When God says, “No,” we tend to doubt His love for us. In reality, like a good parent, He often says no precisely because he does love us!
More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones. [St. Teresa of Avila]
In Psalm 86, David calls out to the Lord saying he is poor and needy. At that moment in time, David felt poor and needy but it wasn’t because he was penniless. True poverty has nothing to do with finances; true poverty has to do with lack of faith. God will protect and save us when we have faith in him; He will be merciful and gracious to us when we reach out to him. God will bring joy to our lives if we trust him; He will forgive and love us because we cry out to him. He will hear us and answer us. There is no reason for us to be poverty stricken in God’s world. We are, indeed, rich!
Thank you, Lord, for your abundant and unlimited love. Its depth is incomprehensible. I am so unworthy; make me worthy and show me how to share your love with others.
Discipline and punishment are two concepts that seem to have fallen out of favor and yet they teach us about living as we should: about accepting responsibility for our words and actions. They teach us self-restraint, the inevitability of consequences, and the importance of being true to ourselves and God. Oddly enough, I don’t remember ever thanking someone for punishing or disciplining me. In fact, I probably said unpleasant things about them under my breath. Today let’s give them some overdue thanks.
Thank you, Lord, for those people in the past who cared enough about us to demand good behavior and to teach us the difference between right and wrong. Thank you for those people in our lives today who won’t hesitate to chastise us when we err in our ways. Lord, thank you for correcting us by putting people in our lives who make us accountable for our conduct.
Why do we so readily call upon God to help us find our lost keys or to ease traffic so we can get to an appointment on time, and not immediately turn in prayer to Him when there is an illness, a troubled relationship, or a family crises? Are we afraid he can’t handle the really big stuff? This is the God who parted the Red Sea and fed 5000 with a few morsels of food. All we need to do is cry, “Lord, help!”
I do not know much about God and prayer, but I have come to believe, over the past twenty-five years, that there’s something to be said about keeping prayer simple. Help. Thanks. Wow. [Anne Lamott, from “Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers”]
When trying to trap an animal, a good hunter uses bait specifically designed for each animal. For the mouse, it is peanut butter or cheese; for a groundhog, cantaloupe and corn; for a coyote, tainted game meat. For a bear, lard, donuts and frosting are recommended! Satan is a wily hunter, too, and he knows just what tempts each one of us. What tempts one of us quite often has no appeal to another. What sort of bait does he use on you? Think about it. It’s wise to know exactly what tempts us so we can avoid stepping into the trap of sin!
Just say, “No!” [1980s slogan for the “War on Drugs”]
Devotions of the Heart 