Live Free with Josh Howerton - God Sees The Big Picture | Ep. 115 | Friday July 14, 2023

Episode Date: July 14, 2023

Today's podcast discusses how we can trust God's plan for our lives when we can't see the bigger picture. God's plan for our lives is more about who we are becoming as people than what we do or where we go. It's important to desire a relationship with God more than His answers for our lives. It is out of that intimacy that we become sensitive to his voice of leadership. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.combe.com slash daily drive. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, what's up everybody? Welcome to the Daily Drive podcast. I'm Mike Bro, and for the last few days, we have been unpacking some principles together about finding God's will for our lives. And before you get too excited saying, yes, that's awesome, I've been needing some answers. I've been looking for a sign. I cannot believe I tuned in today.

I just want to assure you I can't give you a sign. I can't tell you which college you ought to choose, what car you ought to buy, job you'll take, person you ought to date, or place you ought to live. Sorry about that. But I can give you some principles from God's Word that. been super helpful to me throughout the years. You know, I never dreamed the different places and adventures that I would get to go on in my life. And through the years, I've been alive for a while now. And I have since God's voice, God's presence, God's leadership, God's challenge for me to step out and trust him so many times. And I'm so grateful for the way that he has led my life and my family's life. But these foundational principles have really kept me centered so let me just give them to you again so you can stick them in your heart too.

Principle number one is this. God's will is much more about who we are than what we do or where we go. Who we are becoming as people is more important than career paths, academic choices, or where we're going to put down roots. God longs to put us on the potter's wheel and shape and mold us into the kind of people he wants us to be, so that wherever he leads us will be the right kind of people in those places. principle number two is this God longs for us to desire him more than his answers for our life. We talked about how God doesn't just want to be like our Google search engine or our personal Alexa or the way he's driving at for our life.

Although he will lead us and he wants to give us direction, he longs for us to desire him first. And I've been discovering that it's out of that intimate relationship that we become sensitive to his voice of leadership. Last episode we talked about how our role is not to find God's will, but to follow God's voice. Like sheep, who don't see so well, but are really good listeners and follow the shepherd as he walks along speaking or singing. Jesus told us, my sheep, listen to my voice, and they follow. So I'll hope you'll stick those foundational principles in your heart. Now, for the next several episodes, I want to walk through a story of someone who learned a thing or two about discovering God's will for your life. His story has taught me so much.

It's the story about a guy named Joseph, who early on in his high school days got a pretty clear picture of what his future was going to be like. His story starts in Genesis 37. That's the very first book of the Bible. And we're going to pick up the story of Joseph's life when he's 17 years old.

And we're going to be flying through a bunch of chapters all the way to the very last chapter of the book of Genesis. So you might want to spend some time today, later on, just reading the whole deal in one sitting. There are several key principles I want to highlight out of Joseph's life as it relates to hearing from God, living in his will, and waiting on God to move. And I want to give you the first one before we jump into his story. God does have a plan for our lives.

God does have a plan for our lives. He just has a much better view from above. A much better view from above. Any of all football fans, I know there's a bunch of football fans out there. Some of you don't care, but some of you are. Have you ever noticed when you're watching a football fan? football game. The in-between plays, the quarterback sometimes will put his hands on his helmet and kind of has a faraway look in his eye. Sometimes it's because he just got his bell rung.

But most times, what he's doing is listening to an offensive coordinator on a speaker in his helmet. Do you know that? The quarterbacks have a speaker in their helmet? This guy is calling the plays. You see, they place a coach way up in the press box at the top of the stadium because from that vantage point, he can see things that people and other coaches can't see from field level. He can see the whole field. And while that illustrates the point I'm trying to make, to be honest, it's a pretty lame attempt to explain how God sees. I mean, how do you explain omniscience? I mean, you could combine the offensive coordinator, press box views, Superman's X-ray vision,

Dr. Phil's ability to read minds, and you would still fall incredibly short of the illustrating the ability of God to see all things visible and invisible. And may I add? that's why I trust him so much with my life. He has this incredible view from above and the ability to see like no one else can see. Plus, he has this love for me that is high, wide, deep, and long and this insatiable desire to give me a hope in a future.

So I will trust what he knows and what he can see even when I can't. God knows the plans for us. And incredibly, as a 17-year-old guy, God lets Joseph in on it. And you can read it on your own today, beginning in Genesis 37. We're going to start walking through this incredible story that reads like an episode of a reality show. I mean, so many twists and turns and so many cool things that God wants to teach us through it. I can't wait to walk through it with you. Hope you have a great day to day. See you back for Genesis 37 next time.

Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out? For more information about all digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint.comit.com.