Fatherly Compassion

"The LORD is compassionate and gracious,

slow to anger, abounding in love.

He will not always accuse,

nor will he harbor his anger forever;

he does not treat us as our sins deserve

or repay us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is his love for those who fear him;

as far as the east is from the west,

so far has he removed our transgressions from us."

Psalm 103:10-14

A good father is sensitive to the relationship he shares with his child.  It is his desire to train and discipline, but always with the intention of preserving the bond.  Too hard and the connection will be broken under the strain.  Too soft and the respect weakens.  God shows such fatherly compassion to me as His child.

Sin.  I could be a big disappointment to God.  After all, He made me for relationship with Him yet I fail to live life the way He created me to live (Romans 3:23).  I often go my own way, stubbornly refusing His advances and willfully attempt life on my own, under my terms with the goal of pleasing myself.  

Still, His love preserved the bond between He and I by designing a plan for redemption (Titus 2:14).  Out of His love for me and a desire to protect the Father/child relationship, He offered His own Son as a sacrifice to atone for my sins (Romans 5:8).  Now, through faith in Jesus Christ, my sins have been forgiven, removed from me as if I were Jesus, the One without sin (John 3:16-17, Isaiah 1:18).

Therefore, when my Father looks upon me, the wrath is gone, the disappointment doesn't exist, there is no disgust in my choices.  Instead, all that remains is love, and it is the greatest of all powers (1 Corinthians 13:13)!

God shows His fatherly compassion by loving me enough to give His own Son in order to preserve our relationship.

Comfort.  The news was difficult.  To hear he would never drive again, that his freedom had been snatched away, a piece of his identity destroyed was the worst news of his hard life.  How could he bear the thought of never getting out on his motorcycle to enjoy the scenery along the open road?  There was nothing the daughter could say to her dad to give him comfort.  Instead, she relied upon the Father of compassion to do the consoling (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

No one can comfort like our Father can.  He knows exactly what each of us needs to hear, and He has His ways of giving just what each of His children need in order to encourage, uplift, and give a hopeful outlook.  

When all seems lost, His supernatural compassion soothes my aching heart, binding up my wounds and setting the hurts to healing.  When the pain is so great, He mysteriously brings relief and shows me a glimpse of His heart for me.  When I feel I cannot carry on, He strengthens my resolve and gives me a fresh outlook on life.  

God shows His fatherly compassion by comforting me in ways only possible for Him as my Father.

Sanctification.  He loves me too much to leave me as I am.  It is God's desire as my Father to grow me in grace, to purify me for His purposes, to lead me through a life-long process that chisels away more and more of me to make way for more and more of Him.  It is His desire that I resemble His Son when the process is complete (1 Thessalonians 5:23, Colossians 3:4, 1 John 3:2).

Therefore, as a daughter of a compassionate Father such as this, I can expect to be molded through difficult experiences, shaped into Christ-likeness through the hard things I endure in faith, formed into the Jesus model by every life-moment (Romans 8:29).  Nothing is wasted in God's kingdom, for He uses it all to transform me into the woman I'm meant to be.

God shows His fatherly compassion by walking me through the life-long sanctification process that ends at the glory of His Son.

Many of us do not know what good fathering looks like, but as we grow in our relationship with our heavenly Father, we learn what it means to have a good Father.  He preserves my relationship through His plan of redemption, comforting me as only He can, and takes me through a life-long process of sanctification.  In these ways, I experience fatherly compassion at its best!

As I begin this day it is my prayer that I can trust God enough as my Father to let Him comfort me when things are hard.

When do I attempt to live my own life instead of cooperating with the sanctification process my Father loves me enough to walk me through?

How do I live as if my sin defines me instead of living as the one who has been set free? 

All God's Benefits

"Let all that I am praise the LORD;

may I never forget the good things he does for me."

Psalm 103:2 NLT

While it is hard to follow Jesus in a culture than runs counter to His teachings, there is much good that comes from this relationship.  There are many advantages I've been given through this bond.  Have I redeemed these benefits?

Forgiveness.  I feel tainted, guilty, burdened by my failures, wrong decisions, and mess-ups.  Even though I know in my head I'm free from condemnation from such transgressions, my heart feels doomed, like I'm a convict awaiting my sentence (Romans 8:1).  

In truth, I've been absolved of all crimes against God and His perfect standards.  Even though I often choose my own way instead of His, I'm cleared of receiving what I deserve.  Despite the fact that I'm drawn to what I think of as the right choice that is in reality not God's best for me, I'm pardoned from the death sentence this kind of living earns me (Romans 6:23).

Forgiveness, true cleansing from the dirty stain of the sin that comes so natural to me, is mine.  While all the ways I fall short, all my missteps and attempts at coping and living according to my methods and ideas have made me guilty as sin, the blood of Jesus has cleansed me as white as snow (Isaiah 1:18).  When God looks at me, He no longer sees my sin but only the holiness of Jesus.  What do I see when I look at myself?

Have I redeemed the benefit of the forgiveness of God that Jesus' death on the cross secured for me?

Healing.  I belong to Jesus, this I know.  I'm a part of His family and glad to find such belonging there (1 John 3:1).  Still, there is this brokenness inside, this inability to move forward in my faith, this constant, nagging feeling of incompleteness in my soul.  Past hurts plague me like an insidious cancer, growing bigger and bigger until they consume me.  I find myself unable to relate to the love of Jesus or reciprocate this love in any way because there is something wrong in my heart.

"Do you want to get well?" It was a strange question for the Healer to ask the invalid who had lain at the healing waters of the pool of Bethesda for years, obviously seeking freedom from his disability (John 5:6).  Of course he wants to be healed, the onlookers must have thought, why else would he be in this place, hoping to be the first into the angel-stirred restorative waters?  

Turns out, it was a valid question and one I must ask myself.  Do I want to be free from what ails me, or do I gain some measure of satisfaction from the misery in which I find myself?  Is my identity so wrapped up in my physical or emotional pain that I subconsciously think I'd lose myself if I became well?  Do I somehow enjoy feeling sorry for myself or reap some kind of warped benefit from my brokenness?

Wholeness and fullness-of-life is mine through faith in Christ, for this is why He came, to give me the abundant life (John 10:10).  If I choose to live with my infirmities, preferring to feel self-pity and see myself as the unfortunate one, or even afraid of who I would be apart from my comfortable and familiar soul-sickness, I am not receiving the whole gift Jesus died to offer me.

Have I redeemed the benefit of healing that is mine through faith in Jesus Christ?

Redemption.  The redemptive power of God is astounding.  He takes the bad within us and exchanges it for something eternally precious.  He transforms what was meant for evil into something astoundingly good.  He is able to take the worst thing that ever happened to me and somehow turn it into the best, most life-changing experience of my life (Romans 8:28, Isaiah 61:3).  

Have I welcomed this redemptive force into my life, or do I tend to focus on the negative, failing to see all the good God is bringing out of it?  Part of faith is believing God will act according to His redemptive nature, doing as He has promised He will do, even when things seem impossibly bad and irreversibly lost.  In Christ, there is always hope.  In Christ, I have the expectation of a God who is doing something new today (Isaiah 43:18-19).  In Christ, I can walk forward into the darkness with confidence, knowing that God, the Light himself, is there waiting to illuminate my path.

Have I redeemed the benefit of His redemptive power at work in my life through faith in Jesus Christ?

It's easy to claim a relationship with Jesus Christ but fail to receive all He has to give.  He offers complete forgiveness of all my sins, past present and future.  Healing is mine so that I can live in fullness of life.  Not only is my life redeemed, but He uses His redemptive power to transform the ugly into the beautiful.  Have I redeemed these benefits?  If not, today is the day to cash in and start living as God means me to live; fully forgiven, healed of all brokenness and with the hope that comes in His redemption.    

As I begin this day it is my prayer that I can trust God enough to confidently walk through the fire knowing that God will use it for my good.

How am I stuck in my sorrow, choosing pity instead of healing?

When do I feel weighed down with the guilt of my sin when Jesus freed me from such a burden?  

A New Thing

"Then he returned to the disciples and said to them,

'Are you still sleeping and resting?

Look, the hour has come,

and the Son of Man is delivered

into the hands of sinners. 

Rise!

Let us go!'"

Matthew 26:45-46

 “Forget the former things;
   do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
   Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?"

Isaiah 43:19

 My mind drifts back to past failures and I involuntarily shudder as I remember the feelings of disappointment, embarrassment and failure.  I think we've all experienced this phenomenon of reliving  past mistakes. 

There's a fitting Cherokee Proverb that goes, "Don't let yesterday use up too much of today."  Although it's hard to let go of missed chances, failures to make the most of every opportunity or times when I've simply dropped the ball, God does not hold these against me.  He has a better way.

Acknowledge



In the 32nd Psalm, David describes the misery he goes through as he attempts to hide his sin.  He felt as though he was wasting away and his heart was heavy with guilt.  Once he came to the point of admitting his disobedience to God, he explained the process this way. 

"Then I acknowledged my sin to you
   and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, 'I will confess
   my transgressions to the LORD.'
And you forgave
   the guilt of my sin." 

(Psalm 32:5)

Before I can experience liberation from past failures, I must admit my sin to God, confessing my guilt.  Sometimes it's simply a heart attitude which is unpleasing to the Lord, sometimes it's an outright rebellious action.  Either way, He has already forgiven me through the sacrifice of His Son on the cross, so my forgiveness does not depend upon my confession.  But if I want to be free of the guilt of this wrong, I must come to terms with it and identify it for what it is: sin.

Acknowledging my past sin before God is the first step in the process of experiencing the new thing God has for me in the present.

Let Go

Psalm 103:12 reminds us that, "as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us."  While this is true for God, it is not so for me.  I have a hard time letting go of past failures. 

Forgiveness can be defined as the act of letting go.  When I hold onto these past transgressions, using them to beat myself up, I am refusing to forgive myself.  What I am saying is that God has already released me from that transgression, but I refuse to let myself off the hook.  I am requiring of myself something more than Christ crucified.

When Jesus willingly gave himself over to be brutally killed, He did so out of obedience to His Father's plan of redemption.  He paid the penalty for my sins, providing a way for me to be reconciled with a holy God and to receive from Him the forgiveness of my sins.

If I am unwilling to forgive myself based on this truth, then I am minimizing the power of the sacrifice of Christ!  I am declaring the cross to be impotent.

The Apostle Paul reminds me that, ". . .  the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." (1 Corinthians 1:18)

The act of forgiving myself reflects my understanding and acceptance of the power of God found in the message of the cross.

Move On

When the disciples let Jesus down at His time of greatest need while He waited for His accuser to arrive in the Garden of Gethsemane, He gave them a simple yet powerful command.  "Rise!  Let us Go!" (Matthew 26:46)

Even though his close companions and followers let Jesus down by falling asleep when He asked them to stay awake and stand guard, the plan was still going forth as God had planned.  Their disobedience did not change the course of the future.

Oswald Chamber put it this way.  "Let the past sleep, but let it sleep on the bosom of Christ, and go out into the irresistible future with Him."

Jesus did not write them off.  He did not give up on them and tell them they were hopeless failures!  Instead, He forgave them and said, "Let's go."

God's plan is not dependent upon my success or failures.  It will go forth despite my obedience or disobedience.

It reminds me of the call to action given to Queen Esther my her cousin Mordecai. He said, “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape.  For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:12-14)

In other words, God will save His people whether you act or not.  The question is, will you be a part of His plan, or will you be against it?

If I made the foolish choice to let an opportunity to obey God pass me by, I still have more opportunities yet to come.  The course of the future has not been altered.  I have the freedom to move on.

God is doing a new thing right now.  If I don't move on from where I've been, I might miss it!

We all make mistakes, missing chances to obey God, thus sinning against Him.  But once I acknowledge that sin and let go of it, I am free to move on. 

God is a God of second chances.  Let this be the day that I begin to accept His grace and go on to the next thing!

As I begin this day, it is my prayer that I can forgive myself of the sins that weigh me down.

How am I refusing myself forgiveness for which something God has already granted forgiveness?

What area of my life from which am I struggling to move on?

His Steadfast Love

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good.
            His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of gods.
            His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord of lords:
            His love endures forever.

Psalm 136:1-3

I love ice cream!

I love that song!

I love that show, it's my favorite.

I love it when it snows!

But mom. . . I love him.

I love shopping. . . .running. . . .sleeping. . . .

I love _______________.

We throw around the word "love" much too easily.  I have no concept of real love; God's love.  His love does not shift like the sand dunes in the desert, there today and moved on somewhere else tomorrow.  His love is not shallow.  His love is not fair.  God is love. 

If I want to know about love, real love, I must get to know God.  And the only way to get to know God is through faith in Jesus who restores my relationship with this God of love.  As my relationship with God grows, my understanding of love will grow.

Neverending

I remember as a child, standing out in my backyard and trying to imagine what infinity looks like.  I had just learned in school that there are an infinite amount of numbers, and I could count forever and never get to the end.  The concept of infinity blew my mind.  Everything I saw around me had a beginning and an end so I could not relate perpetuity to anything I knew. 

God's love falls into this same category.  His love is like space. . . it goes on forever and ever.  David wrote about this love in Psalm 103: 8 and 11 (NLT).  He said, "The LORD is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. . .For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth."

I cannot measure the love of God, just as I could not comprehend the infinite nature of numbers as an elementary student.  All I need to know, however, is that His love will never come to an end. 

Never Absent

I remember the year we moved from our rental house to the housing on Ft Bragg, North Carolina.  It had taken us two years to work our way to the top of the waiting list.  During that period of time, we had established ourselves in a congregation at one of the Army Chapels.  I told my friends at choir rehearsal one night that we'd be moving soon and everyone said they would help us.  I was so glad to know we wouldn't have to do it by ourselves.  But when the day to move came, no one showed up. . . the help could not be counted on. 

In contrast, God's love can always be counted on!  Paul described it this way in Romans 8:37-39.  "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

As I grow in my relationship with God, I learn how much His love never fails me.  I can count on His never-absent love.

Never Conditional

Human love is conditional; there's always a deal-breaker. . .which may explain the high rate of divorce in this day and age.

It is in my nature to give up on someone I love when they hurt me in some way that I think I can't forgive.  Thankfully, God does not love in this same way!  David described this characteristic of God's love in Psalm 103:9-10, 12-13(NLT). 

"He will not constantly accuse us,
      nor remain angry forever.
  He does not punish us for all our sins;
      he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.. . .

He has removed our sins as far from us
      as the east is from the west.
  The LORD is like a father to his children,
      tender and compassionate to those who fear him."

God's love is not based on my performance or my worthiness.  God's love is.   It simply exists as a part of His character and He cannot go against who He is.  In fact, "God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners." (Romans 5:8)

God's love does not appear when I do something good and disappear when I mess up.  God's love is never conditional.


As I grow closer to God and learn to respect and honor Him as the Supreme Being who created all things, I learn about His astounding love.  His love has no end, will never let me down, and is not based on my deeds.  God's love never fails!

As I begin this day, it is my prayer that I can surrender myself to this God of love.

How do I use the word "love" too lightly, minimizing the power behind the word?

Where do I fail to allow God's love to pass through me, resulting in a conditional, fickle and shallow brand of love to show instead?