For Your Own Good

None of us likes to be told what to do. We didn't like it when we were children, and we certainly don't like it now that we're all grown up. I saw a Christian post something on social media recently that went like this: Don't let anyone who hasn't walked in your shoes tell you how to tie your laces. Look, I understand the sentiment, but you can take that way too far to your own detriment. Amidst our prideful sense of self-entitlement as we rationalise our shortcomings, we can end up closing our hearts and becoming unteachable – impervious to the good counsel of others and indeed, to the very counsel of God Himself. So please listen for a moment as God reaches out to soften our hearts and open our minds. Isaiah 48:17 The LORD, the Saviour, the Holy One of Israel, says, "I am the LORD your God. I teach you for your own good. I lead you in the way you should go. Does God tell us things to ruin our lives do you think – or to bless us? Does He, like any good father, instruct us to mess with our heads or to teach us for our own good, do you think? One of the worst places we can find ourselves in is that stubborn place, that place where we've hardened our hearts to His love, a love that goes beyond anything we could ever comprehend. So, please, please listen … I am the LORD your God. I teach you for your own good. I lead you in the way you should go. That's His Word. Fresh … for you … today.