Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video with song and lyrics from Crowder, with Lauren Wells, singing … All My Hope … poignantly singing of the reality of our hope being in the all consuming love/grace of King Jesus, … yes, when we feel like we’re being consumed by our enemies.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Psalm 32:3 [NLT] … 3 When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long.
… When David tried to dover-up his sinfulness with Bathsheba, he became consumed by the fires of guilt and remorse.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Psalm 32 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… King David, consumed by the fire of guilt and remorse, … but even more by gratefulness because of the all consuming grace of God.
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Reference Passage : … Psalm 51 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Resting in God’s grace, David discovers that The Lord’s all-consuming love restores the soul.
Reference Passage : … 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 [NLT] … 8 We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 9 We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.
… It may seem like our lives are being consumed in the fires of this world; but God’s all consuming grace is always there to give us hope and restoration.
Reference Passage : … 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… When Paul felt consumed by the pain of the thorn God had allowed Satan to give him, Jesus reminds him that God’s all-consuming love is sufficient to give him the grace and strength to handle his circumstances (see also 1Cor. 10:13).
Reference Passage : … Hebrews 13:5b [NLT] … For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” [from Deut. 31:8]
… God, in Hebrews, restates His promise to NEVER leave the live of a believer who is being consumed by fires of circumstances.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Bill Crowder, used an historical reference to illustrate how God’s all consuming love is always sufficient for us when life seems to be consuming us with its fires. The ODB author wrote … In his book The Call, Os Guinness describes a moment when Winston Churchill, on holiday with friends in the south of France, sat by the fireplace to warm himself on a cold night. [see photo] Gazing at the fire, the former prime minister saw pine logs “crackling, hissing, and spitting as they burned. Suddenly, his familiar voice growled, ‘I know why logs spit. I know what it is to be consumed.’”
Difficulties, despair, dangers, distress, and the results of our own wrongdoings can all feel consuming. Circumstances slowly drain our hearts of joy and peace.
I’m sure that all reading here have been in a place - sometime/somewhere - when they felt like the circumstance of life felt like the fires of the world were all consuming. Perhaps we’re there right now.
That’s what King David felt when his guilt/remorse from the Bathsheba incident were consuming him [see highlight passage]. But when he finally confessed, rendering the confession in song (see Psalms 51 and 32), God’s even greater, ALL-CONSUMING, love and grace provided him with restoration and renewal.
And that’s the same all-consuming hope that Paul discovered (see the reference Scriptures) and the same hope sung about in the linked song. Yes, … truly … God’s grace is ALWAYS sufficient for us when we feel like the fires of this world are burning us up.
So, with grateful and believing hearts, in surrender to our only hope, let us humbly come to God’s throne and praise Him for His all-consuming love and grace.
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, … for ALWAYS being there with your restoring/redeeming grace when the fires of Satan, the world, and our own flesh seem to consume us.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, … King Jesus, … I pray, Lord, that all reading here can, and will, join me, to praise You, Lord, for your ALL-CONSUMING love/grace, which is always there for us when we’re thrown into the fires of this life. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled “Our Daily Bread,” distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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