Dear Ones,
Happy weekend and also Happy early Father’s Day to all of you Father’s reading this. Tomorrow we plan to go to church in Hackensack and to the lake for a picnic with Mark and Ann’s families. Kurt has an appointment with the surgeon on Monday morning and praying he will be able to have surgery on his arm soon.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
I woke up one morning with the words to a familiar hymn playing in my mind that you may know: “O Lord most holy, O Lord most mighty, O Loving Father, we praise forever more. Help us to know Thee, know Thee and love Thee; Father, Father, grant us Thy truth and love. Father, Father, guide and protect us. Rule Thou our willful hearts; keep Thine our wandering thoughts; in all our sorrows let us find our rest in Thee: And in temptation’s hour save through Thy mighty power. Thine aid, O Lord send us. Hear us in mercy, O Lord we pray. Show us Thy mercy, so shall we live and sing praise to Thee.”
As I got my coffee and began my devotions, I read from Jeremiah 8. Jermiah was a prophet sent by God to call the people back to God. He had to speak to God’s people who had turned from Him and were going in the wrong direction, refusing to change. They were lying, deceitful, committing adultery and idolatry, yet they thought they were wise and would suffer no consequences for their sins. Jeremiah was sent to warn them how wrong they were. Even the priests and scribes were giving the people false assurances that all was well when, in fact, they were heading the wrong way and correction was coming.
Are we also ones that minimize our sins and find ourselves going farther away from the Lord, failing to hear His voice? Or are we like the words of the song wanting to know the Lord, to praise and love Him? What about our friends and family? Do we see them going the wrong direction and it grieves us as it did Jeremiah? He was heartsick, and as he grieved for the people he said that the harvest was past, the summer had ended, and the people weren’t saved. He wanted to awaken them and although he was angered by their sin, he was full of compassion. Let us be prayerful and compassionate for those who are yet far off from the Lord, thinking like the people in Jeremiah’s time that there are no consequences. Time may run out; may they know the Lord before it is too late.
Challenge for today: Read through the words of the song again make it your prayer.
Blessings on your weekend and prayers and Love, Judy