Devos

If you read "About This Blog" (thanks for that, by the way!), you know I mentioned that my daughters told me they want to do Bible studies, not just devotions. Good thing I went on the record that both are good, because you've just landed on Sweet For Your Soul's devotions page! Still Scripture, still what God is teaching me, just a little different format from the bite-sized studies. And if God is teaching you something you'd like to share on this page, let me know via comment, Facebook, or email. 

Have I mentioned lately how glad I am that you're here?

1. The Passionate Compassion of God: 5 Verses to Remind You That What Hurts You Hurts Him

I'm sorry.

I often tell my girls this when they're going through something difficult, something painful, something troubling.

"It's not your fault," they usually respond.

And I say to them, "I'm not sorry because this is my fault. I'm sorry because what hurts you hurts me. I know I didn't cause it, but I'm sorry because of it."

What I'm trying to do--however imperfectly--is to model the compassion of Abba. I love what Bible teacher Beth Moore says about God in Jesus the One and Only: that He possesses "active pity...He not only feels for us, He does something about it."

The caring nature of God is on display time and time again in His Story. I love how these verses, in particular, reveal so clearly that what hurts us hurts God. 

On your behalf and my behalf, the tender heart of God breaks and He is...

Distressed. "In all their distress, He too was distressed, and the angel of His presence saved them. In His love and mercy He redeemed them; He lifted them up and carried them." (Isaiah 63:9)

Dismayed. "When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 'Where have you laid him?' He asked. 'Come and see, Lord,' they replied. Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, 'See how He loved him!' " (John 11:32-36)

Dissatisfied. "As evening approached, the disciples came to Him and said, 'This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.' Jesus replied, 'They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.' " (Matthew 14:16)

Displeased. " '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.' " (Exodus 3:7)

Disturbed. "Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress...The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder. For as in the day of Midian's defeat, You have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor...For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this." (Isaiah 9:1-4, 6, 7)

In each of these cases, God Almighty--El Shaddai--feels deeply about what troubles His children, but not because He is helpless to do anything about it. He is I AM. He can do what He chooses. 

He could--and did--redeem Israel.
He could--and did--resurrect Lazarus. 
He could--and did--feed the hungry crowds.
He could--and did--free His children from slavery.
And He could--and did--save the whole world.

Abba is sorry for our sorrow, not because it is His fault but because it hurts those He loves.

He has walked among us and has been one of us, and so He feels what we feel.

"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." (Hebrews 4:15, 16)

God's heart is moved and broken on our behalf because He is passionate and compassionate. And when we know this tender truth, we can echo Psalm 103: "Bless the Lord, O my soul."

"Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy. As a father shows compassion to His children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust...But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting.

Bless the LORD, O my soul."

(I'm so grateful that April of Step into Grace originally asked me to write this as a guest post for her sweet site. You'll want to head over there yourself and drink in April's tender words and beautiful #VERSEADAY2015 images. Thank you so much, April!)

2. Faithfulness in the Meantime: What To Do Now When You  Aren't Sure What To Do Next

“Does it make sense to pray for guidance about the future if we are not obeying in the thing that lies before us today? How many momentous events in Scripture depended on one person's seemingly small act of obedience! Rest assured: do what God tells you to do now, and, depend upon it, you will be shown what to do next.”  (Elisabeth Elliot, Quest for Love: True Stories of Passion and Purity)

I made three resolutions to start the new year.  

But I didn’t call them resolutions. I called them guiding goals.

“Resolution” sounds like a declaration of something I’m sure I’m going to do, which then feels like an invitation not to do it. “Guiding goal” conveys the sense of a filter I can pass my daily choices and decisions through while still offering grace and some gray area.

My guiding goals (GG, for short) for the year were:

1. Speak less. (Thank you, nine months of Bible study in the book of James!)

2. Play the piano more.

3. Just do the next thing.

I have failed miserably at GG #1. Let’s not talk about it. (Oh, the irony.)

I have achieved limited success with GG #2. Having played the piano on Mother’s Day in the presence of my actual mother, I’m giving this a check on the list, even if I don’t play again this year.

But it’s been GG #3—“just do the next thing”—that has most noticeably become part of the rhythm of my daily life.

I am a worrier, a planner, an organizer. I want to know what’s going to happen and what I’m going to do about it. Of course, God has embedded His Love Letter with message after message telling me, “Tomorrow does not belong to you. It belongs to Me! I’ve given you today as a gift. What are you going to do with it?”

I know my life is a vapor.

“Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” {James 4:13, 14}

I know worrying equal disobedience and mistrust.

"The seed cast in the weeds is the person who hears the kingdom news, but weeds of worry and illusions about getting more and wanting everything under the sun strangle what was heard, and nothing comes of it. {Matthew 13:22 MSG}

I know faith in what has already happened is not faith at all but rather gratitude and that faith is about what I don’t know and can’t see yet.

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.” {Hebrews 11: 1,2}

GG #3 has strengthened my grip on these precepts by focusing my energy and attention on just doing the next thing that has to be done.

The next thing that’s good to do.

The next thing that should be done.

I try to make sure the next thing is something I really believe God wants me to do, because I’m just asking for trouble if I deliberately decide to do something I’m pretty sure God isn’t in.

Now this guiding goal is being put to the test by a messy, weighty choice our family is facing. If the key components of our life were represented on one of those pie charts, the sector related to this decision would be a very big slice.

The issue involves a staying or leaving. If we leave (a very big “if,” for starters), where should we go? And when should we go there? This will not be a quick, nor easy, nor simple, nor obvious, nor consequence-less decision. We are not sure what step to take next or even if we should take any step. We desperately lack wisdom and so are asking God to grant it to us (James 1:5).

But in the meantime, we need to do something. We need to do the next thing.

We need to do the next thing we have already committed to do, and do it well. 

We need to pray. 

We need to worship. 

We need to work. 

We need to encourage others. 

We need to serve. 

We need to confess. 

We need to study God’s Word. 

We need to love.

About such things, there is no uncertainty. These are always good next things to do.

So we will try to do them faithfully during our meantime while we wait for God to do the next thing in His time.

“Return to your God; maintain love and justice; 

and wait for your God always.” {Hosea 12:6}

3. Please Don't Give Up

A little while ago, my older daughter told me she felt like giving up on the toughest stretch of her academic career to date. I told her I understood. I told her I wouldn't blame her. But I also told her I thought there was one Very Big Reason not to quit. Click on over to the lovely and encouraging More To Be for the rest of the story...

4. Praising God in the "Yet"

I'm so grateful to Blogs By Christian Women for putting up this post about one of my favorite connecting words in the Word. Maybe it will become of of your favorites, too.