The problem with my favorite daily devotional book, Oswald Chambers' "My Utmost for His Highest," is that there is a new devotion each day. There are times, like yesterday, when the devotional reading is so full that I just want to mull over every word for a week or so.Philippians 4:8 tells us - "Whatever is true , whatever is honorable, what ever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things." (NASB)
The June 2 devotion is based on Psalm 25:12 ~ Who is the man who fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way he should choose.
Are you obsessed by something? You will probably say, "No, by nothing," but all of us are obsessed by something— usually by ourselves, or, if we are Christians, by our own experience of the Christian life. But the psalmist says that we are to be obsessed by God. The abiding awareness of the Christian life is to be God Himself, not just thoughts about Him. The total being of our life inside and out is to be absolutely obsessed by the presence of God. A child’s awareness is so absorbed in his mother that although he is not consciously thinking of her, when a problem arises, the abiding relationship is that with the mother. In that same way, we are to "live and move and have our being" in God ( Acts 17:28 ), looking at everything in relation to Him, because our abiding awareness of Him continually pushes itself to the forefront of our lives.
If we are obsessed by God, nothing else can get into our lives— not concerns, nor tribulation, nor worries. And now we understand why our Lord so emphasized the sin of worrying. How can we dare to be so absolutely unbelieving when God totally surrounds us? To be obsessed by God is to have an effective barricade against all the assaults of the enemy.
"He himself shall dwell in prosperity . . ." ( Psalm 25:13 ). God will cause us to "dwell in prosperity," keeping us at ease, even in the midst of tribulation, misunderstanding, and slander, if our "life is hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3). We rob ourselves of the miraculous, revealed truth of this abiding companionship with God. "God is our refuge . . ." ( Psalm 46:1 ). Nothing can break through His shelter of protection.
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Two sentences stick out to me and are the reasons for the mulling:
"The abiding awareness of the Christian life is to be God Himself, not just our thoughts about Him." I keep asking myself if I am aware of God in every moment. I want that same sense of abiding that Jesus talks about in John 15:1-11 . The "I can't survive or function without Him" kind of abiding.
"...looking at everything in relation to Him, because our abiding awareness of Him continually pushes itself to the forefront of our lives." I know I'm not there, even after walking with Him for 30+ years, because I still worry and try to fix things myself without instantly reaching out for His hand when I face a problem. I don't automatically assume that whatever the difficulty, the end will turn out as it should because God is in control. It is so easy to be distracted by the circumstances in our lives that we overlook the source of that very life.
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