You know what to do and you know where to find the answers.

Grace and Peace to you all,

I won't take credit for any of this.  Someone I work with sent it out via email and it came from a daily devotion.  I left the subject line to give as much credit as possible.  My comments will be below. 

Subject: FW: "Guaranteed Guidance" -- Harvest Daily Devotion for 3/12/2012

       MONDAY, MARCH 12, 2012

Guaranteed Guidance

       Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.      

     

—James 4:17 <http://bible.us/Jas4.17.NKJV>

Sometimes we cry out to God, "Lord, show me Your will—just speak to me right now," when all the while, we are holding the answer in our hands. God's will is revealed in the pages of Scripture.

It would be like waiting for a letter containing directions that tell you what you should do, and when the letter finally arrives, you hold it in your hand, never open it, and then wonder why you could not get the information you needed.

In the same way, God has revealed His plan and His purpose, but we must study the Scripture to know what it is.

David prayed, "Teach me to do Your will" (Psalm 143:10). Notice that he did not say, "Teach me to understand your will." Rather, he said, "Teach me to do Your will." This carries the assumption that it is not a matter of information, but obedience. Sometimes I think the problem is not that we don't know the will of God; it is that we don't like the will of God.

I have a granddaughter who engages in selective hearing. She hears me when I say something she likes, such as, "Let's watch a cartoon." But then when I tell her to do something that she doesn't want to do, all of the sudden it is as though I never said it.

We are that way with God sometimes. It is not that we don't know His will. It is that we don't like His will. But James 4:17 tells us, "To him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin."

Do you know something to be the will of God for your life that you are not doing? Obedience to revealed truth guarantees guidance in matters unrevealed.

My Comments:  This hit me square in the heart like a sharp knife.  We can be such hypocrites because we scold our children for doing the same things to us, that we do to God.  We ask for answers but we have them in our Bibles.  We want to be closer to Christ but we fail to pray and seek that relationship. 

Today I have been under heavy conviction by the Holy Spirit for my actions, and the answer came to me on my run:  I am not doing enough.  When I sat back at my desk this was waiting in my inbox.  We are all without excuse.  God thought of everything well before he even created us and left us without excuse.  Whether it is the un-believer that is "doesn't believe" or it is the Christian that "doesn't know what to do" we cannot claim ignorance.  Creation testifies to it and scripture proclaims it. 

The only thing left to ask is, "What are you going to do about it?"