As he [Saul] journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”
Acts 9: 3-5
Scripture: Genesis 28: 10-22
Sometimes, it is difficult to accept that God meets us where we are. Because of His love for us, He pursues us to lead us to salvation. This devotion looks at, not only how He meets us where we are, but also that He doesn’t leave us in that spot.
Cliff Notes
- The God of love does love us enough to pursue us.
- Once we ask God to be our Father, He will start where we are and help us to grow where He wants us to be.
- The worldview believes that God should allow people to stay where they are.
- He loves us too much to leave us where we are.
When Adam was going through the public-school system, because of his learning disability, he — and I — would get so frustrated at times. Teachers would expect him to perform above the level he was at developmentally.
God takes a different approach with us than Adam’s teachers took. Our Heavenly Father, even though He is God Almighty, will seek us and meet us exactly where we are.
God Pursues Us
How do we know God will meet us? “God met me more than halfway, he freed me from my anxious fears” (Ps. 34: 4 MSG). He even set up the meeting place: “I will meet there with the sons of Israel, and it shall be consecrated by My glory” (Ex. 29: 43 NASB). The God of love does love us enough to pursue us.
And God does pursue us. Look at Paul (when he was still called Saul) in Acts 9. Jesus came to Paul on the Damascus Road (Acts 9: 3-5). Paul wasn’t going to Damascus to find Jesus. He was looking for Jesus’ followers to kill them.
Jesus has other plans. He found Paul and stopped him in his tracks. Jesus had Paul do a serious 180o turn.
Look at Jacob (Gen. 28: 10-22). He wasn’t exactly doing all the do’s and not doing the don’ts, either. In fact, he has earned the reputation of a liar and a cheater.
God came to Jacob in a dream. What God told him probably did seem just a dream to Jacob — maybe even a pipe dream. Remember, Jacob was running for his life. God came to him and gave him all these wonderful promises.
Also, God came to Moses in a way that He knew Moses wouldn’t miss. God piqued Moses’ interest by appearing in a burning bush (Ex. 3: 2).
God still comes to us. He loves us enough to initiate the conversation. He will find the road that we are on and plop down right in front of us to get our attention.
God Meets Us Where We Are
I always thought, “Why can’t you meet Adam where he is at?” Instead, I usually heard, “This will be the services that will be provided.”
Isn’t it wonderful that God is not like that? Yes, He has expectations for us. But He also knows us.
God has guidelines for us, but He knows that, while we are in this earthly body, we cannot reach perfection. He knows what we struggle with on a daily basis. All we have to do is call on Him — focus on Him. He will meet us where we are.
Once we ask God to be our Father, He will start where we are and help us to grow where He wants us to be. It is going to be a process that takes time — all the way to when we reach heaven’s gates.
To read Do We Have to Clean Up Our Acts to Get Salvation?, click the button below.
The Flip Side
That is the flip side that kind of gets left out in today’s discourse of how followers of Christ should not be judgmental of those who do not follow Him. People say they are all about tolerance and meeting/accepting them as they are.
God does meet us where we are, but He doesn’t leave us there. God isn’t in the business of kicking us when we are down. Instead, He wants to lift us up from where we are at to where He is at.
Some people today think tolerance is leaving them to believe, act, and be whatever they want to be. That isn’t God’s desire. He “…wants everyone to be saved and to come to know the truth” (I Tim. 2: 4 GNT). His truth. He loves us too much to leave us where we are.
Making the Connections
Part of me wanted to leave this section out. That part says that there are no connections to make. It is that plain and simple.
God loves us. God pursues us. God will accept us as we are. He will grow us to where we need to be.
We have to take it on faith. We just have to accept this.
How Do We Apply This?
We have to accept that God will pursue frail, flawed us. We have to seek Him to grow. To do this, we have to trust and obey.
In order to give us the opportunity to choose Him, God comes to us – where we are. He does this because He loves us.
Loving Heavenly Father. You pursue us. You come to us to convict us. You don’t want us to stay in our lost state, but You allow us to choose or deny You. Help us to grow in grace and knowledge (II Pet. 3: 18). Help us to seek You daily. Amen.
If you have not admitted that your relationship is not right with God,
have not asked Jesus to be your Lord and Savior,
and have not confessed your sins,
please read through the Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
What do you think? Have you ever thought God was pursuing You? What was your response?
Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
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I have been baptized at the age of 14, but…since that time, I have not been following Him. I have committed sin against his commandments and his word. I have since, walked away from him. I had gone to several other churches over the years. During at least, two other times, I have been baptized again. I am in desperate need of coming back to him. Please… I pray, tell me, how can I come back to him, after all that I have done? I don’t feel worthy enough to deserve his love, but he loves us unconditionally, anyway. Please……I pray, pray for me. I’ve not been one for praying out loud. I’ve always, done either, silent prayers, or written to him in journals. I’d greatly, appreciate any, and all suggestions or advice from someone.
Remember — for each step we genuinely take toward God, He is running ten steps toward us. It says in His Word that there is only one sin that He cannot forgive — and I believe that is unbelief.
David was called a man after God’s own heart. Yet, he was a murderer and an adulterer. How could be be both? God forgave him of his sins when he genuinely repented.
We aren’t worthy enough to deserve His love on our own, but the blood of Jesus covers all of our sins so we can approach Him. It isn’t about us. It is about what He has done for us.
So, what do you believe? Do you believe God is Sovereign God and Jesus is your Savior? Tell Him that several times a day.
Saying it out loud does help, but I don’t think that it always has to be. Just so it is genuine. We don’t have to pray in the King James Version. We don’t have to have a long, drawn out prayer. We do have to tell Him what is on our heart.
You have to make a decision. Do you believe? Are you going to live like you do?
We do continue to sin, unfortunately. That doesn’t give us the green light to keep sinning. We have to ask God to take its pull away. He will work on us to cut out the sin.
Prayers