My grandfather used to tell me this joke when I was younger. He said one day an elderly man was driving his wife to the store when they passed two teenage lovers in a sports car. The boy was driving the car and the girl was practically sitting in his lap. The elderly man's wife questioned, "Why don't we still drive like that? The elderly gentleman responded, "I have never moved". During our hard times, we may ask, "Where is God?" But if we are truthful with ourselves, we know that we should be asking, "Where am I?" God promises He will never leave us in our most trying and difficult times. He is always sitting right there beside us in the driver's seat. Sometimes though, we get complacent and slowly inch away from Him. Then all of a sudden, a big bump in the road jars us awake and we look around and wonder where God has gone. But it is not He who has drifted from us, but instead, it is we who have drifted from Him. He is still right there, guiding us through the bumpy parts. We have all lived long enough to know that bumps in the road are simply a part of life and are bound to happen when we least expect it. Today, let's work on getting back to God, and let's practice on staying there with Him through thick and thin. Isn't it an awesome feeling to know that no matter how far away we may drift from Jesus, that He never truly drifts from us, and that He is always just one short "help" away? Call Him.
Hebrews 13:5 says, "I will never fail you nor abandon you."
Lord, thank-you for loving and caring for us so much that you will never leave us. You are an amazing God...You are THE amazing God. In Jesus name, Amen.
I am reminded of the vow that Jacob made at Bethel when he was running from his own brother Esau. Genesis 28:20-22. "And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If (or since) God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, 21 So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God: 22 And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee."
ReplyDeleteWe wonder why Jacob did not come straight here to Bethel when he left the house of Laban, since it was in his heart to come back to Bethel in the first place. For whatever reason, Jacob has payed a price for not returning to Bethel. His detour to Shechem has cost him dearly. His daughter Dinah has been defiled and the conduct of his sons has brought reproach upon him in Canaan.
The journey back to Bethel started when Jacob heard and OBEYED to voice of God, it was a place of revival, reconciliation and restoration.
It's about time we all got "back to Bethel." Loved this devotional....I needed to hear it.