The Devotional - A Look at the Book #759

by Jesse Abel

A Word from Papa “J”

When we put our heart into the matter at hand, we usually become very good at determining a good outcome. Thus trusting in personal ability surges to the peak of performance! Stop now and think about it; what if we placed that same confidence in the LORD? Proverbs 3:5-6 says that God’s direction is smoother still… His path is better.

Good Morning

After a summer shower, after the thunder and lightning subsides and all is normal again, the peace that follows seems to exceed our understanding. Yes we just had one of those showers pass by this morning. It is quiet and peaceful now; even the birds of the air are still. Maybe all of our local creation is waiting to see if the final boom of the thunder has passed. There is no rustling of the leaves, no rain and even our two dogs have returned to their normally calm personalities.

There is ample biblical evidence that God who created the heavens and the earth and all of the weather patterns on the earth uses the elements of His creation to draw people to be aware of His close presence to us twenty-four/seven. The question: personally is… do we believe that He is that close? Well there is a verse or two in the Holy Word of God that says, yes God is that close; for example: Acts 17:27 is one verse but the context surrounding that verse reveals the miss understanding of the unbelieving world and not just the area of Mars Hill in Athens, Greece. Acts 17:16-34.

Also there is another verse, one that our pastor just used this past Sunday that brings another thought about God that much of the world refuses to believe. Psalm 139:17-18 provides ample evidence that God is personally interested in YOU! Yep! I just wrote that personal pronoun that identifies… you. Go ahead say it isn’t so; or you can be like that silent movie actor who said when the silent movies became vocal “another fine mess you got me into… Ollie”. Of course you have to be old to remember – Laurel and Hardy. What I mean is we actually know that God is close at hand since we always blame Him when something goes wrong.

So we live by personal choice to disbelieve in a Personal Creator and this is so very wrong. God loves YOU. Now get this! God does not love you through the filtered eyes of your personal understanding of love. He loves you clearly; without spot or wrinkle, you see when Jesus died and rose from the grave, He died for all the sin of the entire world and He had your sin and my sin in mind, thus all sin is accounted and paid for by Jesus’s death and resurrection. This is biblically called justification and I will be spending some time to talk to us about this wonderful Truth in the days to come.