He is holy, and our sin is repulsive.

We do things we know we shouldn’t, and we don’t do things we should. We say things we wish we hadn’t, and we don’t say things we wish we had. Our thoughts, our motives, and our choices are often not what God requires of his people.

If we were on trial for all of our sins, the courtroom would be heavy with the evidence of our guilt and the fear of our sentencing. We shouldn’t have been trusted with the red markers, but somehow we got ahold of them. And we keep making a terrible mess.

Yet God doesn’t give up on us.

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Jesus didn’t want them to feel like something was missing anymore. He was with them now–bringing abundant life. Not abundant rules. Not abundant punishment, oppression, or fear. He had everything his sheep could possibly need–and more.

And he promises that this life of abundance is for us, too.

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Paul said this when he was being imprisoned, rejected, and beaten. What was visible to him and to the new believers was painful and discouraging. But Paul knew that God was up to so much more than he could see.

And he wanted us to know that the same God who was working behind the scenes in Paul’s life would be working behind the scenes in ours someday…

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I can still hear Judy Garland’s voice as she clicks her ruby-slippered heels together in The Wizard of Oz. The iconic movie that started out in black and white then turned to color partway through lodged a permanent place in my heart when I was a child. All the excitement and adventure of Dorothy’s trip down the yellow brick road to the emerald city paled in comparison to the relief of seeing her wake up in her own bed in her Kansas farmhouse surrounded by all who loved her.

Several years and residences later, I still agree with Dorothy. When I climb into my own bed after being away, I say it every time.

There’s no place like home…

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Psalm 77 doesn’t hold back. Real feelings and hard questions are directed to God–some of them almost coming across as disrespectful:

God, I don’t understand. Why haven’t you answered my prayer?

I don’t feel like praying or going to church or anything right now.

Are your miracles just for other people? What about me?

Is it okay to talk to him like this?

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As we learn to trust God’s good heart, we will start to discover just how constant his favor and kindness is to us. We will learn that we can experience his goodness even when things don’t look like we want them to, even when we don’t understand why something is happening, even when we don’t feel good.

His goodness will show up in deeper, wider, and different ways than we can ever imagine…

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