Seeds of the Kingdom Devotional 20 May 2021 By Ellel Ministries, Australia
I have Loved You with An Everlasting Love
by Ron Scurfield
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“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.” John 6:68-69, NIV
You may have said, “Where is God when I need Him? I’ve sought Him and prayed. I’ve searched for Him in the midst of turmoil. I’ve longed for His comfort in times of despair. Is He not God, the Sovereign Lord? Supreme over all? So, where is He?”
But perhaps you have thought, “What right do I have to call upon His holiness to come down from His throne and help me?” Yet His word urges us to do just that. “Call upon me and I will answer you,” says the Lord (Jeremiah 33:3). We’re encouraged to come boldly to His throne of grace and find help in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16).
When Jesus emerged from Galilee to meet with John in the desert, God introduced Him to the world by saying: “This is My beloved Son whom O Love” (Matthew 3:17). Yet during His darkest hour the Son cried out to the father: “My God, why have you forsaken me?” He was despised and rejected by the very people He came to save; ‘a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief’, and during that time the Father turned His head away and Jesus was alone. For the first time in His eternal existence the Son was separated from His Father. ‘Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer’ (Isaiah 53:10). In Isaiah 58:8-9 we read, ‘“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord’.
The truth is Jesus had to bear His cross for mankind. He was destined to die. The sins of the world weighed Him down till He could bear it no more. Then it was finished. God’s will had been accomplished. The battle was over, and the Son would be reunited with His beloved Father.
We’re not exempt from suffering. Jesus said to His disciples, ‘In this world you will have tribulation’ (John 16:33). But we do have the assurance of His everlasting love and His promise to be with us always. God sent His beloved Son to set us free from the deception of the enemy. However, we need to ask ourselves two important questions. Firstly, do I allow my troubles to take the place of my loving Heavenly Father? Secondly, are my eyes fixed on the purposes of the enemy, seeing only giants in the land?
Yet standing upon the foundation of His imperishable love and filled by the continued presence of His Holy Spirit, we can fix our eyes on Jesus, the author of our faith. With the shield that quenches all the fiery darts of the evil one, we can stand upon the truth of His word, and not be diverted from the assurance He gives us. We can know that ‘even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil’ (Psalm 23:4). Every valley has an end, and as we walk through it with Him, He will guide and protect us, and lead us forward, all the way.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, who can I turn to when times are hard? You alone have the words of life. You alone are the way and the truth. Where else can I go except to You? Lord, I turn to You now, for in none other is there fulfilment of life, and joy, and peace. Thank You, Jesus. Amen.
Read: Our Daily Bread 20th May 2021 Today Devotional – Walk, Don’t Run
Ron Scurfield with his wife Jill, are part of the Associate Ministry Team at Ellel Grange and occasionally Ellel Scotland. Ron enjoys walking and writing and meeting interesting people, but his greatest joy is seeing God transform lives, setting people free to live the abundant life that Jesus intended.
