November 10, 2020 – The Next Thing…

      Many years ago, my Mother told me she prays God will bring someone who needs His Love each day. This was after she moved closer to us in her ‘old’ age.  Just as a rosebud is one stage of its life, before full bloom, we follow the next thing in our lives.

Instead of making plans and ‘to-do’ lists, Mother asked our Lord God to fill her day to serve Him by serving others. Trusting God that He would fill her days she had left. He did and blessed her beyond measure.  She wrote several books during this time, Anna Payne, our daughter, republished book The Lines Are Fallen, by Anna Daisy Siemens, the story of her family growing up.

September 10, 2010, I heard a phrase from a prayer, ‘The next thing…’. As I pondered this phrase, I wrote a poem, with apologies to my mother, who studied and made poetry an art form.

    What do I do, dear Lord, To show my love for You?

    How can I witness your love, How can I make my life anew?

    Then a small voice whispers… Deep within my heart,

    Do the next thing, my child, Do the next thing, it’s a start.

   Each morning when I arise, My heart to Him I bring.

   When I ask what to do, He whispers, Child, do the next thing.

    The tasks I see before me, Are not the grand things I long for

    But being faithful in. The next thing — with Him, I’ll soar!

         In these words, I see trusting God, telling others of His Goodness and Love, and His faithfulness that we may respond to by reflecting His gracious Love.  So, let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.  I Corinthians 3:2:21-23.  Paul is speaking to Christians in Corinth long ago, for they had forgotten the importance of God First.

To know our Lord God and the glorious gift of His Son, Jesus, we understand the ultimate glory and power of our God.  Our two commands begin with loving God with our heart, soul, and mind and loving one another.  Doing any less, we cannot trust God.  Who made Light, who created us, set the stars in place and the sun into rising. Everything we see, from the sparrow, to the trees, to the lowly dandelion, God created.

No man has the power to create all the things God created.  We are His Creation.  Our place is to serve Him and trust Him. The Holy Bible is filled with stories of men who trusted God and those who didn’t.  He, King Hezekiah, trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. For he held fast to the Lord. He did not depart from following him but kept the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses. 2 Kings 18:5-6.

Moses said to the Israelites to stand firm, and fear not, and they would see the salvation of the Lord from the Egyptians, “The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”  Exodus 14:14.

In his old age, King David wrote these words, Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will act.  Psalm 37:4-5.

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.  Isaiah 26:3-4.

         Is this love of God just for me?  No, each generation shall be taught by the older generation. We will not hide them from their children but tell the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and His might, and the wonders He has done. Psalm 78:4.

Tense moments, heroism, life or death situations are not plots written only today.  When David slew the giant, when Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den, when Abraham almost sacrificed his son, when the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea on dry land, and many more stories are told in the Bible of trust that grow faith in our faithful God.

So many times, when messengers from God, their first words were, “Fear Not!”  This is what the Shepherds heard in the fields as Jesus, the Son of God, was born in a manger nearby.

And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”  Luke 2:10-12.

This is part of the faithfulness of God… Jesus was born to die on the cross as our sacrifice for sin that we may have a glorious heritage of eternal life after we have reached the end of our lives. Another scripture tells us,

“Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing.” Matthew 6:26.

God is faithful.  That is Who He is.  The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.”  Lamentations 3:22-24.

         When we feel we have finished, God shows us yet another nugget of Truth and Wisdom from His Word.  There is no end to His Goodness and concern for us.  When I read this verse, I know how loves.  You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in your book? Psalm 56:8.

Good and upright is the Lord; therefore, He instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right and teaches the humble his way.  All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep His covenant and His testimonies. Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me!  Psalm 25:8-10.
What is the Next Thing? “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment.  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:37-39.