The NIV 365-Day Devotional Reading Planનમૂનો

Life in the Fast Lane

Joanie could scarcely believe her eyes. The woman speeding along the Los Angeles freeway next to her balanced a cup of coffee and a cigarette in one hand and ignored her three children bouncing around in the back seat. At that moment, Joanie longed to quit her job and move to the mountains. She prayed, “Lord, I’m tired of this fast-paced life. Can I get off this merry-go-round?”

Maybe life in the fast lane doesn’t appeal to you anymore either. You’re tired. You need a break. Maybe you’re thinking of buying a nice little cabin with a fireplace, a cat and a rocking chair. Anywhere but here, Lord,<.i> you think. But what does God think?

Following her release from Ravensbruck concentration camp, Corrie ten Boom purchased a house called Schapendunien and turned it into a home for disabled people and ex-prisoners. She thought that was where God wanted her to settle down. But in late 1945, she began to sense that God wanted her to travel to the United States to tell her story. So she crossed the Atlantic and became what she described as a “tramp for the Lord.” It wasn’t until 1977, when she suffered a stroke, that she finally retired to a home in Orange, California. Choosing to follow God’s leading rather than her own comfort level, Corrie ten Boom maintained an itinerant lifestyle of travel for Christ.

You may be facing unbearable pressures in your daily life, pressures you think will get better if you settle down in a peaceful location of your choice. But God showed the Israelites that he chooses our paths. He gave them a visible reminder of his presence to guide them: a cloud by day and a fire by night. When the cloud lifted, they set out; when it stopped, they camped. God’s sign in the sky marked their course and set the pace. By looking up, the Israelites discovered that the Lord ordained the movements of his people; God saying “no” was just as important as God saying “go.” God alone knew the reasons for the journey, the unseen dangers ahead and the ultimate purpose beyond each move.

God ordered the lives of the Israelites. And he’ll order yours if you will let him. If you need to know which way to turn, look up.

Taken from NIV Women’s Devotional Bible