"The Direction"

"I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments." (Psalms 119:60)

  It will all work out in the end, that is what I keep telling myself; what I keep trying to convince myself, sometimes with a heavy heart. I have seen so many wonderful men, and women, get knocked down; some of which were champions of the faith, who appeared to be unstoppable and on fire for the Lord. In this life, there are so many ways to mess up; and the devil is right there to help, at just the right time, with just the right temptation. This is the heart of what I make of this verse today, that it is all about the direction! I think of Joseph and the way he ran away from Potiphar's wife. It was not even that he was not in some way attracted to her, because I believe there was something there to give her the desire; but it was not well suited for the direction of his life that he mess around. If there was an example of what the character of a godly man might look like, then there you have it. Not many men in his position would react the way that he did; not many, sadly, do. It is important that we make haste and run away! That is exactly what Joseph did, he did not try to negotiate any longer; he made his point, the point was rejected, so he ran. Any time we give in for compromise, is a chance for our desire to take over, and then we chance giving into the flesh. It is really that simple. We cannot loose sight of the direction, at all cost. When Jesus spoke of this, He laid out some pretty strong examples; things like plucking out an eye, or chopping off a hand. These might have been meant to get our attention, but His reason for doing such things was all about the direction...

"What do you think the Scriptures mean when they say that the spirit God has placed within us is filled with envy? But he gives us even more grace to stand against such evil desires. As the Scriptures say, "God opposes the proud but favors the humble." So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor." (James 4:5-10) NLT