Daily Reading: Genesis 2-3
Scripture Focus: But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3.9)
Devotional Thought: Have you ever lost one of your children? Or have you been with someone who has? Several years ago my wife and I were with my daughter and her daughters at Coney Island Park in Cincinnati. Coney Island has what is billed as “the largest flat-surface swimming pool in North America.” It’s over 2 acres. It holds a lot of people. And, as we discovered, it ‘hides’ a lot of people. Our youngest (at the time!) granddaughter got separated from us for a moment. That is scary. She was just 2 years old. Can I tell you that we were not embarrassed about screaming her name at the top of our lungs? “Adalyn!” We found her – safe and dry – but not until my daughter pierced some nearby eardrums!
Losing someone you love is a horrible feeling. God felt that in the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve sinned and then hid themselves from him. “Adam! Eve!” he called in desperation.
Sin separates us from God now just the same as it did Adam and Eve then. But the good news is that God is seeking each one of us. He calls our names. He searches for us in the places we are hidden. Sometimes we hide ourselves. At other times, circumstances of life hide us. But God continues to seek, to call, to find, to save. I've had friends whom God found in jail, in hospitals, in restaurants, in court, and yes, in church.
Where are you? Are you feeling separated from God? Take heart! He is calling your name.
Prayer: Jesus, thank you that you are the good Shepherd who seeks out the lost sheep. Come find me, Lord, for I need you. Use me that others may be found and rescued, too. Amen.
Psalm of the Day: 12 Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up your hand; forget not the afflicted. 13 Why does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart, "You will not call to account"? 14 But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation, that you may take it into your hands; to you the helpless commits himself; you have been the helper of the fatherless. 15 Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer; call his wickedness to account till you find none. (Psalm 10.12-15)
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