Plodding Along

Oh, love the Lord, all you His saints!
For the Lord preserves the faithful,
And fully repays the proud person.
Psalm 31:23 NKJV

Thought for the day: You have probably heard the story of the hare and the tortoise, two animals who one day decided to have a race.  The hare, being speedy, decided to just take off running.  He told the tortoise that he would leave him in the dust and beat him hands down.  The tortoise paid no attention to this and, being a slow animal, proceeded at its own pace.  As he neared the end of the racecourse, he spotted the hare lying down, panting from running way too fast.  The tortoise just meandered along past the hare and won the race. 

In some ways, we can think of the faithful as the tortoise.  Plodding along, day in, day out, following the Lord.  It may not seem too exciting at times.  Yet, the life of the believer is not always flashy, nothing to show off about. Yet, the Lord does indeed use His tortoises to accomplish His purpose in this world.  The faster ones of this world, the prideful and arrogant, He cannot use, for He speaks through those of us who are willing to live lives in obedience to Him.

The hare had a choice on the day of the race. He could have paced himself and run at a moderate pace, finishing the race. Instead, due to his pride and arrogance, he decided to run as fast as he could, exhausting himself and his hope of finishing the race.  We have a choice today. Do we wish to plod along and obey our master or do we wish instead to keep up with this world, being full of ourselves and running along at breakneck speed not obeying the still, small voice calling us to obedience?

Heavenly Father, this day may we lay our lives down to you in full obedience, running the race set before us to please you only.  In the name of Jesus we pray.