Return To The Lord
I am prone to wander. I’ve found myself far off the path God has for my life many times. Have you been there, too?
When I finally realize I’m lost, I know it’s time to turn back and return to the Lord.
Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord. Lamentations 3:40 (NIV)
So Samuel said to all the Israelites, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliveryou out of the hand of the Philistines.” So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only. 1 Samuel 7:3-4 (NIV)
“Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. Joel 2:12-13 (NIV)
The call to return to the Lord is clear and repeated in scripture. This chapter of my story has me thinking a lot about returning to the Lord. The thought alone is loaded!
I came from Him but I moved away.
He did not move.
My actions and attitudes have moved me far away from Him.
For me, returning to the Lord is about looking at sin differently than I have before, and not making it about the specific action or attitude but about the separation from God it causes.
With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! Psalm 119:10 (ESV)
I pray for the ability to hold that view in my mind so I can walk with the constant awareness that I am either moving myself towards God or away from God with each step.
Sin is missing the mark.
He made me for something good and I am missing out on it.
Lord, I don’t want to miss out the good you have planned for me. Please bless me with a heart that can trust Your purpose for good in my life even when I can’t see it.
Forgive me for the times I have wandered far away from You. Give me a heart that wants closeness with You above all else.
Help me to be mindful of my choices, Lord, and live in a way that moves me closer to You.
Please change my heart until it beats with obedient devotion to You alone.
And when my sin separates me from You, thank you for still loving me and whispering to my heart RETURN.