Remembering What's Important

Just as God gave the Israelites fresh manna each day, He also wants to give us something fresh from the Word daily. We become spiritually weak when we try to live for several days on what He's provided for today. We might think it makes little difference if we are not in the Word daily, but Solomon indicated we will fail to apply it in some area of our lives: "Stop listening to instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge" (Proverbs 19:27). Our ability to live by the Word hinges on our continually listening.

God implies that to forget devotions is stranger than for a bride to forget her wedding ornaments: "Does a maiden forget her jewelry, a bride her wedding ornaments? Yet my people have forgotten me, days without number" (Jeremiah 2:32). 

For years I kept a hand-written note above my desk that challenged me to "Have done with lesser things." At times we need God to help us to both identify and eliminate those "lesser things," and we just forget to ask. A young man told me "I'll read for a couple days and then get busy, so one of my basic prayers is, 'God, give me the will to read.'" 

One fellow said, "I used to write in my daily calendar '7-7:30 a.m.-Prayer.' But many times I passed that up. It was one more thing to pass by that day. Now I write '7-7:30-God.' Somehow that's a little harder to neglect." 

Thank You, Jesus, for every desire You give to meet You.

"Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her" (Proverbs 3:13-15).