Your Refreshing Daily Devotional

A woman was dragged to Jesus, accused of adultery. Her accusers quoted the law of Moses which stipulated that such offenders should be stoned to death. They later asked for His take on the matter. It was a tricky question indeed. If He told them to go by the law of Moses, that might give them opportunity to accuse Him of doing contrary to His mission of saving the world. On the other hand, if He told them to spare her, they would probably accuse Him of breaking the law of God. Yesterday, we noted that thoughtless words and deeds are the root cause of regrets. Jesus did not embark on a thoughtless response. Rather, He stooped down and was writing in the sand. Whatever He wrote is not the important thing here; what is important is that He used that moment to connect with the mind of the Father.

We cannot do the will of God without knowing the voice of the Father; and we cannot know the voice of the Father unless we are intentional in listening and searching for it.

In our text, Jesus explained that He did nothing of His own. His judgment followed whatever He heard from the mouth of the Father. He did that all through His earthly ministry because His preoccupation was to fulfill the will of the Father. We cannot do the will of God without knowing the voice of the Father; and we cannot know the voice of the Father unless we are intentional in listening and searching for it. God has a voice! His voice translates to His will, and we can access it by the help of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.

Thoughtless words and deeds are often the root of many regrettable mistakes. Those who act impulsively before they have thoroughly digested issues may have untold missed opportunities and broken relationships. Putting a spiritual spin on this, we can say that impulsivity is a sign of immaturity. Apostle Paul said, “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things” I Corinthians 13:11 NKJV. Look at the progression of event with a child: speaking was put before understanding, and that before thinking. Maturity reverses this sequence. Thinking takes place, and that leads to understanding. It is only when a matter is understood that speaking or action follows.

Thoughtless words and deeds are often the root of many regrettable mistakes….impulsivity is a sign of immaturity…Thinking takes place, and that leads to understanding. It is only when a matter is understood that speaking or action follows.

Judging from this, we can say that Joseph was a mature man. He could not wrap his head around what Mary told him that she was with child of the Holy Spirit. He was going to put Mary away privately, but not until he had given it a serious thought. Thinking about the various ramifications of his intended action set the stage for the Lord to give him the true perspective through a dream. Imagine if Joseph acted based on impulse and put away Mary! He would have lost his place in history. To avoid regrets, it is important to follow the admonition of James that we should be quick to hear, but slow to speak and act.

Adam had the singular privilege of giving names to all the beasts of the field and birds of the air. Before this, God had personally given names to some things He created. He gave names to light and darkness. “God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day” Genesis 1:5 NKJV. He also gave names to the land and the gathering together of water. “And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good” Genesis 1:10 NKJV.

To walk with God, we must seek to find out what God would have us do in order to bring His counsel to pass.

Therefore, when God asked Adam to name the beasts and birds, it was not because He ran out of ideas. Giving man that responsibility points to several things. Firstly, it was a mark of honour. Secondly, it was in recognition of man’s authority over these creations. In the natural order of things, the one who gives name to a thing must be superior to that thing. By asking Adam to name the beasts and birds, God authenticated the dominion mandate given to him. Lastly, giving him that task was to attest to the fact that man was designed to be a co-labourer with God. Writing to the Corinthians, Paul said, “For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building” I Corinthians 3:9 NKJV. To walk with God, we must seek to find out what God would have us do in order to bring His counsel to pass.

In the days of their wandering in the wilderness, a man of Israel was caught blaspheming the name of the Lord. There was no precedent for such an incident before, so they could not draw any lesson from history. They were also not willing to be presumptuous to handle the matter based on their own sentiments or sense of justice. They resorted to remanding him in a holding place till “the mind of the Lord might be shown to them.”

Those whose sole aim is to please the Lord cannot but be mindful of God’s will at all times and on all issues…Knowing the will of God on issues may not always happen in a jiffy…God only minds what is in His mind!

What is the mind of the Lord? It is the will of the Lord on any subject. Read our text in the New Living Translation. “They kept the man in custody until the Lord’s will in the matter should become clear to them” Leviticus 24:12 NLT. Those whose sole aim is to please the Lord cannot but be mindful of God’s will at all times and on all issues. According to Paul, being ignorant of the Lord’s will is folly. “Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is” Ephesians 5:17 NKJV. Doing things at variance to the will of the Lord is presumptuous; we will never enjoy God’s backing that way. God only minds what is in His mind! One last word will be in order here. When the leaders of Israel wanted to know the mind of the Lord over the blasphemous man, they kept him at a place. We are not aware of how long it took before the Lord showed them what to do. I am persuaded, though, that they were willing to wait for as long as necessary for God to speak. Knowing the will of God on issues may not always happen in a jiffy.

Hannah took to worship immediately she got her miracle baby, Samuel. The full details of her worship can be found in 1 Samuel 2. Among several things that she said about God is His ability to raise the poor from the dust, the beggar from ash heap, and set them among the nobles. This is divine transition per excellence. The Bible is full of examples of lives that enjoyed such transition. Take David for example. While he was preparing his handover note and charging his son to be all about in building a magnificent house for God’s honour, he made mention of his personal contribution to the project. “I am donating more than 112 tons of gold from Ophir and 262 tons of refined silver to be used for overlaying the walls of the buildings and for the other gold and silver work to be done by the craftsmen. Now then, who will follow my example and give offerings to the Lord today?”” 1 Chronicles 29:4-5 NLT

…This is divine transition per excellence…Divine transition can bring an end to poverty and slavery.

David’s earlier story did not come close to the mammoth estate of his later life. He shuddered at the thought of being the king’s son-in-law when Saul made such proposition. His fear was that he could not afford the bride price. At the beginning of his flight from Saul, only the poor and indebted gathered to him. At a point, he begged to be nourished with the shewbread which was meant only for the priest. The same man left so much wealth behind for the work of the temple. Divine transition can bring an end to poverty and slavery.

In our previous meditation, we saw how an ordinary rod became a mighty tool for miracles when it encountered divine transition. What we left out was the fact that Moses himself, not just the rod, enjoyed divine transition. For 40 years, he had settled down to the life of a shepherd. His first attempt at delivering Israel by slaying an Egyptian turned him to a fugitive. However, when God met him at the age of 80, he ceased to be a runaway felon and became a mighty prophet of God.

…divine transition revealed purpose and changed Saul’s circle of influence.

Saul’s story comes close to this. The first mention of him is in 1 Samuel 9. His father’s asses were missing, and he was mandated to go and search for them. Failure to locate them was his link to Samuel who told him that he had been chosen by God to be king over His people, Israel. Thus, we see how a frustrated shepherd boy made history by becoming the first anointed king over Israel. The verses following showed the magnitude of divine transition in his life that it even became a proverb. “So it was, when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, that God gave him another heart; and all those signs came to pass that day. When they came there to the hill, there was a group of prophets to meet him; then the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them. And it happened, when all who knew him formerly saw that he indeed prophesied among the prophets, that the people said to one another, “What is this that has come upon the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?”” I Samuel 10:9-11 NKJV. Here, divine transition revealed purpose and changed Saul’s circle of influence.