Day 1089 · Year 3 · The Great Tradition
Elisabeth Elliot on doing the next thing
A missionary widow lived by a simple, hard discipline.
Today's passage
Lamentations 3:22-26
22Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail.
23They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!
24“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.”
25The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.
26It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
Berean Standard Bible · public domain
Reflection
Elisabeth Elliot's husband was killed by the very people he came to serve. She kept walking with Christ for the next sixty years. Her advice in the dark, often: do the next thing. Get up, make breakfast, pray, write the letter, go to work. Faithful obedience does not require feeling capable; it requires showing up for the next thing God puts in front of you. Lamentations agrees: 'The Lord is good to those who wait for him… it is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.'
From the great tradition · paraphrased
Elisabeth Elliot · Modern · 20th–21st c. · USA
Elisabeth Elliot lived by the simple discipline of doing the next thing in obedience to Christ — unwilling to wait for feelings, willing to wait for the Lord.
Paraphrase only. Scripture, not any teacher, is the authority.
Think it through
- What does verse 22 say has never ceased, and what is renewed each morning?
- What does waiting on the Lord look like, according to verse 26?
- What is the 'next thing' God is asking of you today?
A prayer to pray
Stop waiting to feel ready. Ask God for the grace to do the next thing in front of you, in his name.