Daily Devotion January 24

January 24: Joel 2:12-14

KJV Key Verse: Joel 2:13
And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

Devotion:
How many times have you done something physical just so you could get a reaction? Have you ever made a hardship look worse than it is to get people to see how you are not coping with the hardship? Have you ever stretched the truth so it looks like you are in more trouble than you actually are? God wants us to be honest with Him! He can see exactly what sort of a pickle we may be in and He would like us to be honest and ask for help in those times – not to ask for more than we need but to lay it down exactly as it is a give it to God for His support.

This passage tells us we need to be sorrowful in our hearts and not just on our faces or through our outward appearance. God can see the reality, so be honest with Him and ask Him for help. God does not expect us to be able to do everything and to put up with everything that comes our way; He expects to have to help us once in a while! Even when we mess up and we have to say sorry and plead for help… God still listen and will answer us.

We cannot pretend to know how God thinks or when or even if He will do what we ask; but you can be sure that God does not ignore us and will not ignore our pleas! We don’t know whether what is coming our way will be a blessing to us or to someone else – it may look like hard work and even horrible to us, but God may be using that moment to give something to another person. It is not all about us all the time because God cares for all of us, not just the ones who call out to Him or do things for Him!

If we try to pretend things are not as they are we are going to get what we deserve and not what we ask for! Does that sound harsh? Try to imagine what God must be going through each time we lie to His face and try to get more out of Him than we deserve. Be honest and be brave. God does want to hear from us; He wants to hear the truth!

Points to Ponder:
Do you exaggerate?

DO you think God cannot see through you?