In today’s devotion, let’s talk about today’s thought, “You Have Power, Use It”.

SCRIPTURE | Today’s thought comes from Ecclesiastes 9:10 which says, “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.”

STORY | A story is told in “Today In The Word” that one day, a young man moved into a cave, to study with a wise man. He hoped to learn everything there was to know. 

After giving his student a stack of books, the wise man sprinkled itching powder on his student’s hand and left. 

Every morning the wise man returned to the cave to monitor his student’s progress. “Have you learned everything there is to know yet?” the wise man asked. And every morning his student said, “No, I haven’t.” 

Then the wise man would sprinkle itching powder on the student’s hand and leave. This was repeated for months. But one day, as the wise man entered the cave the student took the bag of itching powder and tossed it into the fire.

“Congratulations!” said the wise man. “You’ve graduated.  You’ve learned you don’ t have to know everything to do something positive. And you’ve learned how to take control over your life and stop the itching.”

LESSON | It’s amazing, but us humans are not only fascinating creatures, but we’re also a bit peculiar. If a bird needs a nest to lay its eggs, it goes right to work assembling sticks and leaves to create what it needs; if a beaver needs to build a dam to create a pond to protect itself from predators like wolves, coyotes, and mountain lions, it goes right to work and create what it needs. 

Humans, with all our abilities, capabilities and potentialities, many of us would rather talk about the problem, complain about the problem, even pray about the problem, but sometimes, we never just got to work fixing the problem. Could it be that it is because we have been trained to believe that someone will come and rescue us, and therefore, foolishly believe we are somehow exempt from putting forth our own hand as the solutions? 

Solomon remind us that whatever we can find to do right now, we don’t put is off for tommorrow. but we must focus today on doing it with all our might, because truth is, all of our paths lead to a place where there is no work, no device, no knowledge, nor wisdom. So know that God gave you the power to make anything happen, so use it well.

PRAYER | Father, I thank you that you have given me power to do all things. Grant me the wisdom to engage that power to accomplish whatever I need today. Amen.