Monday Devo - God is Good All The Time, Even When We Are Not
When I was a kid, oh maybe 8 or 9 years old, my grandparents traveled from Chicago to Des Moines and took my cousins and me shopping. My lola (grandmother in Filipino) said we could pick out whatever toy we wanted. My cousin, Elbert, and I are the two oldest cousins on my mom’s side. We were neighbors growing up and often played together. For his gift, he picked out a Luke Skywalker action figure with a blue lightsaber, while I reluctantly selected Darth Vader with the red lightsaber. While it was a gift from the only grandparents I’ve ever known, I wasn’t happy with the choice. I wanted Luke because my favorite color was blue. Without fail, we humans feel as if there’s something better for us beyond what we already have. Nick put it well recently in our Life Group. While humans have limits, our desires are infinite. We covet screen time, sex, gambling, drugs, work, fitness, youth sports, food and everything else in this world, even toys. With all of these things to choose from, we may be focusing less energy, attention, effort, money, and time on the one who is truly limitless, forever infinite, our God.
To illustrate this further, I’ll ask this question. How do you deal with a fussy baby? A quick fix would be to pop a binkie in his mouth. While it may provide some quiet and a brief moment of sanity for you, ultimately, he will get hungry, have a poopie, need a nap, want to be held, or all of the above. You’ve only pacified him with the plug, but didn’t satisfy him. Similarly, I think of the Israelites in Exodus 16, grumbling as they were walking in the wilderness, who, not just two chapters before, were freed from bondage under Pharoah. Even though they were no longer captives, they complained because they ate better while as slaves. Pacified, but not satisfied.
Deut 6:5 says, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength. Key word here is All, and we’ll come back to this. First, let’s break this verse down by looking at the elements that we should be using to love God. When I think of heart, I think of the words: endearment, adoration and affection. For soul, what comes to mind could be: passion, inspiration, and spirit. You can describe strength as also: durability, energy, and mightiness. These words can be very powerful. Now, take these synonyms and think of them from God’s standpoint. He loves us so much more. He exhibits His love through His only son’s sacrifice on the cross. He allows for His Spirit to indwell in us so we can be more like Jesus. He shows us His mighty triumph over death every time someone becomes saved.
Now getting back to the word All, do we utilize all of these attributes to pour into God as much as we pour into what the world has to offer us? The answer is NO. While we may be faithful in our walk with God, we aren’t all of the time. Again our desires are limitless, meaning we will always have them. The list of our fleshly wants is neverending. Because of our sin nature, it’s impossible to be in His presence, in prayer and in the word all of the time. This is a broken world with broken people and we will be undoubtedly disappointed and disappoint others, but we can be comforted knowing and trusting the one person who outlives everything and outloves everybody.
Jesus died and was raised to life for our failures and frailty. He picks us up when we fall. He gives us hope when life is full of despair. He is our victor in the war against darkness. He who warrants our hearts, souls and strength, is also He who wants them.