Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of hymn and lyrics from and anonymous chorus singing … I Surrender All … poignantly singing of how we must resist our tendency to hide our sin from God, … surrounding all to our ever-seeing … ever-knowing God.
==============
Highlight Verse[s]: Genesis 3:8-9 [NLT] … 8 When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. 9 Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
… We all have a tendency, in our Adamic nature, to hide our sin from God.
==============
Highlight Passage [context]: Genesis 3:1-10[NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… After their sin, Adam and Eve, hid from God … and knowing all, the Lord still pursued them.
==============
Reference Passage : … Psalm 33:13-15 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
... God doesn’t miss ANYTHING!!
Reference Passage : … Lamentations 3:22-23 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God’s mercies, in spite of our sin nature, are new for us every moment, let alone every morning.
Reference Passage : … Hebrews 4:13 [NLT] … 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before His eyes, and He is the one to whom we are accountable.
… Repeating … GOD MISSES NOTHING!!
Reference Passage : … 1John 1:9 [NLT] … 9 But if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
… God’s mercy/grace is there anytime/anywhere to cleanse us of our sin.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Jeff Olson, uses a child’s game of hide-n-seek to illustrate our very human tendency to cover-up our sin nature. And the ODB author wrote: “He’s going to find me,” I thought. I felt my little heart pound faster as I heard my five-year-old cousin’s footsteps around the corner. He was coming closer. Five steps away. Three. Two. “Found you!”
Hide-and-seek. Most have fond memories of playing the game as children. [see photo] Yet sometimes in life the fear of being found isn’t fun but is rooted in a deep instinct to flee. People may dislike what they see.
As children of a fallen world, we’re prone to play what a friend of mine labels, “a mixed-up game of hide-and-seek” between God and us. It’s more like a game of pretending to hide—because either way, He sees all the way through to our messy thoughts and wrong choices. We know it, though we like to pretend He can’t really see.
Whom reading here has not tried to play “hide-n-seek” with God? I sure have; and yet, the more intimately we know God, we come to the realization of the truth of the reference scriptures above … that our God sees/knows all … and that His faithful/forgiving mercies are there for us anytime we’re willing to confess and be cleansed of our sin.
My friend, God sees us; … and as with Adam and Eve, He knows our sin! And He’s pursuing us … ALWAYS … and waiting for us to surrender and receive His saving and/or sanctifying grace today.
=============
My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, … for Your love and mercies and grace which are there for any of us today who’ll come out from our hiding and receive them today.
=============
My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, … King Jesus, … I pray, Lord, that all reading here can, and will, join me to, as the hymn sings today, surrender our all to our ever-pursuing and ever-forgiving King Jesus.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment