Passage: Psalm 25:5; 1 John 3:1
The Big Idea
Church is one way God teaches us, but nothing replaces being taught directly by the Holy Spirit when we’re alone with Him. David waited on the Lord all day long. John shows us how: by beholding the love the Father has given us. Our quiet time isn’t us giving God what He requires; it’s Him giving us what we need. And the one lesson He keeps teaching, deeper every year, is how much He loves us. Like a branch grafted into a wounded tree, we draw life from Jesus by returning daily to the cross.
Taught by God (Psalm 25:5)
Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day.
- Church is one way to be taught by God, and the Lord certainly uses it.
- But nothing replaces being taught directly by the Holy Spirit when you’re alone with Him.
- When we hear a word from the Lord at church, we might think, “The pastor really spoke to me today.”
- But when the Lord teaches us something specific in quiet, we know and rejoice that the Holy Spirit really is our Teacher, living in us by faith.
- David longed to be taught and led by the Lord directly. If God was willing to save him, surely He’d lead and teach him.
- We’ve been saved by God, and we can be led and taught by Him daily, just as Israel received manna each day in the wilderness. As we come to Jesus daily for spiritual food, we’ll receive the guidance and instruction we need.
How did David wait on the Lord, and how can we?
Behold His Love (1 John 3:1)
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!
- “Behold” means to see, to understand, to look carefully.
- John is saying: we wait on the Lord by studying, contemplating and gazing at the Father’s love.
- What manner of love: how God planned and carried out His great work just to love you.
- This love has been bestowed: one-way giving, not earned.
- He’s the One loving us each day as we come to Him quietly in faith.
- He does the work; we do the receiving.
- That changes how we see devotions. It’s not us giving God what He requires. It’s Him giving us what we need and desire, more than we can imagine. It flows down from heaven, not up.
- Our worship can rise all day if we first remember and receive His love.
- “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you” (Jeremiah 31:3).
He draws us into time with Him so He can teach us one simple lesson: how much He loves us. All our lives, that lesson only gets deeper and more powerful. And it can only be taught to our hearts by the Holy Spirit as we wait on Him.
The world wants everything now. God works at His own pace. He’s the patient One, waiting for our hearts to grow in trust, believing in the simple, abiding relationship with Jesus. It works. We just don’t believe in it as we should.
Grafted In
To graft a branch onto a tree, you cut into the trunk and cut the branch to match, then join them. Only after both are cut and bound together can the life of the trunk flow into the branch.
Jesus was wounded at Calvary for us. He opened the way for us to be joined to Him. As we come back to the cross daily, where His love is most fully displayed, and let that love cut us to the heart, we truly abide in our Savior and His life and power flow into us.
Grace Takeaway
Abide in Jesus. Let every day, even a snow day, be a fresh look at the love He poured out for you at the cross. Behold it, receive it, and let Him teach you again how much you’re loved.
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