Deuteronomy 4:29 But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.

I’m so familiar with Jeremiah 29:12-13 that I hadn’t realized that God had said exactly the same thing hundreds of years earlier through Moses. One of the many wonderful things about the Bible is how it is so self-confirming. Some people would say that invalidates it, but that’s hardly the case when so many different people were involved in writing it over such a long period of time. It also shows that God doesn’t change. (Malachi 3:6) That said, the point of what God is saying, both through Moses and Jeremiah, is that He knows we will mess up, and do so badly, but if we acknowledge that, grace and mercy are available. The thing is, the only people who are hopeless are those who maintain they need no grace and mercy. The degree of hubris and self-deception in that is staggering to me, but I have encountered such people. One thing that is stressed both here and in Jeremiah is the factor of “all your heart.” God isn’t impressed by hypocrisy. It is when we acknowledge that He is all our hope and our only hope that we really encounter Him. That He will indeed meet with us under such conditions is some of the best news in the world!

Just yesterday I had another response from someone who has taken exception to my blog, saying that my focus on God’s grace removes accountability. All I can say to him is that if he really wants to receive the just results of all that he has done, that’s his problem. I don’t take my sins lightly, but I realize that Jesus has already accepted and paid the penalty for them, which liberates me. That’s what the Gospel is all about. I am very aware that my father’s words, “Give all you know of yourself to all you know of Christ,” apply not just when initially committing to Jesus as Lord, but daily, as I learn more of myself and more of Christ. I know too well that my heart is prone to wander, and I need to be active and intentional in keeping it committed and submitted to my Lord.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You also for the news that You took my wife’s younger brother home yesterday. He was very much ready to go, on several levels, but I pray particularly for his wife and children, and all the many people who loved him and will miss him. We have the assurance of reunion, but the temporal separation can be lonely. I pray that Your Spirit would indeed be poured out on all in these days, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!