Today’s Encouragement is 1 Samuel 7:3 NLT Then Samuel said to all the people of Israel, “If you want to return to the LORD with all your hearts, get rid of your foreign gods and your images of Ashtoreth. Turn your hearts to the LORD and obey him alone; then he will rescue you from the Philistines.”
Return to the Lord –
We can draw clear parallels between the historical ‘journey of faith’ of the nation Israel and our Christian ‘journey’. In short, they began with faithfulness and were blessed by God, then became comfortable and complacent and began to drift away from devotion to God, and because they were no longer under His blessing and protection, when troubles inevitably came, they cried out to Him and repented, and in His love and grace, He faithfully rescued them. This pattern is repeated throughout the OT Scripture.
Friends, the same is true for you and me. We have times of sincere faithfulness, contentment, and peace, but then our devotion begins to wane, and we begin to drift away from Him… until we find ourselves in need of His Help… and we cry out to Him.
He is faithful, even though we are not! (2 Tim. 2:13)
We can turn to him, again and again, and His forgiveness is unlimited (Matt 18:22)
Returning to the Lord (also called repentance) is not a one-time decision, but a lifetime pattern. As we mature spiritually, our wandering may be less frequent and less severe, but we will wander because we still inhabit a fallen world! Yet again… He is Faithful, always, forever!
Thank You, Father God, for accepting us every time we return to You! Your Grace, Mercy, and Faithfulness are Great, Unlimited, and Undeserved.
Great is Your Faithfulness
Martin Smith
Today’s Encouragement 