I used to love to walk out the front door and wander down a country road or meander through a woodlot. The fresh air and country vistas would help to make anxieties recede and my heart sing. Sometimes pouring rain or bitter cold would restrict my movements. Now I live in a condo. As heart and back problems begin to restrict easy mobility, a habit adopted seventy years ago becomes the main source of heart health. Of course, it is not new but like all good habits it has had a way of carrying me through the years.
The habit? Morning devotions. Then as now, God has taught me that the day that starts right usually finishes right. Make cup of coffee. Settle down in a comfortable chair. Open the hymn book and recite a hymn or two from one of those gifted saints. “Joyful, joyful, we adore thee…” Sing it? No, that will have to wait for heaven otherwise my wife will cringe at my off-key rendering. But I take time to ponder the words.
Next I get out this year’s diary and open it to a fresh new page. Read a chapter or three from the Old Testament, writing down applications in the diary. Turn to the next New Testament chapter in my reading plan and meditate on whatever incisive lesson the Spirit highlights. Write it down because, “thoughts disentangle themselves passing through pencil tips.”
An example from 1 Peter 1:13. “Prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.” We’ve heard the old saw, “don’t be so heavenly minded that you are no earthly good.” But Peter is teaching us that what really prepares us for action now is to have a heavenly view, a hope that focusses on the wonderful transformation and the culmination of all our Christian living that will occur when Jesus is revealed in his coming. We need to be active now but what helps us to overcome the inertia and complacency is hope beyond the grave.
I’ve found it is important to take time. I don’t rush unless duty requires it. God is not in a rush and he loves it when I just bathe in his presence, pondering, praying, and casting all my cares on him—for he cares for me. Just sit there and become aware of the presence of God. Love him. Thank him. Praise him.
I wander through my prayer list, asking the Lord to guide me to his concerns. For family. For church. For the Bible study group. For the extension of the gospel in the Muslim world. For those with health problems. For revival in Canada.
Daily devotions. There is nothing like it. Not wandering through an old growth forest or meandering down a country road. The back may be sore and heart stamina limited, but nothing can stop the soaring of the spirit.
Watch for the publication of my new book, Doctrine in Denim. Concise, devotional studies in all the essential doctrines of the Christian faith. A crucial tool during this time of drift and doubt.
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Country Inspiration 