us to excuse someone’s behavior. Forgiveness also doesn’t mean that we have to forget about the wrong that was done to us and act like an ostrich with our head in the sand pretending like the wrong never happened. But what forgiveness does require us to do is to make an intentional effort on our part to forgive the person or persons who have wronged us. Forgiveness also requires us to agree with God that we surrender our right to settle the score with that person or persons. God wants us to extend the same love and mercy that He extended to us to those that hurt us. I don’t know about you, but sometimes it’s just hard for me to do the things that forgiveness requires of me. It’s like I want to say, “Lord, all of these tears and heartache can’t just be for nothing.” And what the Lord is showing me is that our pain and suffering does not go unnoticed. The Lord sees every tear that falls and hears every time our heart breaks because it breaks His, too. The Holy Spirit is waiting to help us do what we can’t do by ourselves and that’s to forgive those who hurt us.
Holy Spirit, forgiving others is hard for us to do sometimes but with Your help we can do what is required of us and what is best for us. Thank you for always being there for us. Amen.
21…HOLDING HIS HAND
Good morning! One of the things I love about watching the horses behind my house is watching the relationship between the moms and their babies. The moms guide their babies to where they want them to be. And because the little ones know that their moms are looking out for them, they stay really close to them. With those foals being all legs, they often stagger or even fall over as the mom is guiding them and other times they are leaning on their mom to hold themselves up. But when that happens, the mom waits for her young one to regain their footing and then they’re off again.
Our Heavenly Father wants to do the exact same thing with us. He desires a close relationship with His children. God wants us to lean on Him. The Lord wants to lead and guide us through our days here on earth and throughout all eternity in heaven. When we become new believers, we tend to stick close to Jesus. During this time, we are easily guided as He leads and directs us in our Christian walk. And just like the foals, we too can stumble and fall but just like their moms, the Lord gently guides us back to the path He has laid out for us. Psalm 37:23-24 says it like this. “The steps of a man are established by the Lord, and He delights in his way. When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, because the Lord is the One who holds his hand.”
Hanging on to the Lord’s hand is crucial in our Christian walk. When we are close to the Lord, it’s much easier for Him to guide us along life’s journey. We can stay close to God by spending quiet time with Him, reading the Bible, staying in fellowship with other believers, and praying throughout our day. James 4:8 tells us the cause and effect of staying close to God. “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” And there is no better place to be.
Heavenly Father, please help us stay in close fellowship with You as there is nothing we desire more than to walk closely with You through our days. Amen.
22…HE HEARS AND SEES ALL
Good morning! Do you ever feel like you go unnoticed or that the work you do doesn’t matter? I was thinking about that question as I was reading in 1 Samuel 16. This is the story of David and his older brothers. David’s older brothers were strong and big guys but David was just a small boy, both in age and stature. David’s job was looking after the sheep. He did his job well and became a great shepherd, never allowing any of the sheep to stray and preventing anything from harming his flock.
As the story goes, Samuel, a profit of the Lord, came to Jessie’s house on a mission that only Samuel knew about. The Lord has sent Samuel to anoint one of Jesse’s sons to be the king that would replace King Saul, with whom God was not pleased. Jesse had each son parade before Samuel and each time God told Samuel this was not the one. In verse 11, Samuel asked Jesse, “Are these all your children?” When I read that verse I thought it was so sad that Jessie had all but forgotten his youngest son until Samuel asked about him. When David was brought before Samuel, Samuel knew that this was the one God had chosen. Verse 13 said it this way, “Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointing him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward.”
So this morning, do you feel like what you’re doing in life doesn’t matter? We never know what God is going to use in our life, just like with David. David was simply doing his job and then God came along and took David’s skills and eventually made him a king. Can I encourage you by saying that nothing you do goes unnoticed by God? He hears and sees all. Whatever you’re doing, do it as though you’re doing it for the Lord and not for man and be ready to let God use the skills He has given you to further His kingdom, just like He did with that young shepherd boy who became a king.
God, thank you for noticing us, even when others don’t. Amen.
23…IN THE MIDST OF THE STORMS
Good morning! Oh what a difference a day can make! We’ve had lots of storms lately and the storms the other night were really intense. We had tornado warnings that were literally overlapping each other. But the next morning I woke up to birds singing as if the storms from the night before had not happened. The storms in our life can be just as wicked. Everything can be going smoothly, then something unexpected happens and it rocks our world. We begin to pray about the situation, crying out to God to return our life back to peaceful mornings where birds are singing and there’s nothing but blue skies. When that happens, we rejoice in the Lord.
But what happens when the Lord allows those storms in our life to continue despite all our prayers? We might question Him as to why this storm has to continue. I used to think that questioning the Lord was something that would bring lightning strikes down on my life. But now I understand that it’s ok to question God because questioning Him is simply asking Him for more information on the situation so I can better understand what He’s doing or see it better from His perspective.
God understands our questions but doubting Him is completely another story. When we doubt God we are saying that He isn’t capable of handling the situation. We believe in how we see the situation more than the promises God has given us. And when we begin relying on how we see things, the storms can spin us out of control. James 1:6 says it this way. “But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.” So this morning I pray that whenever storms arise, we’d take them confidently to the Lord, for that’s how we can still hear the birds singing even in the midst of the storm.
Lord, help us bring our storms to You and have the confidence You will handle them for us. Amen.
24…MATURING IN THE LORD
Good morning! I was looking through the photos on my phone this morning and I came to a realization that made me chuckle. Pictures of my granddaughters and great nieces clearly showed how much and how quickly they were growing. But for the adults in the photos, we look the same. It’s as if we’re not aging at all. I like that thought even though I know it’s not true. lol. Physical growth is only one way we change daily. We grow or age with every passing day and as an adult, growth spurts are no longer as evident as they were when we were young.
This daily aging process is not the same thing as maturing in God’s eyes. No one becomes mature in their faith automatically with age. It takes intentional work on our part. Hebrews 5:12-14 says, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.”
Maturing in the Lord comes in stages just like we see in physical maturing. We have to spend time in God’s word to learn more about Him. As we learn, our obedience and practice of what we’ve learned grows us, matures us, in the Lord. It’s a day-to-day process where we are active participants. Often times, we mature quickest when we’ve gone through some kind of difficulty. During those times, we learn that we are inadequate to handle this life alone and as we reach out to the Lord, He helps us mature in faith.