WATCHWORD:
In your unfailing love, you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength, you will guide them to your holy dwelling. Exodus 15:13
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8
Meditation:
Complaining and Self-pity
During the course of Jesus’ ministry, He and the Twelve walked the Holy Land, from Capernaum to Calvary. They crossed the Sea of Galilee more than once, and walked around that lake, over the hills and through the valleys, and along the southern course of the Jordan River. How many times did they climb the very rough and steep road from Jericho up to Jerusalem? Seventeen miles. Did He listen to complaining of the disciples as they stumbled along at times, probably exhausted? Maybe there was some questioning about why are we doing this and where are we going, that probably resulted in another lesson from Jesus.
God incarnate. God made flesh and dwelt among us. From birth to resurrection, He experienced first-hand life as a human, all the pains and the joys.
Jesus has walked the road we are on. He encountered the loss and the disappointments, the hills and the valleys that we have encountered in our life. He knows not only what we have experienced, but what we will experience, what’s ahead, just around the next bend. That is one of his wonderful traits that we should keep in mind because it’s important. We need to bear in mind that there is nothing that we face in our lives, that he hasn’t already experienced.
There is another trait that Jesus possesses that we must embrace and try to fully understand. He loves us with an unbreakable and everlasting love. It is impossible for us to get our arms around how comprehensive and constant His love is for us. Yes, we have experienced human love, and we have noticed how that emotion sometimes flickers in the face of changing circumstances. Those same circumstances often cause us to draw away from God, and, by our own actions, we duck away from the unfailing Love of Him.
I can only imagine that God, who loves us unconditionally, smiles at the behavior of His mortals, knowing that eventually we will return to Him, maybe in the words of “Help me, Jesus!”, or “Thank you, Lord”, and maybe in gratitude He hears us say, “This is the day that the Lord has made, I will be glad and rejoice in it”, and we experience His unfailing Love. Amen.
Thoughts to Live By:
Prayer will change a heartache into a cheerful song, If in faith you ask it, the answer will soon come ‘long. — Eldred Herbert
Praying:
Heavenly Father, Your Word tells us of how You will have compassion on Your children and subdue their iniquities. I love the word, subdue. Lord, I seek Your compassion and forgiveness for my life. I pray for You to subdue all my sins and cast them into the depths of the sea as promised. Thank you for sending Jesus to die on the cross to make all this, Your love, possible in my life. Amen.
