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Philippians Devotionals

Do I have your heart?

For God is my witness, how deeply I miss all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:8)

Father, do I have the same affection for your people that Jesus has? Would you be able to say of me, “Bruce feels the exact same way for my people as my Son does.”

Father, give me your heart. Give me the heart of your Son toward your people.

Categories
Exodus Devotions

Having our Father’s heart

Years later, after Moses had grown up, he went out to his own people and observed their forced labor. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his people…

After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned because of their difficult labor, and they cried out, and their cry for help because of the difficult labor ascended to God.

God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob; and God saw the Israelites, and God knew. (Exodus 2:11, 23-25)

Moses was a flawed man. And yet, I think God saw in Moses a heart similar to his own. A heart that not only saw the groanings and struggles of others, but wanted to help.

Moses saw the suffering of his own people and refused to stand by and do nothing.

His murdering a man was of course wrong, but his desire to help his suffering brothers was not.

He later saw some shepherdesses also being bullied, and despite his failure the time before, he still couldn’t stand idly by.

And when God saw the suffering of his own people, he couldn’t just stand by and watch either. He had compassion on his people and determined to help them.

And so he chose to use a man who had the same kind of heart he had.

God still chooses to use the same kind of people today.

I don’t know about you, but I want to be such a man.