Day 342: Lessons From Nature

1 Corinthians 2:9

That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him."

Philippians 1:6

being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Joshua 21:45

Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.

Today’s devo was inspired by the song Seasons by Hillsong worship, as I was listening to the song a couple of things stood out to me, but the biggest thing that stood out to me is how nature acquaints with not only patience but the promises of God. The lyrics are as follows:

“Oh how nature acquaints us

With the nature of patience...For Your promise is loyal From seed to sequoia”

I don’t know how many of you have ever seen a sequoia tree but they are huge. They are the largest, tallest, and longest living trees on the world. Some of the biggest trees you will ever see. The tallest one is 311 feet high, the oldest one has been living for 3500 years. These  trees are iconic and remarkable. But I am sure they did not end up this way overnight. They did not just sprout up to three hundred and eleven feet overnight. It took time, a long time. While they are the fastest growing trees due to how large they can be and how tall they get, it takes years for them to actually grow as high as they can. It can take thousands of years for them to grow as tall as they are. However, once they start growing they do not stop. The trunk gets wider and they tree gets taller. The foundation grows as the tree grows in order to support its growth.

I talk about these trees because in many ways they can represent us and also God’s promises to us. I love that the song says that God’s promise is loyal, “from seed to sequoia” as many times as I’ve listened to this song it took me a while to catch on the message of those lyrics. It’s interesting that they talk about the sequoia tree as it is the largest trees in the world. From a small seed grows this massive and beautiful creation. In the same way God helps us to grow from a small seed into something massive, something grand and beautiful. He makes us into something we never thought we would be. In the time that it takes to happen He remains loyal. His promises never fail. He remains who He is through it all. From the very beginning God has been there and He will be there for us to the very end, and when it’s all over we will be united with Him in heaven. He is there from the moment we are planted in Him, in the moments when the roots are growing, and we don’t see the growth. That first sprout He is there, as we grow taller and taller, He is there. The thing is He never stops being there and His promises for us and words towards us never change. It’s beautiful.

If you’ve ever seen a sequoia you will be taken by it’s beauty. These trees are so beautiful that you can make bridges out of them. You can drive through the arches of it’s trunk. It’s mindblowing how astounding they are. You never thought you would see something like that. This is how God’s promises are, so astounding that it blows us away. No eye has seen, no ear has heard the things that God will do for us. It will blow us away and leave us in awe.

There is a lesson that we can learn from nature. As the song says, “Oh how nature acquaints us, with the nature of patience.” There’s nothing that will teach you patience like watching a tree or a plant grow. There is nothing we can do to speed us the process we just have to trust the process of growth and wait. We can speed things up but the waiting makes everything so worth it. The waiting makes us want it even more, but if we are patient enough the waiting produces passion. Waiting on something makes you want it even more. My prayer is that the longer we wait on God the more passionate we grow for Him, the deeper we get with our relationship with Him. As we begin to see the value of who God is and the value of His promises. Sometimes waiting isn’t always a result of God “punishing” but it is the realization that God is working on something so great that we  have to wait a bit longer to see what it is.

Response/Prayer Time

Take the time to respond to what we discussed today. Respond in whatever way you feel led and let that response guide your prayer. Pray in whatever way you feel led, just take the time to talk to God.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 343!

Day 271: All You Know

1 John 3:20

in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things.

Psalms 139:1-6

O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord.

You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!

Hebrews 13:8

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

2 Timothy 2:13

If we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.

Romans 8:38

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.

Have you ever found something out about someone and it changed the way you saw, viewed, or acted towards that person? I mean sometimes our knowledge of things or people allow us to ostracize them. Whatever it may be. Maybe it’s a friends who we found out did something we deem really bad. Maybe it’s  significant other you found out cheated on you or cheated on a previous partner, that’s going to drastically change how you see that person. It’s going to change how you feel towards that person and how you move on with that person, if you decide to. What about love, have we ever loved someone less because of what we know about them? I think we can all agree to this and say that their are certain people in our lives that we have to love from a distance. There are certain people who we don’t let close to us anymore because they’ve done us wrong and showed their true colors far too many times. I can name a few off the top of my head, I’m just being honest. Now what if God loved  us and treated us the way we treat other people based on what we know about them?

God know so much about us, yet He still loves us. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows the ins and outs of our hearts and thoughts, He knows what we’re going to do before we even do it. He knows our thoughts. He knows how many strands of hair is on our head. He knows it all. He is all knowing. He knows when our hearts are not pure, or when we a being hypocritical. He knows when we are lying, and deceiving, others may not but He does. He knows every little thing about us, down to the tiniest detail. He sees through the masks and the facades. Yet His love for us never changes. He loves us no matter what. He continues to love us even when we refuse to love Him. He loves us, even when we don’t love ourselves. God’s love towards us never changes. Even with all He knows. God you know everything about me, my past, my present, the things I’ve done that I’m not proud of. Yet you still love me. It almost raises the question how? How can you still love me even when I slammed the door in your face, when I walked away from you, when I hurt your children. How can you still love me? I imagine God will say something along the lines of, “I still love you, you are still my child, my greatest creation. Nothing can stop me from  loving you.” When I think about that it’s mind blowing to think that the one person who has every right to hate me. The person who could walk away from me. Ther person who could isolate me and treat me different because of who I am, what I’ve done, and who I was, that’s the one person who doesn’t.

All this to say, nothing can separate us from God’s love. In the midst of everything we do in our lives, and every place we’ve been; from the highest moments to the lowest, His love never changes. His love stays the same.

Response/Prayer Time

Take the time to respond to what we discussed today. Take in God’s love, and understand that the person who knows everything about you and would be justified in hating us and treating us how we act, doesn’t. Instead He loves us. Talk to God about it, thank Him for His love and respond to Him in whatever way you feel led.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 272!