The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Nehemiah 1:5,
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
"Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments..."
This preamble to Nehemiah's prayer observes God's faithfulness toward those who love him and do what he says. God maintains his "covenant of love" with those who love him.
Paul likewise acknowledges God's faithfulness toward those who love him, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28. Here Paul tells us that God is faithful to work good in our lives, even through what we may consider to be the bad things in life: "trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword", verse 35. Those bad things will never separate us from the love of Jesus Christ as God works them for our good.
There are wonderful rewards for those who love God. It is my firm belief that anyone who has made the effort to know God, love God. To become aware of the character and nature of God, to become aware of the many amazing things our God has done, to become aware of his love for us and the sacrifice he made of his Son for us compels the most ardent love any of us can have for him.
In Jesus' prayer to the Father we learn that we have been invited to this love, which, most astonishingly, is the same love the Father and the Son share among themselves, "I [Jesus Christ] have made you [Father] known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them." John 17:26.
If at any time any of us perceive a lack of love in our hearts for God, it indicates a need we have to avail ourselves of the revelation God has made of himself within the pages of his word, the Bible. As Jesus said, he will continue to make the Father known to his followers such that the love we have for God may flourish and express itself as the very same love God the Father and God the Son share among themselves together with the Holy Spirit.
To know God is to love God. Many are the blessings that come our way when we take the time to know him!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
No comments:
Post a Comment