Tag: God cares

Home Alone

Old Testament: Habakkuk 1-3

*Poetry: Psalm 139

New Testament: Matthew 25

Christmas is approaching, and today’s reading of Psalms 139 reminded me of the movie Home Alone.  I suspect most of you are familiar with the family who went on vacation and didn’t realize until they arrived at their vacation destination that they had left their very young son home alone.  This seems like a bit of a stretch; did they not consider why they had a leftover plane ticket?  Anyways, it was a fun movie and I know that probably all parents have forgotten about their kids when they were supposed to be responsible for them many times.  This is how crayon drawings happen on walls, unexpected haircuts happen, etc.  However, today we read that we are never alone, not for a second, literally.

God is always with us, whether you like it or not, ALL the time.  From your very beginning in your mother’s womb to this very minute, He has been with you the whole way.  He doesn’t ever sleep, and He isn’t just in the next room over in case you need some help; He is staring at you all day and night long.  I doubt He even blinks.  That is intense!  But that shows how invested He is in your life.  Moreover, He knows more about you than you know about yourself.  Give that a minute to sink in.  I know myself really well because I can hear all the thoughts in my mind, but He knows me more.  He knows my thoughts before I think them.  Whoa!

He is totally inside my head, but He still gives me the freedom to live the life I want, even when it is something He dislikes.  He allows me to go the wrong direction, but you’ve probably heard Him like I have, saying “don’t do that, that’s a bad idea.”  Can you imagine how He feels when we ignore Him and do what makes us feel good instead?  On the other hand, can you imagine how He feels when we listen to Him in those moments and do the right thing?

Let’s put ourselves in God’s shoes for a minute.  I know, basically impossible, but let’s try anyways.  Let’s imagine that you were as brilliant as God, and you used your talents to create a new girl or boy.  You also loved your new creation more than can be comprehended and you wanted to spend all your time with your new person every minute of every day for their whole life.  Does it seem creepy to love someone so much that you never want to leave them alone?  Maybe, but it also shows the incredible degree of love you have for them.

Now let’s look at some potential scenarios and see how you feel about them.  You love this person immensely and spend all day with them, but in the first scenario, they don’t ever even acknowledge you are there.  I would be devastated and extremely hurt.  How rude!  In the next scenario, they know you are there, but they rarely pay attention to you.  They could go hours or even days not saying a word to you.  Why are they ignoring me?  Do they not like me that much?  In the last scenario, they understand what you did for them and that you are there for them.  They stay in contact with you all throughout every day.  They appreciate what you do for them, and they love you as best as their human hearts allow.  That sounds like a great relationship that both people would feel great about.

God cares about you so much that He is always with you.  He nudges you along the way to keep you on the right path, but He lets you make the decisions in your life.  He invests so much in you because He loves you immensely and wants to have a personal relationship with you.  It is an understatement to say we are fortunate to have someone so knowledgeable, powerful, and loving on our side and so involved in our lives.

Reflection Questions:

Do you realize how important you are to God?  Have you thanked Him for that lately?

There is a lot to be upset and anxious about in today’s world.  Does it make it easier when you stop to consider that God is with you to the end through all the difficult times?

How long do you typically ignore that there is someone (God) with you each day?  Do you acknowledge Him throughout the day, or do you get to the end of the day, and say, “Oh, Hi God, I forgot you were there.  Sorry I didn’t have time to talk today”?

-Rick McClain

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God Cares

Exodus 3

February 9

Two powerful themes stand out to me in this third chapter of Exodus. One is the holiness of God and the second is God’s continued compassion for His people.

5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

This scripture always strikes me as an extremely important reminder of the holiness of God and the importance of recognizing it and considering if our actions adequately reflect that recognition. Are our hearts and minds in the right place when we go before God in prayer or worship?

The second theme of God’s continued compassion for His people jumps out at me in verse 7:

7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.” 

God chooses to hear our cries and to care about our suffering. I have been through a very difficult season the past few years that has been punctuated by many great losses. For this reason, reading those words in verse 7 takes on a whole new meaning. There is power in being reminded that He is listening and that He cares so very deeply.

Not only does He care about our suffering, but He also understands our insecurities and the challenges they can present for us.

11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”

-Kristy Cisneros

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

  1. In what ways might you need to “take your sandals off” before God so that you can properly acknowledge His holiness?
  2. When you encounter hard seasons in life, what are some ways that you can be reminded that God hears you and cares about your suffering?
  3. How might God be calling you to help others who are stuck in suffering? How can you bring God’s words, power and compassion to them?

Tomorrow we will read Exodus 4.

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God’s Character

Exodus 2

February 8

In today’s reading, we read what is probably a very familiar story of a Levite woman giving birth to a very fine baby. In spite of the pharaoh’s orders for every Hebrew boy that is born to be thrown into the Nile, she makes a courageous decision to hide him for three months. At that three-month mark, she makes an even more courageous decision. 3 “But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. 4 His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.”

As a mother, I really can’t imagine the horror of being in her position. We are given a comforting reminder though in verses 23-25 that God cares when we go through tough things:

23 “During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. 24 God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. 25 So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.”

A couple of years ago, I heard about a challenge of reading the Bible all the way through with a specific goal of seeing what could be revealed about God’s character. I had never read the Bible through that specific lens—and let me tell you—it was powerful! It brings me great comfort to read in the above verses that the Israelites’ cries reach God and He heard their groaning and remembered His covenant and He looked on the Israelites with concern. I am often awestruck that the creator of the universe is mindful of us and our feelings and what we are going through. The truth is, He cares very much. It is almost incomprehensible to me that His son suffered and died so that we can have the hope of the kingdom and that God had to bear the pain of witnessing it while Christ called out, “My Father, My Father, why have you forsaken me?” God gave us a way out of our mess because He loved and cared about us just that much! Praise God!

-Kristy Cisneros

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

  1. How can you use this story to deepen your understanding of the character of God?
  2. How was God working even when it seemed hopeless for this baby left in a basket in the Nile? How was God still working when Moses fled from Egypt?
  3. When have you been reminded of God’s character – even during a scary, hopeless or uncertain time in your life? How has He provided what was needed, even if you thought you needed something else? How did He show His concern for you?
  4. What do you find most powerful in the sacrifice of Jesus planned and orchestrated by a loving Father who loves and cares for His Son and for you?

Tomorrow we will continue the account with Exodus 3

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Devoured by a Lion

1 Peter 5 8

1 Peter 5

So far this week, we have looked at the physical healing of a blind man and the mental healing of a demon possessed man. Today we’re going to look at emotional healing.

Let’s start by looking at verse 8. It says that the Devil, our enemy, is hunting for someone to devour. How many of you have ever felt like you’ve been devoured? I’m sure none of you have ever been eaten by a lion, but I don’t think that’s what this verse is talking about. This verse is talking about being devoured by the world, by our obligations, by our worries. I know I have felt absolutely overwhelmed by my school work, pressures from my friend groups and parents. If you want to talk about being overwhelmed, just look at Jesus’ life.

In verse 5 it mentions the sufferings of Jesus. We know that Jesus had the burdens of the entire world placed on him. That puts our problems into perspective a little, doesn’t it? While we worry about who we’re going to eat lunch with tomorrow, He was worrying about being betrayed by one of his closest friends. While we worry if we’ll be able to play on our school’s basketball team, He was worrying about being sentenced to death by the world that he was supposed to save.

I don’t draw attention to this to diminish our feelings, but it is important to put things in a proper context and to humble ourselves. In verse 6, it says that we need to humble ourselves so that we can be exalted at the proper time. Sometimes it feels like we are being devoured for so long without receiving any help from our God. We think that no one knows how much we are suffering under the stress of our worries and we doubt that God cares. But God does care, and you are not alone. We need to be firm in our faith that God will heal all of us of our emotional pain (vs 9).

Here’s the beautiful part of this chapter: it feels like we must wait forever to receive emotional healing, but God promises us right here in verse 10 that He will personally restore, establish, strengthen and support us after we have suffered. He will heal us.

Today I’m going to leave you with some additional verses. Just read them and soak in all they promise.

Revelation 21:4

Psalm 147:3

John 14:27

Psalm 34:17-20

Matthew 11:28

Psalm 34:19

 

-Nathaniel Johnson

Genuine Prayer

1 John 5

1 John 5_15

 

Hello, my friends!

Isn’t it strange to think this greeting that was written at 8:30am on the 31st of January got to you sometime today – or even later?

That is how communication works between people sometimes: it takes time, it’s not immediate, but it’s likely to reach you eventually. Some people won’t even receive my special salutation, because they did not read the devotion today. And that’s ok.

In fact, if I yelled as loud as I could right now, you will still not be able to hear me.

HELLO, MY FRIENDS!!

Did you hear me? No? Shocking. You’re human, therefore you could not. Let me try something else…

Hi, God.

Guess what? He heard me. You know what is even better? He can hear you too. Our prayers don’t take time to reach Him. They are delivered immediately, and they will never be lost in the mail. God hears you.

Therefore, when you pray, pray genuinely.  Don’t hold back. You can trust that God is listening. God loves you so dearly that He wants you to pour out your heart to Him. He wants to hear all about your day, the ups and downs, concerns, visions, everything. Lay it all at His feet, because He can take it. To top it all off, He never gets tired of listening.

To be honest, sometimes it feels like God can’t hear our prayers. Sometimes it feels like God isn’t present in our lives. Sometimes it feels like God won’t care about us, let alone what our deepest desires are. But those are just feelings. God does hear. He is present. And He certainly cares.

Therefore, pray genuinely – even when if feels like God can’t hear you, even when life is perfect, and even when everything seems to be falling apart. People may not always be there for you, and they certainly won’t always hear you. But God will always hear your prayers. So pray like you mean it.

– Madison Cisler