Companionship

My sister Barbara enjoying the dance.

God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family

 by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. 

This is what he wanted to do,

 and it gave him great pleasure.

 Eph. 1:5 (NLT)

God takes great pleasure in his children.  Whether we love to dance or cook or play sports he loves to join with us in all we enjoy.  He came to give us an abundant life full of beauty and joy. Even in the struggles and the hardships, he is there to support us and his presence can beautify even the most unlovely and unpleasant situations.  

God went to a lot of trouble to make a way for us to be close to him.  The process he had to go through of being born as a human baby, living on this troubled planet among troubled people, and finally dying at the hands of sinful men was not an easy one.  In fact, his death was the most excruciating and painful that any person has ever suffered.  And yet, he was not only willing, but eager to go through all of that and for what?  - so that we, his precious creation, could come back to him and live close to him.  He simply wanted to be with us, to enjoy our company and make us part of his family and he was willing to pay any price to make that happen.

Lord, thank you for going through so much so that we could be restored to companionship with you. Thank you for the joy we experience as we enjoy life together.

For the LORD takes pleasure in His people;

 He will beautify the afflicted ones with salvation.

 Ps. 149:4 (NASV)

Compassionate

The LORD is like a father to his children, 

tender and compassionate to those who fear him. 

Psalm 103:13 (NLT) 

The scripture tells us that God revealed his character to Moses.  And what was the defining characteristic that God revealed about himself? - his unending compassion and mercy.

To truly understand and know God we must understand and know him as he truly is.  If we see him as a judgmental and critical God we will never be drawn toward him.  But, if we come to see him as he has revealed himself to be - our loving father, full of compassion, then we will be irresistibly drawn to him to receive all that he has for us. 

Compassion is defined as: Having a feeling of strong affection for someone. The word has a special focus on mercy toward a person in difficult circumstances and is characterized by unconditional love. To come to understand and feel that God has a strong feeling of affection for you is a life changing experience.  All of a sudden you are no longer alone.  You know someone truly cares about you. 

We can trust a God who cares for us that much.  We don't have a thing to fear. We can freely draw near to him with our whole heart to receive that love, affection, mercy and companionship that we need.  

Open our eyes and hearts, Lord, to see and understand you as you truly are - our loving, compassionate father. 

He revealed his character to Moses.

The LORD is compassionate and merciful,

 slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. 

Psalm 103:7-8 (NLT) 

We know how much God loves us, 

and we have put our trust in his love. 

Such love has no fear, 

because perfect love expels all fear. 

1 John 4:16,18 (NLT)