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Day 49: Hebrews 12/Psalm 139
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Tuesday April 13, 2004
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“To know, know,
know you is to love, love, love you and I do, yes, I do, yes, I do.”
Bobby Vinton
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God’s
e-Memo
The lyrics above capture a fundamental human need: our desire to be
known and to be loved. We want to know ourselves. We want others to know
us--to understand who we are and what makes us ‘tick’; to fathom the
depths of us; to grasp the essence of who we are--that thing that makes
us uniquely who we are. We marry with the assumption that we will get
to know each other (as time goes by) on deeper and deeper levels. We
are willing to be more vulnerable with each other--exposing our
imperfections, our most secret hurts, our fears. We want someone to
fully “grasp” all that makes us who we are--the good, the bad, and the
ugly--and to still love us.
The Greatest
Miracle In The World was written by Og Mandino, a man who in the depths
of his despair of myriad failures and alcoholism, nearly takes his own
life, but 10 years later, emerges as one of the greatest gurus of
motivation, self-esteem and success. The Greatest Miracle In
The World tells of a man befriended by an older gentleman
who, it turns out, has been sent to give him a very special message--a
memo from God. The memo is God’s way of telling the man that he is no
mistake. God has fashioned him out of infinite possibilities of
chromosomes, bones, blood vessels, tissues, muscles, nerves and flesh,
to make him uniquely who he is--who God intended him to be. He is God’s
greatest miracle. Here is an e-memo for you today. YOU are God’s
greatest miracle.
The Psalmist David,
who later became king and is known as a man “after God’s own
heart,” prays to God in Psalm 139. “You made all the delicate
parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you
for making me wonderfully complex. Your workmanship is marvelous!”
(Living Bible) God knows you and thinks you’re wonderful--marvelous!
God knows who you truly are. You are complex. You have layers. You’re a
‘piece of work’--his work! He knows who he created you to be--and who
you are becoming--for his purpose!
Wow. God knows me
and loves me. The wrong steps I take don’t change God’s plan for my
life. Every day of my life is recorded in his book. He thinks about me
constantly. He loves me.
He knows what I
will say before I say it. He knows why I say it. Yet,
he loves me.
No secrets from
God! I don’t need to hide or pretend to be something or someone that
I’m not. God already has a private knowledge of me. “He shaped me
first inside, then out. He was there while I was being formed in utter
seclusion.” (Message Bible).
When I’m at my
worst--I have such confidence in crying out to God to search me and
know me, and if he finds anything in me that’s not like him--change it!
I need him to find me in the midst of my hurt,
to find me in the depths of my wrong, and to remind me of who I am and
whose I am. And I know that he will, because he loves me!
Today’s
Prayer:
Thank you, God, for reminding us that you know us perfectly well
and love us--just as we are. Lord, help us to know you and love you
more. Amen.
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Memory Verse of the Week:
"Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the
Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus..."
Hebrews 10:19 (New International Version)
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For a complete
listing of all the previous devotionals in this "50 Day Experience,"
click here.
To read the chapter or psalm of the day online, click on one of the
following links:
o
Hebrews
12
o
Psalm
139
Judith Anthony, anthony@cincyvineyard.com, Nursery
Pastor at VCC
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