You made me; you created me. Now give me the sense to follow your commands.
Psalm 119:73 NLT
It’s a good thing I’m not God! (Aren’t you glad?) I definitely would not have put up with all the disobedience humans have dished out through the ages. Some people think God is a cruel judge, waiting for us to mess up so He can punish us. That is so far from the truth, it has to break God’s heart to know anyone believes it.
Everything God does is designed to show His children who He is. In the book of Ezekiel, nearly every chapter has sentences that say something like, “Then they will know that I am the Lord.” He allowed some terrible things to happen to the people, but it was all intended to cause them to follow Him.
Many scriptures tell us He is slow to anger. He abounds in lovingkindness. He doesn’t punish us as we deserve. Yet we tend to whine and feel abused when anything bad happens.
All God expects is obedience, and His rules are simple. He knows we will break His commandments, so He only asks that we love and trust Jesus. We can’t just go through the motions or follow rituals, trying to get what we want. Our deep, genuine love and an intimate relationship are what He yearns for. The more we know Him, the easier it is to worship Him, to adore Him—to give back to Him the love He freely gives to us.
Heavenly Father, following Your commands is so simple. You loved me first. Now I love You. Amen.
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Today’s reading was adapted from Daily Wisdom for Women: 2017 Devotional Collection with permission from Barbour Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Reading was written by Ardythe Kolb.