For you, Lord, are kind and ready to forgive, abounding in faithful love to all who call on you.
PSALM 86:5 (CSB)

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Chances are that you and I have a lot more to learn about God, his nature, his will, his ways, and how we are to live in relationship with him as he intended. If we had a purely legalistic understanding of how big a gap lies between our current experience and what he desires, we could easily become overwhelmed or terrified. 

Our Father in heaven does not want us to live in a state of overwhelm. He tells us again and again not to be terrified or discouraged. What is the positive alternative to these negative thoughts and feelings? King David here gives us a clue. More than a clue, he gives us direction. He tells us two important truths:

1. God is kind and ready to forgive.
2. God is abounding in love and faithful to hear and respond to all who call on him in prayer.

In other words, start where you are and move toward where you need to go by his grace and in his strength. 

David goes on and asked for what he needed at that particular junction in his life. Here is what he requested at that point:

* Teach me your way.
* Give me an undivided mind.

As he would also pray in Psalm 143:8, “Reveal to me the way I should go because I appeal to you.” 

Note the two parts of his request. He wanted to know the way to go. He was committed to move in whatever direction God showed him. 

How often do we consider God’s path but turn away because of fear of where it might lead? David’s prayer covered this possibility when he said, “Give me an undivided mind.” In other words, “I want to think your thoughts along with you and I will trust that your loving guidance is better than my anxious alternative.”

Our Father in heaven takes us where we are and leads us along in his love in the direction of his dreams for us. He forgives us when we fail and we acknowledge our shortcomings. He hears our every prayerful regret and answers with forgiveness more than equal to the infraction. He shows us his will and his way again. He gives us a new way of thinking about life and living. 

Where do you start from today on your adventure with God? Wherever that may be, it is a good starting place to know and experience him and to increase your capacity for his loving goodness and kindness. 

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I will start where I am and move where I need to go next in my walk with God.

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Our Father, show me the way I should go. Teach me the way I should think. Empower me to begin again more intelligently today. Increase my capacity to know you and experience you and to help others do the same. Amen.