All the Wrong Places

Today's Reading: Exodus 11 & Luke 24

Scripture:
"But when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus." Luke 24:4

Observation:
These women were out trying to do the best thing that they knew to do. They prepared themselves and set out on a work they felt would be honoring to Christ. They did not find what they were looking for.

I would imagine in the moments immediately following their discovery of the empty tomb, they were left with a really bad feeling. What else could happen? What were they supposed to do next? Why was God letting all this occur? They were looking for Jesus, but in all the wrong places.

Stories such as this are normally hard to apply to my life but this morning I see quite clearly the Holy Spirit instructing me on three ways I look for Jesus in wrong places.

Application:
The first way I can miss out on finding Jesus is by looking for Him in dead places. Dead places in my life normally result from two things, my expectations or my attitude. Expectations and attitude are everything. As I look at the life of Christ these were the two most common things that determined whether a person or place experienced life from Him. It is the same in my life. God's work is limited by the expectations I have and the attitude I take on.

The second way I can miss out on Jesus is by looking for Jesus in my own logic. There are a couple of places where I normally over look Jesus because of my logic. First, I miss Him in hard times and bad situations. It is hard to understand how Jesus can be found in the middle of tragedy, hardships and seasons of frustration. During these times I often get so consumed by my emotions that I forget to back away and look for my Savior. Second, I miss Him by looking for something new. There is nothing wrong with searching for deeper understanding, but often God has already given me the answer. I either have refused it or missed it. Either way I miss Him because I fail to slow down and seek His revelation.

The third way I can miss out on Jesus is by looking for Him places I am not supposed to be. There are two common places I am not supposed to be. The first are places where I am not supposed to be YET. There is always a delay between God calling and God sending. That season is designed to grow me, but I normally get impatient and jump out ahead of Him. I know what I am supposed to be doing, but I just can't wait. It is a lot like eating desert before dinner or trying to get paid before the job is done. The second places are what I call grace places. These are situations I create by doing something I know that God said no to, but I do it anyway because I am relying on His Grace to get me out. This is called rebellion. It is almost comical to when I think about how many times I have played the victim all the while knowing God told me not to do it.

Prayer:
Father I seek You daily. This morning I have been reminded that that is not enough. I must seek You in spirit, in truth and in action. Lining the three of these things up is not something I am capable of on my own. If left to my own devices, I waste my time looking for You in all the wrong places.

Finding myself in places where You are not is a miserable existence. Guard my attitudes and beliefs and prevent them from taking the life out of experiences. Slow me down as things happen to me that are out of alignment with my logic and help me to see You in the midst of painful moments. Restrain me from taking action until Your timing has fully come.