MONDAY- 21ST AUGUST, 2023
MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO
HIS HAND ON YOU!
READ Jonah 1
Psalms 139:5, KJV
"Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me".
You should know the Lord as ever present. His ever presence everywhere makes it impossible for any of us to escape Him. That Psalm says," Thou [God] has beset me behind and before..."
To beset behind and before means nothing than to encompass or surround. What is surrounded paints the picture of what can't escape but that's already taken. "Beset" itself means to hem in or surround. Now that it is both besetting before and behind, it means there's no place for any [who seeks escape or independence] from God could go.
Today, God is addressing those with calls but who like Jonah are on the run. God is seeking to tell you that He God has hem you in. It means you're really surrounded and can't escape. Irrespective of what you do or think, you're just still in God's garden. If you want, travel abroad in the bid to escape your call and you shall see its futility.
The latter part of that statement says, "and laid Thy hand upon me". God's hand is on you. On you means He has placed a demand over you. On you means He'll need you for a purpose and earlier, He has collected you for Himself and for same purpose. By laying His hand on you, He has come to identify with you. It's not different from putting a mark on you so much more that wherever you go, you'll be identified for a particular intent that cannot be debated or mutilated.
"I have laid my hand on you" should also be comfort to many people. God's hand on you suggests His presence, His abiding presence ever being with you. This is what any man or woman of the calling enjoys. While God's hand on you claims you for God irrespective of where you run to or seek to go, it is what also brings God's power and commitment through you to people.
In verse seven, it becomes clear that the intent of this Psalm is on the inability of humans fleeing from God.
Psalms 139:7, KJV
"Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?"
Did you read that? Always ask yourself, where shall I go from God's Spirit and where shall I flee to from His presence? If you ask Jonah, he sure has a lot to say on that. Knowing this, it'll be very foolish of any of us not wanting to deliver the errand of God. The command to Jonah was, "rise, go to Nineveh and preach against its wickedness". However, Jonah boards a ship and goes to Tarshish. You know what happens next. That tells you that you have no place of refuge from the Lord. You just can't escape Him. There are some of you there this morning that the Lord has marked as vessels for Himself. He called you all to Himself. And those of you that He doesn't give a specific founding call to [especially of the five fold offices], He as well has assigned that you'll be attached to those founding callings. As a matter of fact, God has planned that some women would marry ministers of God. You may be there seeking to escape that plan and the fact that God has surrounded you about and laid His hand on you. However, you can't escape. Jonah did his best to escape from God's presence but he meets God every inch of the way. God is where you are going. The truth is this, if God has laid His hand on you, it means He has interest in you and would like to use you. On that note, you can't even marry just anyone. So, if your wife to be is refusing to heed her call, God who has laid His hand on her (to fit into your calling and be your helpmeet) is faithful enough to encompass her and bring her to her knees.
The Bible says, "before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations (Jeremiah 1:5, KJV). God is not just laying His hand on you or setting His mark on you for nothing's sake or just recently. No! He had done that earlier and according to the times specified in that verse above. So, it'll be futile agitating for your will now. He has taken interest in you long before, marked you and separated you for Himself. There's no where you can go from His presence now. While you were a baby, He made you hope on your mother's knees that it might come to pass that you're set apart for Him and for His use. As you were in school, He watches over you till now. Now is not the time to deny Him. Now is the time to heed the ancient call that has been on you. Now is the time to go on the errand of destiny and let it be known that He who He called, He justifies to glorify.
PRAYER: Lord, I submit to your will in every conceivable way. Do with me as you've always intended.
BIBLE IN A YEAR: Job 1:1-3:26; 1 Corinthians 14:1-17; Psalm 37:12-29; Proverbs 21:25-26
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