Day 114, Year 1
Understanding God’s Intervention on Us
“A man’s steps are of the LORD; How then can a man understand his own way?” (Proverbs 20:24 NKJV)
The message of the above verse might seem conflicting with the previous mention of “understand our ways.” However, the two verses actually address different aspects of our lives. Yesterday’s verse spoke about how we know our ways, primarily referring to understanding our past from a human perspective. Today’s verse talks about God’s intervention in human lives, which mainly refers to the present and the future that we cannot understand. On top of that, this intervention could be direct or indirect. God’s direct intervention allows us to clearly know His guidance or works and thereby change the path we walk. But this situation might generally be less common. God’s indirect intervention on believers, however, is relatively more frequent. The occurrence of accidents, changes in the environment, or others’ involvement in our lives, etc., could all be considered as God’s indirect intervention. Many would agree that although we could plan for our future, the future is not entirely in our own hands.
Today’s verse points out two aspects of understanding ourselves. First, when examining our past, it is more vital to understand God’s work in our lives. For instance, God’s invisible hand can cause our intended plans to fail, altering the direction of our lives. In the entirety of the past, we could explore God’s will and intentions for us, including how He wanted to change our lives and the path we originally wanted to take, or how we missed God’s guidance, etc. These reflections and introspections could enhance our sensitivity to the patterns of God’s work and guidance.
Second, try to understand ourselves from God’s perspective. When our steps are of the Lord, we could review and evaluate our past from His perspective. For example, some might have found lying to win some friends or earn some money very successful. However, in God’s eyes and according to the Scripture, could these events truly be considered successful? They all should be seen as failures! From this perspective, the words of God could lead us to an entirely different evaluation of certain past events. This evaluation could allow us to be more mindful of how we are to walk the path of God and be shaped by Him in future. We also need to bear in mind the important main message of today’s verse, that is to commit our future to the Lord, and pray and follow His guidance for every step ahead.
Reflection questions:
1) Could you discern the works God has done in your past? What kind of work of His is yet to be completed in you that needs your cooperation?
2) Are you able to reflect on the significant events of your life and recognize God’s evaluation in each of them? If not, please take some time to ponder and pray about them!