Do You Know How Much God Loves You?

Posted on February 9, 2025 by Barbara Harper

As I grew up, some people emphasized God’s love to the extreme of discounting His wrath or justice. For that reason, some churches tended not to talk about the love of God so much except in that He loved us enough to send His Son to die for our sins. We sang about God’s love in our hymns. We read about it in our Bible studies. But God seemed to be presented as a stern judge rather than a loving Father.

The more I read the Bible, though, the more God’s love seems to be foundational to our Christian lives.

Paul prayed for the Ephesians that “according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:16-19).

And then he writes, “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (verses 20-21). We apply those verses to all kinds of things, but think what it means in the context of knowing God’s love. The love of Christ “surpasses knowledge”–is more than we can fathom. Yet God inspired Paul to pray that we might know His love.

How does knowing God loves us affect our lives?

God loved us even before we came to Him.

We tend to think God will love us once we get cleaned up. But Romans 5:8 says, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Similarly, Ephesians 2:4-6 tells us, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

God loved us enough to send His Son to bear our sins.

““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Isaiah 38:17 puts it this way: “In love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back.”

God’s love draws us to Him.

When I first began to hear the gospel, I knew I was in trouble, because I knew I was a sinner. But I would have been afraid to come to God if I didn’t know that He loved me. His law convicted me, but it was His love that drew me to Him. Hosea writes that God “drew them with gentle cords, With bands of love” (11:4, NKJV). James Grindly Small expanded on this thought in the hymn, “I’ve Found a Friend”:

I’ve found a Friend, O such a Friend!
He loved me ere I knew Him;
He drew me with the cords of love,
And thus He bound me to Him;
And round my heart still closely twine
Those ties which naught can sever,
For I am His, and He is mine,
Forever and forever.

God’s love keeps us secure.

In college, a friend and I were listening to the hymn, “O Love That Wilt not Let Me Go.” She commented that the song title seemed odd. But it’s not if you’ve ever felt unsure of someone’s love. Even the best human love will fail us at times. But God says, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35-39).

God’s love sustains us.

Knowing how deeply God loves us will sustain us when, like Job, we’re going through trials that don’t make sense. We may not feel God’s love in those movements. But when we know His character through His Word and we know His love, we can rest in the fact that He has a purpose in what He allows and He will keep us.

God’s love disciplines us.

A mother who never disciplines her child or tells him “no” might feel she is the most loving parent in the world. But she’s not: she’s impairing her child. He will never learn self-discipline or self-control if he’s never been taught to deny himself and yield to another. He probably won’t get along well with others and may have trouble holding a job.

We mentioned the disconnect some have between God’s love and His wrath. Yet everyone who loves another hates what would harm his loved one. God knows sin is harmful to us, so he disciplines us like a loving parent. “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives” (Hebrews 12:5-6).

God’s love comforts us.

David wrote in Psalm 31:7: “I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love, because you have seen my affliction; you have known the distress of my soul.” The writer of Lamentations adds: “My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Hymnwriter Frank E. Graeff captured these truths in “Does Jesus Care?”

Does Jesus care when my heart is pained
Too deeply for mirth or song;
As the burdens press, and the cares distress,
And the way grows weary and long?

O yes, He cares- I know He cares!
His heart is touched with my grief;
When the days are weary, the long nights dreary,
I know my Savior cares.

God’s love sparks our love to Him.

1 John 4:19 says, “We love because he first loved us.” I don’t think that’s just the order of events, although it’s true that He loved us first. But His love creates a response of love in us. Romans 5:5 says, “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

God’s love helps us love others.

When God sheds His love abroad in our hearts, it spills over to others. Consequently, 1 John 4:20-21 says, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.“

I’ve shared this many times before, but I’ve always been inspired by a missionary who struggled with loving those in her charge. Every time she saw her failures and thought, “I need to be more loving,” she grew more discouraged by more failure. But when she began to meditate on God’s love for her, she began to act in love towards others, so much that people commented on the change in her.

God’s love enables us to live for Him.

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 says, “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” When you love someone, you want to please them. 1 John 5:2-3 says we not only keep His commandments because we love Him, but we don’t find them burdensome.

How can we mediate on God’s love for us?

Verses like these can remind us just how much God loves us:

“How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings” (Psalm 36:7).

“But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Psalm 86:15).

“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing” (Zephaniah 3:17).

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God” (1 John 3:1a).

“Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me” (Isaiah 49:15-16).

“‘For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,’ says the Lord, who has compassion on you” (Isaiah 54:10).

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23).

Songs based on Scripture help us fill our minds with the truth of God’s love:

Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus—
Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free—
Rolling as a mighty ocean
In its fullness over me!
Underneath me, all around me
Is the current of His love—
Leading onward, leading homeward
To His glorious rest above.
—S. Trevor Francis

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made;
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.
–Frederick M. Lehman, 1917

Here is love, vast as the ocean,
Loving-kindness as the flood;
When the Prince of Life, my ransom,
Shed for me his precious blood.
Who his love will not remember?
Who can cease to sing his praise?
He shall never be forgotten,
Through Heav’n’s everlasting days

On the mount of crucifixion,
Fountains opened deep and wide,
Through the flood-gates of God’s mercy,
Flowed the vast and gracious tide;
Grace and love, like mighty rivers
Poured incessant from above,
And God’s peace and perfect justice
Kissed a guilty world in love.
–William Rees

Loved with everlasting love,
Led by grace that love to know;
Spirit, breathing from above,
Thou hast taught me it is so.
Oh, this full and perfect peace!
Oh, this transport all divine!
In a love which cannot cease,
I am His, and He is mine.
–George Wade Robinson

Though it’s wonderful to feel love, love is not just a feeling. Whatever the circumstances in our lives, we can rest in the fact that God loves us.

These truths are just a sampling. The more I studied this topic, the more I found, and my heart was warmed even further.

In what ways has God’s love helped you? What verses or hymns help you rest in God’s love?

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Time Alone with God

Posted on February 2, 2025 by Barbara Harper

One of my college roommates didn’t seem to be able to study alone. Often, when I came back to my dorm room after dinner, I’d find a group of girls studying (and talking and laughing) with my roommate. A roommate’s study group in my room meant I had to find another quiet place to study. I’m the type that can’t concentrate when there is noise and commotion in the room.

I knew students who couldn’t seem to go to lunch or the bookstore or much of anywhere without a companion.

Of course, the opposite is true of some. I liked to go many places (other than lunch) alone because it was more efficient. If you have three or four girls running errands together, it’s going to take three or four times as long to get done. But sometimes the fellowship is worth the extra time. We need a balance of time alone and time with others.

The same is true in the church. The last several years, I have seen an emphasis on community among believers, along with reminders that we’re not “lone rangers.”

While that emphasis is needed, I feel some take it too far. Some say we were never meant to read God’s Word alone, but in community. It’s true that for many years, people didn’t have their own copies of the Scriptures. All they had was what was shared and discussed when they gathered together. But that doesn’t mean no one should ever read the Bible alone now.

One writer said the preaching time at church is our main spiritual meal. I’m not sure what she based that conclusion on. It’s a vital part of our Christian life, but meeting God alone is vital as well. In fact, though I learn a lot and have been convicted during church and Bible studies, I think the main time I do serious business with God is home alone when I can process what I have heard.

Those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior are part of God’s family. Yet we don’t relate to Him only as “one of the kids.”

God knew us individually before we were born. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you” (Jeremiah 1:5; see also Psalm 139:13-16).

God knows us by name. “The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out” (John 10:3).

God knows our thoughts. “O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether” (Psalm 139:1-4).

God knows our ways. “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds” (Jeremiah 17:10).

Even the number of our hairs is known by Him. “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows” Luke 12:6-7).

We’ll each give account of ourselves personally to God. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Corinthians 5:10).

The psalms in the Bible are songs which were sung by the children of Israel. Some of them have plural pronouns, but many have personal pronouns. That means even though the congregation is singing about the truths of the passage together, the passage was written by someone’s experience with the Lord alone. Those singing can take those truths into their own individual relationship with the Lord.

I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears (Psalm 34:4).

He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. (Psalm 40:2).

My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me (Psalm 63:5-8).

I rise before dawn and cry for help; I hope in your words. My eyes are awake before the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promise (Psalm 119:147-148).

God spoke to individuals as well as groups. Many New Testament letters were written to individuals (Luke, Acts, Titus, Philemon, 1 and 2 Timothy) as well as churches.

Saints of old had some of their most meaningful encounters with God alone.

Moses met with God alone many times.

David “encouraged himself in the Lord” (1 Samuel 30:6) when the men of Israel were ready to stone him.

Joseph spent years as the only apparent believer in the one true God when he was a slave in Egypt. His witness spread to others. But he had to remind himself of God’s truth on his own.

Two turning-point meetings with God in Jacob’s life happened when he was alone.

Daniel had friends of the same faith, but he faced the lion’s den alone, received visions alone, and prayed alone.

Paul ministered with companions but sometimes was alone.

Jesus dealt with crowds of people yet sought His Father alone.

In Revelation 2:17, God says, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.”

Spurgeon wrote in the October 12 reading from Morning and Evening, “There are times when solitude is better than society, and silence is wiser than speech. We should be better Christians if we were more alone, waiting upon God, and gathering through meditation on His Word spiritual strength for labour in His service. We ought to muse upon the things of God, because we thus get the real nutriment out of them. “

Elisabeth Elliot wrote in On Asking God Why, “Few people know what to do with solitude when it is forced upon them; even fewer arrange for solitude regularly. This is not to suggest that we should neglect meeting with other believers for prayer (Hebrews 10:25), but the foundation of our devotional life is our own private relationship with God. . . . Christians may (and ought to) pray anytime and anywhere, but we cannot well do without a special time and place to be alone with God.”

We’re to meet together frequently (Hebrews 10:25), “stir one another up to love and good works” (Hebrews 10:24), learn from the incredible gifts God gave to the church in pastors and teachers (Ephesians 4:11-13), sing worshipful, Scripture-based songs together (Colossians 3:16).

Time with other believers learning God’s Word is vital and wonderful. I learn much from the observations of others. But we only meet together once or twice a week. The Bible is our spiritual food, and we need to eat more than that.

Our time alone with God should feed into our time with others, and our time in the Word together should edify our inner souls and equip us in our daily walk.

We often tell unbelievers that Christianity is not a religion, but a personal relationship with God. Relationships are developed with communication and interaction. God loves and cares about us individually as well as a body of believers. We don’t have to pit time alone with God against time with Him as a group. We need both.

(After I wrote a portion of this post, I searched my blog and saw I had written on this topic a couple of times before. So I pulled excerpts from both of those posts into this one.)

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

When Habits Hinder Rather Than Help

Posted on January 26, 2025 by Barbara Harper

Someone has said that if you don’t make a plan, all you have is a wish. When we want to establish spiritual disciplines or meet a need at church, we set up routines or programs.

But then sometimes those routines themselves can get in the way of meeting needs.

I see this on several levels:

We follow routine and forget purpose.

To try to be more self-disciplined, we establish habits to aid in godliness, like regular times of reading the Bible or prayer, church attendance, etc. And that’s a good thing. But we all know what it is to have days when we’re just going through the motions, when our eyes are dragging across the page. We check “Have devotions” off our list of things to do but haven’t really engaged with the text or been affected spiritually. Or we “feel spiritual” if we’ve crossed that duty off or don’t “feel spiritual” if we haven’t.

Sometimes we feel we can’t stop and ponder a passage of Scripture because we need to get through our planned reading for the day.

One book I read on Bible study strongly emphasized application. That’s good: Jesus said to be doers, not just hearers. This author recommended specific, measurable results. For instance, instead of saying “I need to pray more,” he advocated praying for a certain number of minutes, and then slowly increasing the time.

That may be a good beginning. But it seems to me that the more natural approach would be to list things to pray about–usually once we get started, the list increases. Another idea would be to study prayers of the Bible, like Colossians 1:9-14.

Likewise, if we read about loving our neighbor, we might take them a plate of cookies or shovel snow from their sidewalk and think, “There! I’ve loved my neighbor today.” But then we forget about the need to love our neighbor when he forgets to return a tool or plays loud music at midnight.

It’s not that measurable results are wrong, but they are only one aspect of applying Scripture. Sometimes measurable responses can lead to outward actions without accompanying inward change. Sometimes we need to carry the truth we learned, like loving our neighbor, with us all through the day and pray for grace to implement it when it’s difficult.

We seek formulas rather than truth.

We’ve all seen clickbait titles like How to Be a Better Wife in Three Easy Steps or Follow These Steps to Curb Your Temper. Many raised children according to the plan of the day and were surprised to find their children did not respond in the expected way.

I saw a post sharing a routine for visiting the sick. But every sick person might not have the same needs. And if they sense we’re just going through a script, they are not going to feel ministered to.

I’ve sometimes gotten good results (or so I thought) by praying a certain way in a particular situation, only to have that prayer not “work” the next time that situation arose. I finally learned God doesn’t work by formulas, because then we trust in formulas and not Him. He wants our hearts.

Our routine hinders our purpose.

One church we visited had a greeting time during the service. No one interacted with us or even looked at us until the greeting time. Then, while someone played the piano, everyone smiled, shook hands, and spoke to visitors. But as soon as the music stopped, it was like someone flipped a switch, and everyone closed up again.

Other examples: we feel like our obligation to witness is fulfilled when we go to our church’s visitation night. Or, because our church has official greeters at the door, we feel no one else needs to greet visitors. Or we don’t pick up trash on the floor because someone is paid to do that.

Once when we were visiting my husband’s parents, a couple of women from church came by to see my mother-in-law. They brought a plant and card and conversed for a few minutes. When my mother-in-law thanked them profusely, one of the women said, “Well, you were on our list today.” My mother-in-law never discussed the comment, but I felt it deflated any good feelings about the visit since it seemed to be only motivated by a list.

We try to force results.

Bible study leaders naturally want people to participate. But we had a pair of leaders who felt everyone had to say something every time. If you didn’t speak up, they were going to make you! So instead of interaction and conversation happening naturally, the quieter people felt nervous, on edge, or put on the spot.

Small group leaders want people to “go deep” in their conversations and relationships, so some have “turn to your neighbor and bare your heart on command” sessions instead of letting those opportunities arise in a more natural way.

Or would-be mentors feel they need to work through an artificial list of probing questions instead of developing a personal relationship with their mentee.

We don’t think we can change what we do.

For years, I followed the same Bible reading plan because it was what I was taught. It took years to realize that there are many ways to engage with the Bible, and changing things up helped me stay engaged and see new things in the Word.

For many years, churches in my area had Sunday evening services at 7 o’clock. Then one church changed their service time to 6. It was amazing how many conversations there were about whether that change was right or wise. Eventually, other churches did the same. These days, I am happy to see a variety of services in churches, like small groups in the afternoon or lunch together after the morning service and a short time together before everyone goes home. But forty years ago, those solutions would have been unheard of.

Some programs are useful for a while, but fizzle out after a time. It’s vain to keep them just because “that’s what we’ve always done.”

Routines have a purpose.

It’s true, sometimes we need systems and routines because we don’t always “feel like” doing what we need to. A former pastor once said that one of his best times of prayer occurred when he had to start by confessing to the Lord that he didn’t feel like praying. Sometimes just doing what we should whether we feel like it or not is the first step to feeling like it.

But we should seek God’s grace to serve not just out of duty, and not to check off all the designated boxes, but with a right heart. The mechanics of ministry and spiritual disciplines are tools, but not the main focus, not the end-all of our efforts.

Our ministry isn’t boxed into a particular time, place, or group of people. Our programs don’t take care of all of our obligations. There is a sense in which we should always be “on,” always ready to serve. Even if there are official greeters at church, we can greet people when we see them or help a confused visitor find the right class. Even if there is someone designated to send cards to sick Sunday School class members, we can send one, too. If God has placed on our hearts that we need to help someone else in the church, we need to pray about how to do that rather than just dismissing it because our church has a benevolence committee to take care of those things.

On the other hand, sometimes we can perfectly follow all of our routines, and our programs can seem to be going swimmingly, but we’re unaware that we’re missing something vital. The Pharisees were famous for this. All through the Bible, God reminds His people not to serve Him only with outward performance, but with their hearts.

A. W. Tozer said this in The Pursuit of God:

The simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found among us. In its stead are programs, methods, organizations and a world of nervous activities which occupy time and attention but can never satisfy the longing of the heart. The shallowness of our inner experience, the hollowness of our worship and that servile imitation of the world which marks our promotional methods all testify that we, in this day, know God only imperfectly, and the peace of God scarcely at all. If we would find God amid all the religious externals, we must first determine to find Him, and then proceed in the way of simplicity.

Routines, habits, and programs can be a great help. But they are an avenue of ministry, not an end in themselves. May God give us grace to keep our hearts engaged and our focus on others’ needs and His glory.

(Revised from the archives)

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Lesser Lights

Posted on January 19, 2025 by Barbara Harper

Before the invention of electricity, it was rare to see a whole city lit up. One could see candlelight or lanterns in windows. Gaslights helped illuminate sidewalks. But if the whole city seemed alight, that meant something unusual was going on.

These days, though, cities seem to dwell in perpetual light.

G. K. Chesterton commented on this in The Illustrated London News in 1927:

In every civilised age and country, it has been a natural thing to talk of some great festival on which “the town was illuminated.” There is no meaning nowadays in saying that the town was illuminated. There is no point or purpose in having it illuminated for any normal and noble enthusiasm, such as the winning of a victory or the granting of a charter. The whole town is illuminated already, but not for noble things. It is illuminated solely to insist on the immense importance of trivial and material things, blazoned from motives entirely mercenary. . . .

It is no good to send up a golden and purple rocket for the glory of the King and Country, or to light a red and raging bonfire on the day of St. George, when everybody is used to seeing the same fiery alphabet proclaiming the importance of Tibble’s Tooth Paste or Giggle’s Chewing Gum. The new illumination has not, indeed, made Tibble and Giggle so important as St. George and King George; because nothing could. But it has made people weary of the way of proclaiming great things, by perpetually using it to proclaim small things. It has not destroyed the difference between light and darkness, but it has allowed the lesser light to put out the greater (quoted in Winter Fire: Christmas with G. K. Chesterton by Ryan Whitaker Smith, pp. 107-108).

Light is one of my favorite symbols of Christmas and one of the things I miss most when we take decorations down.

But light is not just a symbol of Christmas. It’s a symbol of God, a thread running through the whole Bible.

From the Old Testament: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1).

To the New: “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life'” (John 8:12).

From prediction: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.” (Isaiah 9:2).

To fulfillment: “And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: ‘The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned'” (Matthew 4:13-16).

From the Father: “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5b).

To the Son: “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. . . . The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.” (John 1:4-5, 9).

My husband loves astronomy and will take his telescope out when some phenomenon is happening in the sky. He often says that to really see the stars best, one needs to get away from the lights of cities, towns, or neighborhoods.

It’s not that lesser lights put out the light of the stars, but they obscure and distract from them.

The lesser lights in our lives do the same. They may be harmless in themselves, but their number and seeming urgency take our attention. They can’t put out the Light. But they make it harder to see Him.

Some day, there will be no lesser lights: “And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever” (Revelation 22:5).

Until then, may our hearts cry out with the psalmist, “There are many who say, ‘Who will show us some good? Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!’” (Psalm 4:6).

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Cultivating Awe of God’s Word

Posted on January 12, 2025 by Barbara Harper

Are you in awe of God’s Word?

If you’re like me, you’d probably say, “Not as often as I’d like to be.”

There are times when our meeting with God is special, when He gives us just what we need in the moment, we notice something new, or we’re blessed by an old, familiar, but beloved passage.

But other times—we’re sleepy, distracted, hurried, or we’re slogging through a book like Leviticus.

I was struck recently by a quote from G. K. Chesterton in Winter Fire: Christmas with G.K. Chesterton: “The world will never starve for want of wonders; but only for want of wonder.” Though he wasn’t talking about the Bible there, I felt what he said was true of the Bible as well.

Chesterton’s quote reminded me a couple of verses:

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! (Psalm 139:17.

My heart stands in awe of your words. I rejoice at your word like one who finds great spoil (treasure, plunder) (Psalm 119:161a-162).

So what can we do when we feel less than awed by God’s Word?

Employ practical helps. It’s hard to be awed when we’re sleepy or distracted. Getting enough sleep, choosing a more wakeful time of day, taking a shower or doing a few minutes of exercise first can help us be more alert. Removing distractions as much as possible helps: turning off the phone, choosing a time you can be somewhat alone, etc.

Pray. Psalm 119:18 is an apt prayer: “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” When we’re dull in spirit, we can appropriate another of the psalmist’s prayer: “I am greatly afflicted; Renew and revive me [giving me life], O LORD, according to Your word” (Amplified Version).

Remember:

Who is speaking to us. I’m inspired by what George Guthrie says here: “I am still blown away by the idea that the God of the universe wants to communicate with us on a daily basis and that he has chosen to do so in this miraculous book we call the Bible.” As we meditate on who He is and the ways He has worked in our lives, our hearts will warm towards Him and His Word.

That God chose these specific words for us. Psalm 139:17-18 says God’s thoughts are vast, more than the sand. One of our former pastors used to say that the Bible is divinely brief. Out of the multitudes of things God could have said, He inspired and preserved in the Bible what He wants us to know. So each sentence has a purpose.

The cost and privilege of having a Bible in our own hands. Most people didn’t until after the printing press was invented in 1440 AD. Even when it became widely used, books were too expensive for many people to have. When books became more widespread, brave men like William Tyndale labored and gave their lives to have it translated into English that everyday people could read.

Past experiences with the Bible. Remembering some of those special times in the Bible that I mentioned at the beginning can reawaken our desire for it to speak to us again.

Our enemies: the world, which tries to turn our heads; our flesh, prone to wander, to laziness, to self-indulgence; and the devil, who wants to deceive and distract us. It’s no wonder we often have to fight for time and attention while reading the Bible. But the struggle is worth it.

Slow down. Sometimes we rush through our time in the Bible just to get it done or to get to other tasks. Reading a smaller amount and taking time to reflect on it is better than zipping through several chapters without retaining anything.

Ask why this passage is in the Bible. If God inspired all of Scripture, each passage is there for a purpose. What does it tell us about God?

Begin with hymns or praise. I’ve often been encouraged by missionary and writer Elisabeth Elliot’s confession in On Asking God Why: “When I stumble out of bed in the morning, put on a robe, and go into my study, words do not spring spontaneously to my lips–other than words like, ‘Lord, here I am again to talk to you. It’s cold. I’m not feeling terribly spiritual. . . .'” She found help by reading through hymns or psalms.

Get help from a good study Bible, commentary, or study group. All three have helped me by giving some background or explanation of the passage or pointing out things I overlooked in my own reading.

Keep reading in spite of feelings, or the lack of them. Another former pastor said that one of his best times of prayer began with his confession that he didn’t feel like praying. It often happens that way with Bible reading, too. We might not feel awe-inspired as we begin. But the Bible says it is living and active (Hebrews 4:12). As we read, God speaks to us and enlivens us. Even if we don’t feel any differently after reading, God has fed us.

Thank God for what we read. We often divide our quiet time with the Lord into prayer and Bible reading. But we can integrate those activities. When we read of God’s love, we can thank Him for sharing His love with us. When we read an example of His love, power, or wisdom, we praise Him for them right as we read. We can turn some of the verses into prayer and praise. Awe of God’s Word is not an end in itself, but leads us to awe of our God.

In the Everyday Gospel Christmas Devotional, Paul David Tripp says:

The beginning of Matthew presents us with a majestic one-time moment in history that you shouldn’t run past in your desire to complete your daily Bible reading. God has recorded and preserved it for you because he wants it to leave you in gratitude and awe. And that awe is meant to capture your heart with such force that it changes the way you think about who you are and how you live your life. (December 16 reading).

Awe in our Bible reading doesn’t just help us enjoy it more. As Tripp says, awe captures our hearts in order to change us. Awe is part of beholding Him: “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

“The world will never starve for want of wonders; but only for want of wonder,” Chesterton said. There is much to inspire awe and wonder in the Bible. May God give us eyes to see and hearts to understand.

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Does God Have a Specific Will For Your Life?

Posted on January 5, 2025 by Barbara Harper

I became a Christian in my later teen years, when one faces myriad choices that will affect the rest of life: college or not, and where; majors; vocations; mates, location.

In the years since my teens, I’ve read a number of opinions about discerning God’s will for your life, or for specific decisions.

Some say God does not have a specific will for whom you marry, what job you do, etc. Big and small decisions are up to you–if you love God, whatever you want to do is fine. I assume they base that view on Proverbs 16:9: “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”

And while that verse is true and comforting, I don’t really see a “do whatever you want” attitude in Scripture.

God had a specific will at least for some people:

Rebekah to marry Isaac.
David, not his brothers, to be king.
Not David, but his son to build the temple (2 Samuel 7).
Moses to lead the children of Israel from Egypt (Exodus 3)
Mary to bear Jesus.
Paul to go to Macedonia, not Asia (Acts 16:6-10).

Furthermore, James 4:3-17 warns against planning to go to another town and trade without taking God’s will into account. I would assume that principle applies to all our plans, not just travel and trade.

And then, Ephesians 2:8-10, after the famous verses about being saved by grace through faith and not our works, informs us that “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” God saves His people by His grace, and their faith is then expressed in good works. But could it also mean that, in God’s workmanship, He prepared each person for specific works? Some commentators seem to think so. Speaking of this passage, Warren Wiersbe says:

These works are not only good; they are also “prepared.” “Good works which God hath before ordained [prepared] that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2: 10). The only other time this word is used in the New Testament is in Romans 9: 23: “vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory.” The unbeliever walks “according to the course of this world” (Eph. 2: 2), but the believer walks in the good works God has prepared for him.

This is an amazing statement. It means that God has a plan for our lives and that we should walk in His will and fulfill His plan. Paul is not talking about “kismet”—an impersonal fate that controls your life no matter what you may do. He is talking about the gracious plan of a loving heavenly Father, who wills the very best for us (Be Rich [Ephesians]: Gaining the Things That Money Can’t Buy, pp. 60-61, Kindle version).

On the other end of the spectrum, conscientious people who care very much about God’s will can become almost obsessed with finding and following it, and fearful of missing it. This is where I was in my early twenties.

One example was in dating my husband. When we began to get more serious, I struggled with whether he was the man God wanted me to marry. My parents were divorced, so I knew love didn’t always last. I had been engaged before. But in processing things after we broke up, I realized we were not right for each other. I was stunned that I didn’t see that in the first place. If I could have been so mistaken then, how could I be sure now?

It took me a long time to realize that if I earnestly wanted and asked for God’s guidance, He would answer that prayer. I had grown tired of the “dating game” in college and prayed that no one would ask me out that God didn’t want me to go out with. Jim was the very next person to ask me out. Unlike in my previous relationships, I was praying for God’s guidance in dating and finding the person He wanted me to marry. There was no reason to think my relationship with Jim was not God’s leading.

On the other hand, for many years I feared I had missed God’s will in my college major. I wanted to major in English, but felt Home Economics Education would be more practical. By the time I got to my senior year, I knew I did not want to teach in high school. With a later interest in writing, I wished I had chosen that English major. I grieved that I had “wasted” my college education by choosing wrong.

However, I realized God did use my major tremendously in my life, even though the outcome was not the intended one. More than anything, I wanted to establish a Christian home, and what I learned in my major fueled that desire. The Bible classes and Christian influence and teaching all through school fed my soul and grounded me spiritually. The education classes helped with people skills. I realized writing can be a form of teaching. I minored in English, so I did get a few classes in writing. And I’ve had opportunity since to take in writing instruction through books, blogs, webinars, and conferences.

God doesn’t make His will elusive. He wants to lead and guide us.

This is God, our God forever and ever. He will guide us forever (Psalm 48:14).

For you are my rock and my fortress; and for your name’s sake you lead me and guide me (Psalm 31:3).

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11)

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you (Psalm 32:8).

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths (Proverbs 3:5-6).

I’ve often wished that God told us exactly what He wants us to do, as He did for some in Bible times. But I think seeking His will is an exercise in faith that can result in drawing closer to God as we evaluate and pray over aspects of our life that we might not otherwise.

I think finding God’s will is somewhere between the two extremes of not considering it at all and considering it overmuch.

So how do we find God’s will?

Pray. “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him” (James 1:5). “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you” (2 Chronicles 20:12). “We have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding” (Colossians 1:9).

Be humble and willing for whatever God wants. “He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way” Psalm 25:9).

Read God’s Word regularly. “You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory” (Psalm 73:24). However, the Bible is not like a “Magic 8 Ball.” We don’t open the Bible, let our finger fall on a verse, and take that as God’s answer.

Even in our regular reading, we have to be careful not to take a verse out of context and apply it to ourselves. Let’s say you are considering the mission field. In your daily quiet time, you come to God’s call to Abraham in Genesis 12: “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” That may seem like a direct answer. But what are you going to do when you come across Mark 5:19: “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” God may use these verses to help you be willing to go or stay, but the main point of the verses concerns what God is doing in the lives of those in the passage.

Instead, as we read the Bible day by day, we get to know our God better. As we do, we discern more how He might be leading.

Do what you know to be the will of God now. “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). Many verses speak of God’s will:

Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor (1 Thessalonians 4:1-4).

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:1-2).

There’s a lovely song titled “This Is the Will of God” incorporating several verses about God’s will.

Consider your gifts and bent. “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them” (Romans 12:6a). “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace” (1 Peter 4:10). As a quiet, bookish person who doesn’t like crowds, I’m not likely to be called to something involving lots of noise and activity and people. An extrovert who loves being with and talking to people likely will not thrive alone in an office eight hours a day.

Sometimes you discover your gifts by trying different things. In my early Christian life, I was often asked to participate in children’s ministries. I did, and I hope it was useful to those involved. But I didn’t really enjoy it and often had to deal with myself about a less-than-enthusiastic attitude. Then one day our Awana secretary at church asked me to be her assistant, helping with ordering and checking in supplies, keeping score during games, adding up points and assembling awards. I loved it.

One caveat here: God may call you to something you don’t feel gifted for, like He did for Moses, Gideon, Jeremiah, and others. In that case, either He has already gifted you, and you don’t realize it yet, or He will when your gifts are needed.

Ask others. “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety” (Proverbs 11:14). Sometimes another person’s insight can be very helpful. They might have wisdom in the area you’re wondering about, or they might see something in you that you don’t see. It helps to ask more than one person, because one opinion might be a little off.

Take the next step. God usually leads step by step, without giving us the whole roadmap at once. If you think God might be leading you to a particular college, look into it. Ask for materials from them. Perhaps go visit. If you think God may be leading you to a certain vocation, read about it, learn about it, maybe take an internship in it. Those experiences, bathed in prayer, can help you know whether to take the next step.

What do you want to do? “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). This doesn’t mean God will give you every little thing your heart desires. As a good parent, He sometimes has to say no. But as we delight ourselves in Him, He puts the right desires in our heart. Again, sometimes He calls us to do what we don’t want to at first. But often, what we yearn to do is what He is leading us to do.

Serve faithfully where you are. As a young man, Joseph could not have known all that was ahead for him: being sold into slavery by his brothers, being wrongly accused, sent to prison, and then becoming second to Pharaoh in Egypt. But He was faithful to God in every situation. Likewise, as a shepherd boy, David had no idea he would someday be king. Even after he was anointed by Samuel, it was years before he came to the throne. Yet he followed and served God all along the way.God

Consider open and closed doors. “A wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries” (1 Corinthians 16:9). Once I planned to go on a school-sponsored mission trip over Christmas break. But the school officials would not approve my going because I was in debt to the school: they felt I needed to work to take care of my obligations before asking people to give to a mission trip.

A closed door doesn’t necessarily mean that opportunity is not God’s will. It may not be the right time. Or the closed door may be an obstacle rather than a “no”–some Christians have gotten into countries that are closed to missionaries by pursuing other vocations within those countries. Gladys Aylward was not approved by China Inland Mission to be one of their missionaries, but she worked and saved money to go to China on her own. She had a long, fruitful ministry.

Likewise, an open door doesn’t necessarily mean that situation is God’s will. There may be several open doors, and discernment is needed to know which one. But by and large, this is one way God guides.

Trust God for the answer. Once my husband had an opportunity for a new job in another state. He was happy in his work, but he felt he should investigate the other possibility. He interviewed and was offered the job.

But he wasn’t sure what to do. There were no red flags, no extenuating circumstances that would point to one job or the other. He was willing to stay or go.

He went to our pastor for counsel, who shared with him Proverbs 16:11: “The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.” The pastor told Jim that as he had prayed for God’s guidance and was willing to do whatever God wanted, he could trust that when the time came to give a final answer, whatever God laid on his heart at that moment was the right thing to do.

When discussions on God’s will come up, someone will say, “Does God have a will about everything? Even what cereal you eat?” Well–some cereals are certainly better for you than others. There are times in Scripture when circumstances are left up to the individual, like the differences in Romans 14, or the famous disagreement between Barnabas and Paul in Acts 15. Paul once said of Apollos, “Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but it was not at all his will to come now. He will come when he has opportunity” (1 Corinthians 16:12). We don’t know what steps Apollos took to come to that decision. Paul shares general thoughts about marriage in 1 Corinthians 7 and distinguishes between God’s instruction and his own advice, but he doesn’t seem to tell any one individual what to do. 1 Corinthians 10 deals with different situations involving meat offered to idols, something common in that day and time. Many of these situations may not have God’s exact will expressed, but they involve wisdom, spiritual maturity, love and concern for others, and a concern for God’s glory over selfish desires.

Multitudes of books have been written on this topic, so there’s much more that could be said and a variety of opinions. But I think we would agree that God promises to lead us and wants us to seek to follow Him closely.

The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps. Proverbs 16:9

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

We Can Trust God On Our Journey

Posted on December 29, 2024 by Barbara Harper

Imagine a child or two or three in the back seat during a family trip:

Mom, did you pack my toothbrush?

Dad, are you sure you know the way?

Will we be able to find somewhere to eat at dinner time?

Will Grandma have room for us?

Weren’t we supposed to turn there?

What if the road is out?

Or a tornado comes?

Or a robber comes to our house while we’re away?

Is the GPS working right?

After a while, a weary parent would be tempted to respond, “Just trust me. I’ve traveled before. I know what to do. Even if we have problems along the way, we’ll take care of them. Just relax and enjoy the trip.”

Yet, earthly parents can fail. I did, in fact, forget one child’s underwear one trip, necessitating a stop at Wal-Mart when we arrived at our destination. Once, my husband took us to the airport the wrong day. Drivers can take wrong turns and get lost.

Sometimes we seem like anxious children with God, our perfect Parent. We wonder if He’s really guiding us the right way, if He can truly meet our needs. We wouldn’t put it quite this way, but we act as if we don’t trust that He knows what He’s doing.

God not only knows the way, He is the way.

“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me‘” (John 14:6).

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

He will take care of all our needs.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you (Matthew 6:33).

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19).

He promises to be with us and help us every step of the way, “From life’s first cry to final breath.”*

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand (Isaiah 41:10).

Even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save (Isaiah 46:4).

Whatever need we have, God is more than able to meet. We may not like some sections of the path of life. There will be bumps in the road, dark valleys, and occasional detours from the way we thought we should go. But He has good purposes in all He brings us through.

As we face a new year, He bids us cast every anxious care on Him, because He cares for us.

Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7

*From “In Christ Alone” by Stuart Townend and Keith Getty.

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

A Christmas Boomerang

Posted on December 22, 2024 by Barbara Harper

Boomerangs, according to G. K. Chesterton, are “things that return.” He names sleep and a new day as boomerang blessings–something we experience which comes back to us to experience again. No matter how many times we go to sleep and wake up again, we continue to enjoy those recurring cycles.

In Winter Fire: Christmas with G. K. Chesterton, Ryan Whitaker Smith comments that feasts in the Jewish calendar were like boomerangs, recurring reminders of God’s grace in delivering and providing for His people. He quotes Chesterton again:

It is the very essence of a festival that it breaks upon one brilliantly and abruptly, that at one moment the great day is not and the next moment the great day is . . . The thing is done at a particular time so that people may be conscious of a particular truth; as is the case with all ceremonial observances, such as the Silence of Armistice Day or the signal of a salute with the guns or the sudden noise of bells for the New Year. They are all meant to fix the mind upon the fact of the feast or memorial, and suggest that a passing moment has a meaning when it would otherwise be meaningless (pp. 68-69).

Whitaker goes on to say, “As the Israelites’ festivals were a perpetual retelling of the same story, so are our Christian traditions a form of continually re-grounding ourselves in the narrative of redemption. The consistent ‘return of old things in new times,’ Chesterton tells us, . . . . the regularity of our holiday rituals is a way of maintaining godly sanity in an unstable and unpredictable world” (p. 56).

Our modern church and personal calendars may not follow the feasts given Israel in the Old Testament. But regular observances with their symbols and rituals remind us of great truths.

Christmas reminds us:

We need a Savior. “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” Matthew 1:21).

God loves us enough to rescue us at great cost to Himself. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16).

God’s timing is perfect. “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4-5).

And so much more.

May the “boomerang blessing” of Christmas never be stale or empty, but rather a regular reminder that God loved us enough to send His Son to be our Savior, to die for our sins so we could become His.

"She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." Matthew 1:21

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Is God Only Your Emergency Contact?

Posted on December 1, 2024 by Barbara Harper

I’ve sometimes heard people say, “If God will only answer this one prayer, I promise I’ll never bother Him again.”

That statement strikes me as sad, because it reveals such a misunderstanding of the nature of God.

God wants us to “bother” Him. He’s delighted to answer the prayers of His children (though He may not answer them in quite the way they had in mind because He knows what is best for them).

God doesn’t want to be only our heavenly 911 operator who will fine us if we call without an emergency. He wants to walk in fellowship with us every moment.

God is also our:

Father. “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1). When we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, we become God’s children. Fathers instruct, guide, and discipline their children, but they also love to listen to them.

Savior. “And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me. Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other” (Isaiah 45:21b-22). He doesn’t want to just get us out of the occasional bind. He wants to take care of the biggest problem we have–a rebellious sin nature that wants to do our will instead of His–and transform us into His likeness.

Righteousness. “In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness” (Jeremiah 23:6). “He shall say, ‘Surely in the LORD I have righteousness and strength'” (Isaiah 45:24, NKJV). We’re not righteous on our own. We need “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe” (Romans 3:22).

King. “God my King is from of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth” Psalm 74:12). He is the king of all other kings, the ultimate good and just authority.

Shepherd. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake” (Psalm 23:1-3). He leads, feeds, guides, and protects us.

Strength. “The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him. The Lord is the strength of his people; he is the saving refuge of his anointed” (Psalm 28:7-8). We’re weak and powerless on our own, but He upholds us with His strength.

Refuge. “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold” (Psalm 18:2). He is firm, dependable, sheltering.

Help. “God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble” (Psalm 46:1). And not only in times of trouble: “Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life” Psalm 54:4).

High Tower. “The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower” (Psalm 18:2, KJV). A high tower has two advantages: it’s hard for enemies to fight against it, and it gives access to the bigger picture.

Song. “The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation” (Psalm 118:14). He doesn’t just call us to bear life; He is our song.

Joy. “Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God” (Psalm 43:4). People think the Christian life is flat and joyless. They couldn’t be more wrong! “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).

Peace. “Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD and called it, The LORD Is Peace” (Judges 6:24). “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). We find peace only in Him.

God. “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1). He is all-powerful, all-knowing, everywhere present at all times, yet He is my God. He doesn’t want to save us and then leave us until we get to heaven. He wants a relationship with us! He intimately knows all our needs and is the only One who can meet them. He cares about every detail of our lives.

Many of these aspects of God in the Old Testament are also found in Jesus in the New Testament, because Jesus “is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3).

Probably much more could be said, but this is enough to inspire us not to regard God as a distant entity, but as a loving Father. We don’t have to worry about coming to God too often or with too many needs. He wants us to draw close, to depend on Him for everything. He’s not just there for emergencies. He’s there for every moment.

If you don’t know Him in this personal way, as your God, I invite you to read more here: How to Know God.

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

A Surprising Reason to Be Thankful

Posted on November 24, 2024 by Barbara Harper

From our earliest years, we’re taught the good manners to thank someone when they give us something or do something for us. Thanking them shows we recognize and appreciate the kindness, consideration, time, trouble, and expense they’ve gone to.

How much more should we thank God for so many undeserved blessings? Thanksgiving praises Him and acknowledges that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:7).

But recently I came across a surprising reason to be thankful.

Ezekiel 16 is an extended metaphor comparing God’s care of Jerusalem to the care of a man who found an abandoned baby girl, cared for her, fed her, and clothed her royally. When the baby grew up into a beautiful woman, the man loved her and wanted her to be his. In verse 14, God said, “And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you.”

But instead of being thankful, Jerusalem “trusted in your beauty” and then became promiscuous with just about anyone she could find, taking God’s gifts and making idols, even sacrificing her children.

This passage reminds me of King Uzziah, who “was marvelously helped, till he was strong. But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the Lord his God” (2 Chronicles 26:15-16).

It’s a sad facet of our human nature that we can take God’s good gifts and use them for our own glory or gain.

We become prideful, forgetting anything good in us comes from Him. And then we turn from Him to false idols like the people in Romans 1:

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity (Romans 1:22-24).

When we thank God for what we have, we remind ourselves that everything is a gift from Him. In 1 Corinthians 4:7, Paul reminds us, “What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?”

It’s not that God wants to lord it over us or browbeat us with the reminder that we should be thankful to Him. But He knows our hearts are “prone to wander,” as the old song says.

So thanking God not only gives Him proper praise, but it keeps our own souls healthy. We remind ourselves that everything we have comes from Him and is to be used for Him. We respond with humility, appreciation, and loving service.