February 26, 2026 Devo

When I was in college in Houston, I worked at the Downtown YMCA. One of the jobs I had while I was there was working in the stress testing lab. Part of the membership included a battery of tests to show what kind of shape you were in. That, in turn, would help a fitness trainer set you up on the appropriate program. At that time, we had the Chief Medical Officer from NASA who came in on Saturdays and Tuesdays to do the heart monitoring tests. He would hook the person up to an EKG machine, put them on a treadmill, and make them walk until they hit their maximum heart rate.
One Saturday, we were testing a man, and his EKG started showing that his heart was not responding properly. The higher his heart rate went up, the more erratic it became. The doctor slowed the treadmill down and let the man walk slowly until he cooled down. After the test, the doctor showed the man what his heart was doing and asked him about his family health history. The man said that his father and grandfather had both died of heart attacks fairly young. The doctor told the man that he needed to set up an appointment with his cardiologist as soon as possible and have him run a complete battery of tests because there was a good chance that he was suffering from a genetic heart disease. Then the doctor said, “Whatever you do, don’t over-exert your heart. Make sure if you do any kind of exercising, you take time to warm up and cool down. Your heart isn’t responding well to sudden changes.” The man assured us he would.
Two days later, the man came to the Y in the morning to jog. He met up with a friend who was a marathon runner and decided he was going to try to keep up with him. After an exhausting run, he came into the Y, jumped into an ice-cold shower to cool down, and fell to the shower floor dead. The man trusted his own judgment more than he trusted the Chief Medical Officer from NASA. And it cost him his life.
Do you trust God or do you trust YOU? Isaiah reminds us that when we ignore God’s laws and choose our own way, we are saying to God, “I don’t trust you. I trust ME.” Trusting God isn’t a feeling. It’s seeking the Lord, listening to the Lord, and then obeying the Lord. God can’t protect us or guide us to the life we really want if we listen to ourselves rather than Him. The Bible says, “There is a way that SEEMS right to a man, but it leads to death.” Our friend at the Y found that out the hard way. Let’s be smarter than that. Listen to your doctor and trust the Lord. They both have your best interests at heart. That’s God’s Word for you today.