Devotional: Many Are His Thoughts Toward Us

Growing up, my dad was a police officer.

Maybe that’s the reason I’ve always wanted to stick to the rules. I’m a people-pleaser through and through. I love it when I get kudos for a job well done. I hate it when I feel I’ve disappointed someone.

Too often I find myself treating God as if He too were a police officer–hanging around, waiting to catch me crossing the line. Every morning, as I journal my prayers, I write out my confessions. Then I end with prayers seeking God’s strength to help me be good.

This morning, as I read my Bible, I came across Psalm 40:5:

“Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders which You have done,
And Your thoughts toward us;
There is none to compare with You
If I would declare and speak of them,
They would be too numerous to count.”

The part that stopped me in my tracks was “Many . . . are Your thoughts toward us.” So I paused, and pondered this for a while. I pictured God thinking about us a lot. God thinking about me. Loving me. Caring for me. It brought tears to my eyes.

All around us we have people telling us we need to be good, to do the right thing, to follow the right path, to care for others more than ourselves.

That is all fine and good, but sometimes we need to just be okay with the fact that God loves us–at this moment, how we are. He is thinking about me TONS. He is thinking about you.

And instead of the police uniform that causes us to keep our distance…

We need to think of the Daddy who welcomes us with open arms.

Prayer

God, grant me the patience toward myself to simply know that You love me, at this moment, just how I am. Let your goodness and your attention toward me sink into the depths of my being. You are not a police officer keeping distance, You are my Father welcoming me with open arms.

Other Resources

• Life, In Spite of Me: Extraordinary Hope After a Fatal Choice by Kristen Jane Anderson and Tricia Goyer
• 3:16: The Numbers of Hope by Max Lucado
• Blue Like Play Dough: The Shape of Motherhood in the Grip of God by Tricia Goyer

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