MALACHI 3:7

“‘From the days of your fathers you have turned away from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,’ says the LORD of armies. ‘But you say, “How shall we return?”’”

Sometimes we get lost, don’t we? When was the last time you got lost on a trip? I know, with GPS systems and Google Maps, it is harder to get lost. Even when you get off course, those systems will reroute you and bring you home. But back in the days of paper maps, you might have had a harder time finding the right path back home.

The Lord says as much to the people in that last sentence of today’s verse. “But you say, ‘How shall we return.’” The people were truly off course. They didn’t have a GPS to bring them back into alignment with their God. They had strayed so far away that they had forgotten how to return, much less which way to go. Their fathers had strayed, and so had they.

APPLICATION

I have discovered a little secret to prevent getting lost and not knowing how to return. Stay home! Now, I don’t mean you can’t ever leave your house. I mean stay home with Jesus. Stay close! Continue to have your daily quiet times. Talk to Him daily. Spend time listening for His voice. Follow Him wherever He leads you.

I will let you in on another little secret. If He is leading you somewhere, you can bet that He is not lost. He knows exactly where He is going and leading you. I love that old hymn that says, “Where He leads me I will follow, Where He leads me I will follow, Where He leads me I will follow, I’ll go with Him, with Him all the way.”

Can you say that? Can you avoid that return trip home by staying close to Him? The first half of James 4:8 says, “Come close to God and He will come close to you.” It’s interesting that the Greek word for “come close” means immediate imminence. It almost has the idea of “it is here.” That’s where I want to be with Jesus. How about you?

I truly want to be wherever You are, Lord. I will follow!