doesn’t want us to be like a wave in the ocean that gets tossed back and forth all the time. If you need wisdom about how to handle a relationship, a situation, or a decision, ask the Lord for help. He wants to give you the direction you need.

Who or what do you usually turn to when you have to make a decision? When is the last time you turned to God for that wisdom? Today is a great day to start.