Tender mercies abound in a world where our one true God reigns. Last night, we were blessed with an evening of after-dinner discussion about the goodness of God. This happens more often than not. But some nights, my heart is filled with gratitude for the love God brings into our lives. It is a rare opportunity for parents to influence their children, not having a television in our living space helps.
‘ “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. ‘
–Deuteronomy 6:4-7
My oldest has the most profound questions about God and the Bible. He is making his way through the Bible and obviously has many good questions. Last night, we spoke about so many wonderful things about God, drawing from previous sermons, podcast and books. It was a brilliant discussion. We all went to bed late and woke up tired this AM, but I would not trade it in for anything in the world.
I am not going to bore you with what we spoke about. I am however going to underscore the power of the Holy Spirit. I have heard various theologians talk about the role of the Holy Spirit in helping us read The Bible. The theory is that He helps us grow by bringing to light verses in the scripture that are relevant to us.
‘ 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ‘
-Genesis 1:26
Our topic of discussion was centered around Genesis 1:26. Through the course of the conversation I realized that 3 of us honed in on 3 different aspects of the same verse. It hit us differently.
- My husband zeroed in on “Us”
- My boy zeroed in on ” image and likeness”
- I zeroed in on “have dominion”
I know our situations intimately and can explain why this happened. My boy is discovering his image in God and so the Holy Spirit is guiding Him to see that he is made in the perfect image of God and was created on purpose, not a mistake – intentional and loved.
My husband needed a reminder that he is surrounded in and out by the powerful presence of our Almighty. He does not have to be overwhelmed by all the stressors of life and try to do it all. He has to lean on God, ask, pray, reach out or reach in. God is waiting to help him.
And finally, God who does it all wants me to work alongside Him. He can do anything better than I can do, but he wants me to help because he picked me to do whatever it is that He put in front of me. I will be successful because He willed me to take charge.
How blessed are we? We get personalized messages from the creator of the. universe. You are important to Him. May you “incline your ear” and hear Him today. God Bless You.
Dear God,
Please grant me the goodness to not miss Your ever-loving presence and guiding words today. May I act according to Your will and bring You glory. I ask in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.