God's Heart

The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth them that trust in Him. Nahum 1:7

I do not like confrontation and I certainly do not want to be the recipient of someone else's wrath. Micah 1:1-6 gives a vivid picture of God's anger toward His enemies. It is not a pretty picture but so necessary to get a full view of God's heart. It uses words like angry, jealous, revenge, vengeance, and wrath. In His presence, mountains quake, hills melt, and the earth burns. Jonathan Edwards captured an accurate picture of this aspect of God in his sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God."

If this were the only picture of God in Scripture, we would live hopeless and helpless. Meeting with God daily would look more like the scene from the "Wizard of Oz" when Dorothy and her friends first went before the wizard. Our souls would shake and our hearts would melt.
But as God's child, I revel in today's verse that speaks of God's goodness, protection, and knowledge. What assurance is mine as I am reminded that God is good and He is my place of security in the storms of my life! And yet the personal touch to all of this is that "He knows the ones who trust in Him."

I have some incredible people in my life. Some I never thought I would get to know on a personal level. As we have shared the stories of our life with each other the friendship has developed into a precious bond. To think that at one time they did not even know I existed but now we know each other intimately. Our "I love you" statements are not general statements any more. They are proclamations from our hearts.

To think that the God of the universe knows me better than anyone else and desires that I know Him as well is astounding. He is aware of my strengths and weaknesses, my thoughts as well as my actions, my sterling moments as well as my depravity.

I tend to realize a friend's love for me, not during my shining moments so much as by the moments when I have blown it. Security comes when seeing my bad side does not cause them to back away from me and reject me.

Father, You loved me even before You began to change me. That is a comforting thought. I don't think I will ever get use to it. You astound me with Your radical love. I rest in that today! Amen.

A Pro Active God

He will turn again, He will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities, and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Micah 7:19

God's pro active response to our sin is so amazing. The story of the prodigal son when he returns home is a picture of us each time we return to God. The father pictures the heart of God so well. He has been waiting for the son, runs to meet him, enfolds him with arms of compassion, and lavishes goodness on him. I see that scene magnified in the first part of Micah &:19. We have a heavenly Father who always turns again and has compassion on us. It is in His heart to respond and demonstrate such love.

Too often, on a human scale, I fail to give or receive such a response to offenses, hurts, and injustices. May His Spirit transform me into a person with a heart for forgiveness like His.
But the second part of the verse displays God's pro action toward our actual sin. The KJV says he "subdues" our iniquities (wickedness). I often think of subdue to mean bring under control or to over take something. But it also means to tread down, to conquer. God's love for me is directly opposite of His hatred for sin. He stomps all over it and then casts it into the sea. The depths of the sea....the deepest part. Like a ball hit out of the field, sin is "out of here"....GONE!!!!

He separates my sin from me. While I receive His loving embrace, my sin gets the boot. For years I thought God could only see me through the grid of my sin, failure, and depravity. This verse is one way He is fixing my picture of Him.

Father, You are so much more loving than I ever hoped You could be! May I never get over Your compassion, mercy, and love! Amen.

What God Delights In

Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in unchanging love. Micah 7:18

I love God's heart! This verse displays four things God does that are abounding with His goodness. He pardons our wickedness, passes over our violations of His law, doesn't remain angry, and actually delights in demonstrating mercy.

I know the things that bring me joy and extreme satisfaction. The things and people I take great pleasure in. Mercy is one thing God delights in. So many people look at God as One who derives pleasure in punishing them. To them, He is a harsh task master who wants nothing more than to take enjoyment for life away from them. The almighty kill joy. That was my view of Him for decades.

But THAT is not the God of the Bible. His arms are not folded ~ they are open wide as He invites us to reconcile with Himself. There is joy in heaven when repentance takes place on earth. When Adam and Eve sinned, God came to them. when David sinned, God confronted him. God's great delight in David was the fact that he too longed for reconciliation. If I can fully grasp His desire to extend me mercy and the delight that is His when He does so, I am more inclined to come to Him with my sin.

So I must ask myself if I also delight in mercy. Not only receiving God's mercy but extending it to others. As his child I am to mirror His heart of compassion to others. When someone comes to me for reconciliation do they sense in me a delight to show mercy? Or do I hold on to bitterness, enjoy watching them squirm, and let them walk in shame for what they've done?

May I allow God to change me in such a way that mercy becomes my delight as well. Today I will come face to face with the actions of others that offend me, hurt me, and just plain tick me off! Each will be an opportunity to not only extend mercy but delight in it as well.

Father, You have delighted in showing me mercy innumerable times. May I now reflect Your heart of mercy toward others. Amen.

His Supply

He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out; they ran in the dry places like a river. Psalm 105:41

I am encouraged by this verse. In it I see God's hand, God's supply, God's presence, God's awareness, God's care, God's unusual choices, and God's provision. Just like He was aware of the needs of His people in the wilderness, He is aware of my needs.

The children of Israel most likely looked for water and when none could be found, despair and anger set in. The usual sources of water were unavailable to them so they assumed God's unavailability as well.

Psalm 105 encourages me to remember the wonderful things God has done in the past. Remembering brings hope to the present situation. Each of us can look back in our life and see God's work. He provided for us in the past ~ He'll do so again now. We must review His character, His power, His direction, His provision, and His intervention. The supply is limitless.
I may not be able to see how God will meet certain needs in my life but HE knows. When I am spiritually thirsty He has a "rock" to open where water gushes out to run in the dry places of my life. It may be a book I read, a speaker I hear, a song I listen to, a friend I meet. If I come to Him with a need and desire His method for meeting the need I will be astounded at His wondrous work on my behalf.

God, You are always moved by my plights. You have provisions in hand. May I open my heart to receive all You have for me! Amen.

My Lift and My Light

Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise, when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. Micah 7:8

Some of the most difficult moments in our lives are when we experience despair, depression, and discouragement. The sense of hopelessness can be overwhelming at times. We have all been there ~ some more than others. Loss of a job, death of a loved one, a crisis of some sort. Unless we remember that God holds our very life in the palms of His hands we can begin to believe that people and circumstances direct and define us.

Micah shows me two lights at the end of the tunnels of life. I see proclamations and promises in both. "When I fall, I shall arise." Someone once said every valley is situated between two mountains. While there are things to be learned in the valleys of life, God's purpose and intent is never to leave me there. It is an opportunity to know God's heart better and to develop in me some Christ-like qualities. But I shall arise every time! Resurrections are common occurrences in a believer's life. Those things that seem to be put to death will some day be brought back to life in a richer way. Nature itself shows me this as a seed dies to bring forth a plant. With each discouragement and disappointment I too can voice the words, "I shall rise."

Each of us also knows times of darkness in our life. Times when we feel like our very soul is being placed in the blackness of a cave. How reassuring to know the Lord will be a light to us! Light can do a number of things. It dispels darkness, reflects off certain objects, reveals things that could not be seen in the dark, illuminates paths, and even brings warmth. My mom once told me to keep a candle in my car. If I somehow lost power the candle would give off enough light and heat to sustain me for a period of time. It is amazing to thing of the effect a small light has in a dark cave.

Father, how precious to know that You not only pick me up when I have fallen, but You are my light in the dark moments and places of my life. Amen.

Really Knowing

Jesus answered and said unto them, ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. Matthew 22:29

So many of our difficulties and unvictorious situations are a result of not knowing God's Word and God's power. It is not true that what we don't know can't hurt us. It is tragic to not know God's Word and God's power. God's Word is alive and active, full of wisdom, direction, promises, commands, and the very heart and mind of God. But if we don't know His Word we have so little to hold to.

Knowing something to be true makes a difference in our actions and reactions. If I am driving down a road at night and am warned of a bridge that is out, I will change my course to avoid an accident and possible death. My ignorance will not do away with the reality of the bridge.

Knowing God's power goes hand in hand with believing God's power. Faith moves God to a demonstration of His power. I think of the woman who touched the hem of Jesus' garment. She believed and extended her hand in faith. May I learn to do the same.

I want my view of God to be enlarged. I want to see God in new, living, and powerful ways. I want to see his intervention in my life and the lives of others. I marvel that people in the Bible saw the miracles but with time their experience lost its excitement in their life. May I never desire to see God's hand more than His face. May knowing Him personally lead me to knowing His power. May I be found asking Him for more than He is willing to do.

Father, may I stop playing my life so safely. May my prayers become extravagant! Amen.

My Willful Choice

Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. Habakkuk 3:18

It seems that the hardest times to proclaim rejoicing and joy in Christ are when we face the harshnesses of life. The unfairnesses and injustices of this world sometimes paralyzes our faith. When needs go unmet, friends desert us, health fails us, or provisions are no where to be found, our view of God is suddenly exposed for what it really is.

When life gets difficult can I still proclaim the truths I voiced so easily during the good times? Do I still say God is good? Do I still trust Him? Do I still find my satisfaction and fulfillment through Him? Do I still feel like I am the apple of His eye and revel in the truth that my name is engraved in the palm of His hand?

It is in the midst of difficult moments that those truths become more precious to me than ever before. I must not look at God through my gird of uncomfortable circumstances but rather I must look at the circumstances through the grid of truth about God.

I have found great strength during my seasons of doubting when I began to voice out loud the truths about God. My circumstances and feelings do not change who God is and how He feels toward me one bit.

So like Habakkuk, when life is not going well and all seems to be hopeless, I choose to rejoice in the Lord and joy in my God. I choose to continue to believe I am in his care and sheltered by His arms. I choose to believe God and praise Him at ALL times!

Father, sometimes I have to proclaim these truths in sheer faith. Amen.