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Deuteronomy 4:27-31
New Living Translation (NLT)
27 For the Lord will scatter you among the nations, where only a few of you will survive. 28 There, in a foreign land, you will worship idols made from wood and stone—gods that neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. 29 But from there you will search again for the Lord your God. And if you search for him with all your heart and soul, you will find him.
30 “In the distant future, when you are suffering all these things, you will finally return to the Lord your God and listen to what he tells you. 31 For the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon you or destroy you or forget the solemn covenant he made with your ancestors.
The back story here is a warning to the Israelites, just as they are about to go in and take possession of the Promised Land, that if they started acting stupid and ignore God, they'd lose everything. But here is His continued promise, that no matter how badly they screw up, He will always love them. No matter how far they've turned from God, if they will turn back and truly seek Him, hear His voice, and obey Him, He would be there, waiting.
We all mess up. Sometimes we seem to never get it right. We're just like the Israelites! We become selfish and stubborn, arrogant and self-righteous, we go through periods where we behave as though God isn't good enough. Heck, we probably even forget that He is, once in a while.
But God is such a loving and forgiving Father. He really is a Father to us. Just like our parents, if they're good parents, will always love us no matter how far we stray, God has this unconditional love for His children. I think sometimes it's easy to picture God as some remote, distant, judgmental spirit sitting on a thrown somewhere, and to forget that really, He is so much more. If He is distant, it's generally because we won't let Him near. If we are worried that He's just judging us, it's pretty much because we know we're misbehaving and are either enjoying our disobedience too much to repent, or we are so caught up in it that we can't remember how to get on our knees.
Sooner or later though, we'll always hit rock bottom. And when we do, if we really, really want to make things right with God, He's just a prayer away.
30 “In the distant future, when you are suffering all these things, you will finally return to the Lord your God and listen to what he tells you. 31 For the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon you or destroy you or forget the solemn covenant he made with your ancestors.
The back story here is a warning to the Israelites, just as they are about to go in and take possession of the Promised Land, that if they started acting stupid and ignore God, they'd lose everything. But here is His continued promise, that no matter how badly they screw up, He will always love them. No matter how far they've turned from God, if they will turn back and truly seek Him, hear His voice, and obey Him, He would be there, waiting.
We all mess up. Sometimes we seem to never get it right. We're just like the Israelites! We become selfish and stubborn, arrogant and self-righteous, we go through periods where we behave as though God isn't good enough. Heck, we probably even forget that He is, once in a while.
But God is such a loving and forgiving Father. He really is a Father to us. Just like our parents, if they're good parents, will always love us no matter how far we stray, God has this unconditional love for His children. I think sometimes it's easy to picture God as some remote, distant, judgmental spirit sitting on a thrown somewhere, and to forget that really, He is so much more. If He is distant, it's generally because we won't let Him near. If we are worried that He's just judging us, it's pretty much because we know we're misbehaving and are either enjoying our disobedience too much to repent, or we are so caught up in it that we can't remember how to get on our knees.
Sooner or later though, we'll always hit rock bottom. And when we do, if we really, really want to make things right with God, He's just a prayer away.
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