When You Can’t Find a Way Devotional Guide
Monday: Read Lamentations 3:19-24. You can feel Jeremiah’s pain as he cries out to God. His agony is tangible as he expresses his grief over the loss of his homeland. The special places he grew up with were destroyed. Many of his friends had been killed. Everything he knew and loved had been wiped out. Yet, Jeremiah still “dared to hope” because he remembered the help of God in the past. He remembered God’s faithfulness to him and he knew he could count on God to deliver him. Can you think of a time when God delivered you from what seemed to be an insurmountable situation? Why not make that your default thought when you face the challenges of life?
Tuesday: Read Lamentations 3:25. After Jeremiah declares that he “dares to hope,” he gets down to the business of how hope works. He tells us how to trust in God. He plainly says the Lord helps those who depend on him and search for him. The word “search” really means “crave.” In other words, God helps those who ask him for help. When was the last time you sincerely asked God for help? God does not move in our lives uninvited. We like the idea of God helping us but quite often we are not willing to do what is necessary to receive God’s help. What’s more is that we are not always willing to do what God wants us to do in order to be helped. We can be stubborn and fixated on what we think is best. Is there something in your life preventing you from truly receiving God’s help?
Wednesday: Read Lamentations 3:26. This verse gives us an example of what Jeremiah was willing to do to receive God’s help – to wait quietly. In other words, when Jeremiah asked God for help, he didn’t try to guess what God was going to do or get ahead of God. He trusted God and took each day as it came. This means that when we are waiting on God to help we must simply do the necessary things God calls us to do, one step at time. After we have taken several steps, the answers will begin to appear. In those times we will find that our hope and faith will grow. How well do you “wait quietly” on God?
Thursday: Read Proverbs 3:6. This is a helpful verse that supports Jeremiah’s instruction on trusting God. However, many folks misunderstand this text. They believe it means, “Pray to God, ask God for help and he will show you the way. It will be clear which way you should go.” Yet, God’s path is not the path we would typically take. God’s idea of a straight path is not necessarily our idea of a straight path. Acknowledging God in all our ways means being prepared to go wherever he may be leading us. And where God may be leading us may be the last place we want to go! Trusting and acknowledging God means even if we don’t see a way, we know in our hearts God will make a way. He will remove the obstacles. That’s what it means when it says God will make the paths straight. Are you willing to trust God this much?
Friday: Read Psalm 77:19. If you are faced with a dead end today, God can see a path that you can’t see. If you will trust God and keep on moving in faith, even when you don’t see a way, God will make a way. How often has God’s answer for you come out of left field or was not on your radar?