“I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart.” -Psalm 40:8
The Will of the Father
What is the will of the Father? But to walk with Him, to obey, to be faithful to respond to Him each moment of each day. As we know Him more deeply, it’s in our growing delight in Him that our heart grows to delight in doing His will. How do we know the will of the one we love? We get to know them, we try new ways to serve them and so discover what they desire and what they do not. It is the same with God. And though we may not hear an audible voice, we can hear His voice in His words to us through the Bible. We can see His law written on our hearts through His Spirit at work within us, reminding us of His words, prompting us with His ways. And we can walk open handed before Him saying “Lord here is my day, each moment, let me respond to you as you lead today.”
Is He prompting you to take your neighbor cookies? Then do it. To seek forgiveness from your husband, your children, your friend, your co-worker… then go. To ask that next question of the women at the register at the grocery story… tell me your story.. then speak. To take the next step in that conversation with a friend “Can I tell you how Jesus has changed my life”… open your mouth. To begin to write that book, pick up your pen and paper. To apply for that job, to quit, to spend less here, give more there. To open your home to those less fortunate, to add an extra plate at your dinner table, invite the single neighbor over. GO. Helen Keller once said;
“I long to accomplish a great and noble task but my chief end is to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.”
Faithfulness When Only God Sees
It is one thing to be faithful when your life is on display, your reputation at stake… though I hesitate to call that motivation faithfulness. Rather, more like fear driven faithfulness ever mixed with fear of man over fear of God. A conversation for another time. It is quite another thing to be faithful when all who will see you is God. But it is in these small moments where true delight to do His will begins.
Is He saying put the phone down and engage with your son? Only He knows if you’ve walked obediently. Is He saying sacrifice that precious single hour of time you get by yourself to invite a friend over, engage with a new person? Every day we are given the privilege of responding to a Holy God and Father, learning and seeking His way above our own. And slowly, in those little moments of surrender each day, they somehow become grand moments. For walking with Him, delighting to do His will will lead us to places we both never wanted to go but could also never dream we would go.
“A little thing is a little thing, but faithfulness in a little thing is a great thing.” -Helen Keller
My Prayer
“He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much…” -Luke 16:10
So, today Lord, help me delight to do your will. Is it sharing the gospel with someone? Let me have courage. Is it putting down what I want to do to meet the needs of my husband, child, a friend? Let me be selfless. Is it choosing to lean into you and not my temper when things don’t go my way? Let me have patience. Is it being quick to confess when I have sinned? Let me be quick to keep short accounts with you and with others Lord. Is it choosing to rest, to open your word and meet with you when I’m overwhelmed by what needs to get done? Then let me find my life in you and not a completed checklist. Lord, I too often think your will, faithfulness, obedience to you is in the big things, and forget that it is obedience in the small things that enables me to be faithful in the big. I’m not sure what you will call me into or out of today but Lord teach me to be faithful in those moments to respond to you when you call and to experience a growing delight in doing Your will!
- A Time to be Silent and a Time to Speak - October 29, 2020
- Teaching Them to Hope, Birthday After Birthday. - January 15, 2020
- A Taste of Hope Fulfilled – Briella Dawn’s Birth Story - August 3, 2018
