Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – October 20, 2015
Guest Writer: Meet my friend Shana Schutte. We are blessed to have her as our guest writer.
He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds. Psalm 147:3
Many things can be accomplished by humanity—the study of the stars, building multi-million-dollar industries, clones—but the transformation of the human heart is another story. That alone is a God thing.
Those of us who have tried to change our fears, frustrations, anxieties, or addictions without Him know what I mean. Certainly we can cooperate with God for healing, but we’re ultimately dependent upon Him to remake our hearts and heal our broken places. I believe He likes it that way. I think there are many reasons why, but one is that few things show us and the world His love as much as a heart that has been changed from fear to faith, hatred to humility, and bondage to believing. In Ezekiel 36:26 God says…
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
Notice that God says, “I will give.” It’s as if He’s saying, “Child, no matter how hard you try, healing won’t be a gift you give yourself. You can’t manipulate it into happening or do it all alone by working your own way to emotional and spiritual wholeness. You won’t do it independently of me, because true healing always happens within the context of relationship with me. This, dear one, is going to be of me, and it will be my work. Then, when you’re healed, you’ll know that I am the God who loves and saves you.”
There was a time in the past when I wondered if my heart would ever heal; it seemed as if God wasn’t doing a thing to help me get past my pain. Can you relate? That’s how life must look to the bird who sits on her nest. Things are apparently at a standstill. But the bird sits quietly, knowing that in the stillness something vital is going on and that in the proper time it will be shown. It takes faith and patience for the bird, and such faith and patience never seem to waiver, day after day, night after night, as she bides the appointed time.
Restless and doubtful, we wonder if the healing of our hearts will ever come, because we see no visible signs of progress. Let us remember the perfect egg ride, unchanged in its appearance from the day it’s laid. But as the bird faithfully waits, doing the thing that she’s supposed to do during those silent weeks, important things are happening and taking place. And so it is with us. As we faithfully wait on God, doing what we’re supposed to do—choosing to trust Him, choosing to believe during the silent weeks, perhaps even months and years—God is giving us a new heart!
“And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” (1 Peter 5:10)
Prayer: “Lord, I am so thankful that you are my healer! Help me to trust that you will continue to work in me and make me all I am supposed to be.”
Related Readings: Psalm 34:17-20; John 14:27; Matthew 11:28; Philippians 4:19
Post/Tweet this today: God is the source of true emotional healing. #WisdomHunters #It’sAGodThing
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Worship Resource: 5 minute video- Carman: Jesus Heal Me
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