Choices That Bring Blessing - Part 2
“God, your God, will cut away the thick calluses on your heart and your children’s hearts freeing you to love God,
your God with your whole heart and soul and live, really live.”
Deuteronomy 30:6 (MSG)
Our decisions will determine our destiny. When Moses presented two doors for Israel to choose from, he implored them to “choose life, so that they and their children may live….” Deut. 30:19b (NIV) This is the most important door to walk through. It’s the door of salvation. The New Testament tells us that Jesus is the door. When we enter that door, we experience life and blessing! Making that decision involves four basic choices. We looked at the first choice yesterday. Make the choice to let God love you when you feel unlovable.
Here’s the second one: Make the choice to let God heal you when you’re hurting.
When most of us are hurting, all that we can feel is the pain. It may be a loss, a death, a broken heart, a shattered dream. Whether it’s the result of bad choices we’ve made or life having dealt us a hand we didn’t choose, the pain is deep, and the wound doesn’t seem to heal. It could be lost love, lost passion, or lost purpose. What do you do with the broken pieces of a life that’s been shattered by such loss? You have a choice. You can hold onto the hurt and remain a victim, or you can choose to let God heal you when you’re hurting. In Deuteronomy 30:3 (MSG), Moses challenged the nation to let God pick up the pieces of their brokenness and restore them. If they would make the choice to let God heal them, he said, “God, your God, will restore everything you lost; He’ll have compassion on you; He’ll come back and pick up the pieces from all the places where you were scattered.”
If you read further in the Old Testament, God did restore the nation when their failures and sin led them into exile. They were broken and removed from their own land, where they were taken captive. But, when they cried out to God, He heard their cry and brought them back.
Then, God did even more! Much more! Not only would He bring them home, He would heal their broken hearts! In verse 6, Moses said, “God, your God, will cut away the thick calluses on your heart and your children’s hearts, freeing you to love God, your God with your whole heart and soul and live, really live.”
Has your heart been broken by loss and sorrow? Do you find yourself just existing from day to day and not really living? Is it a struggle to give your heart to anything or anyone? The pain you’ve experienced has covered your heart with calluses to protect you from any more pain. C.S. Lewis described it like this: “To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully around with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”
If you’ve made that fatal choice and find yourself numb and lifeless, there is hope! Make the choice to let God heal you when you’re hurting. He will cut away those calluses, freeing you to love again with your whole heart and soul! It’s time to live again, really live! Make that choice today and experience the blessing that God will bring.
Another important part of your daily devotional is spending time with God in prayer. The Woodlands Church Prayer Board lists prayer requests submitted by our members and provides a way to send them some encouragement by using a button on the page to let them know that you prayed for them. Whether you use the Prayer Board, or pray from your heart, the goal is to build the habit of incorporating prayer into your quiet time.
Need prayer yourself? Let us know by submitting a prayer request on the Woodlands Church Prayer Board.