Daily Devotional

A Ministry of the Kerwin Baptist Church

March 22, 2018

by Pastor Hawtree

I AM PERSUADED THAT HE IS ABLE:

TO WELCOME ME BACK

II CHRONICLES 30:9 “…..for the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him.”

Grace and mercy! It is the common theme through scripture. Grace, receiving what we do not reserve; and Mercy, not receiving what we do reserve. There are many things that set apart our faith from other religions and belief systems. But this is one that never gets as much attention. Grace and mercy are hard to find when it comes to the leaders and founders of other religions. You will find them benefiting from their believers and followers, but you will not find their followers benefiting from the leaders. How wonderful is “the Lord your God”.

Unfortunately, we each have wandered away from God at times. To be clear, God has never wandered away from us. We really have no good reason to ever gradually distance ourselves from God. He has been so good to us. Oh we will blame some “Christian”, or some “circumstance”, or some “comment” someone made. We will come up with excuses but no real reasons. Even when we face tragedy, why do we always blame God? If anything, blame Adam and Eve. Take it out on them.

It would be great if the verse could say “when” you return to Him. But it says “if”. There are some people that never do. They have begun to believe their own excuses. Or maybe they admit it to be of their own doing, but just cannot seem to get back to where they should be. Some get to the point that they just do not care anymore. One thing is for sure, God will not make you come back. God will continue to love you, care about you, and desire to be close to you. But God will not force anyone to come back.

But if you do!
We are promised here in this verse that God will not turn his back on you. God will not ignore you. God will not bring up everything you have done and throw it in your face. To turn your face away from a wayward child would mean rejection. It would mean disappointment. It would mean “I have given up on you”. Not God. He won’t turn away. God will turn to you. God will receive you with open arms. God will welcome you home.

Could I encourage who may need this today? Please come home!