This is from Hannah Smith's devotional, "God is Enough." This is most encouraging! That is, we are "drawn to obey" inwardly by Him, rather than having to conform to an outward law. And He operates ALL things to work for our good, that we may hear Him better. He is not an indifferent God, but instead cares about all the details and arranges things for our development to bring us into His fellowship, image and glory! This is true love - thank you Lord you love us this much!
Quote:
APRIL 13 GUIDING AND OBEYING
We must not be deterred from embracing the blessed privilege
of divine guidance by a dread of the dangers that environ it. That God
cares enough about us to desire to regulate the details of our lives, is
the strongest proof of love He could give. That He should condes-
cend to let us know how to live and walk to please Him, seems
almost too good to be true. We never care about the little details of
people's lives unless we love them. It is a matter of indifference to us
what the majority of people we meet do, or how they spend their
lime. But as soon as we begin to love someone, we begin at once to
care. God's law, therefore, is only another name for God's love. The
more minutely that law descends into the details of our lives, the
more sure we are of the depth and reality of God's love. We can never
know the full joy and privileges of the life hid with Christ in God until
we have learned the lesson of a daily and hourly guidance.
God's promise is that He will work in us to will as well as to do of
His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13). This means, of course, that He will
take possession of our will and work it for us. His suggestions will
come to us not so much as commands from the outside as desires
springing up within. They will originate in our will, and we will feel as
though we desired to do so and so, not as though we must. This
makes our service one of perfect liberty, let the accompanying
circumstances be as difficult as they may. God writes His laws on our
hearts and on our minds (d. Heb. 10:16) so that our affection and
our understanding embrace them, and we are drawn to obey, instead
of being driven to it. (SEC, 99- 1 00)
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