Nothing Can Stop God’s Love
I CHRONICLES 17:16-27 “16 And David the king came and sat before the Lord, and said, Who am I, O Lord God, and what is mine house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?17 And yet this was a small thing in thine eyes, O God; for thou hast also spoken of thy servant’s house for a great while to come, and hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree, O LordGod.18 What can David speak more to thee for the honour of thy servant? for thou knowest thy servant.19 O Lord, for thy servant’s sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all this greatness, in making known all these great things.20 O Lord, there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.21 And what one nation in the earth is like thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem to be his own people, to make thee a name of greatness and terribleness, by driving out nations from before thy people whom thou hast redeemed out of Egypt?22 For thy people Israel didst thou make thine own people for ever; and thou, Lord, becamest their God.23 Therefore now, Lord, let the thing that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his house be established for ever, and do as thou hast said.24 Let it even be established, that thy name may be magnified for ever, saying, The Lord of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel: and let the house of David thy servant be established before thee.25 For thou, O my God, hast told thy servant that thou wilt build him an house: therefore thy servant hath found in his heart to pray before thee.26 And now, Lord, thou art God, and hast promised this goodness unto thy servant:27 Now therefore let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may be before thee for ever: for thou blessest, O Lord, and it shall be blessed for ever.”
DON’S COMMENTS: Scriptures give – show us how God loved and blessed Israel. Yet His love for the Jewish people was not limited to them and His dreams for them were not to become a privileged people but a people called to show His love to other countries and people so they too would accept and worship Him. They were suppose to be God’s Ambassadors – His witnesses. The Jewish people were suppose to lead the world’s people to God and be an example of God’s faithfulness and not the example of God’s prodigals who turned from Him over and over again. They disappointed God time after time, suffering greatly at times, but always enjoying God’s mercy and forgiveness when they returned to Him. However, there are individuals that were a bright light of Hope to both the Jewish people and to the pagan nations around them. Such people like: Noah, Jonah, Daniel, David, Esther, Joseph, Abraham, Jesus’ disciples and Paul, … , the list goes on. Many on this list failed God miserably at times but some were faithful from their youth. Some lead great kings and nations to God. Faithful Christians in the early church suffered greatly during the rule of tyrant emperors in Rome but eventually left an impact that caused the emperor’s mother and then him to become Christian and Rome to become a Christian empire. The story Christ told of the prodigal (Luke 15:11-32) revealed how God views us as well as explains His motives and actions towards His people throughout the ages.
I Chronicles 17:24 reminds them, and us, that they were established and blessed as a people for the one purpose of magnifying God’s Name forever. They were blessed when they did that and suffered when they didn’t.
So why was America established and for what purpose has God blessed our nations and us? Is it not for the same purpose we have been blessed and protected and sustained as a nation? So should we expect to be protected when we turn from Him? Should we expect to be able to protect ourselves and continue to prosper when we deny Him and do those very things that He has told us not to and refuse to do those things He has told us to do? Are we any better than Israel? NO WE ARE NOT!!
When I was a small boy I remember wondering out of our yard and going down the street to play with a group of boys near the neighborhood store. I didn’t ask my mother if I could go so she didn’t know where I went. Awhile later I saw it was starting to get dark but ½ way home I saw her coming to me with a stick. I knew what that meant. I can still see the look in her eyes and feel the sting of that stick on my back side. It really didn’t hurt that much but the regret of knowing I worried and disappointed her and did her wrong is still fresh in my mind. I know there are a lot of expert child psychologists who continue to preach that capital punishment scars children for life and does permanent damage to them. Well, there are examples of severe child abuse that has done that and worse. But I also remember my parent’s love for me and forgiveness they showed me as well as their love for each other and especially their love for Christ and how it impacted their lives and character and way they loved me. Sure I remember their discipline but I also remember their love. The discipline has served to deter me and remind me how important it was and still is to obey those wiser than me and especially obey God, who is wiser and more experienced than anyone.
The story of the prodigal is an important reminder of how easy it is for us to stray but even more important to return to where our life is renewed. Oh how much better it would have been for him, and the father, if he hadn’t left and wasted his inheritance. Squandering that money hurt the whole family – the father, himself, and even his brother he left too. The bitterness his brother fell prey to was also a consequence of his foolish and sinful actions. The damage our sins cause is never limited to ourselves but affects others who innocently were at the wrong place at the wrong time and were influenced negatively by our words or actions.
Yes, we have a lot we need to repent and seek forgiveness from. We have a lot of people we need to seek forgiveness from too, but most of all this Easter we need to come to Christ on our knees and admit our sins and seek His forgiveness first. He so wants to come to us and forgive us and establish a close fellowship with us each day. That is what He lived and died and rose to provide for you and me. The price for Him was and is far more than we realize or can comprehend. But because He paid that price, our response is simple for us. The prodigal only had to return and admit his sin. The Father ran to him and took it from there. Salvation isn’t cheap. It came at great cost, just not from us.
Published by donsdevotions
Don McDaniel - Who am I?
Hello everyone and welcome to my devotional journal blog. In order to get acquainted and help you get to know me a bit better before considering following my blog, let me give you some background. I am a 74-year-old male and a retired engineer. I worked for a major supplier of underground mining equipment for nearly 40 years before retiring in 2012. Arlene and I have been happily married since April 1978 and have two grown – married children, one granddaughter and 2 step grandsons. I joined the local United Methodist church at age 12 after accepting Christ as my Savior at age 10 during revival services in that same church in 1961, so I have been a “Born Again” Christian all my teen years and adult life. Christ has helped and guided me all that time. He guided me in choosing my wife and life’s career. My life journey has included regrets and failures, but God has picked me up and protected and spared me from life threatening consequences and dangers more times than I can recall or count. But many I do recall and encourage and motivate me to trust and follow Christ with more passion than ever.
Christmas 2011 our daughter gave Arlene and I each a devotional journal. Journals were books with devotion for each day and space to give personal impressions and thoughts related to each devotion. Her desire was to have a lasting legacy she could refer back to and share with her children and grandchildren especially after we are gone. I was touched by that gesture. My parents and Arlene’s were devout Christians, so we would have greatly treasured having that from them, so we felt a sense of urgency to honor her request. I finished my journal first and returned it to our daughter the following Christmas. I’m glad I did it then because Parkinson’s has caused my hand writing to deteriorate since then. The exercise was such a blessing for me. Discipline of keeping journal helped me gain a deeper walk with Christ and greater discipline in honoring my time of prayer and devotion with Him each day. So, I decided to continue the practice but since I could not find a paper journal I liked, I decided to create my own. I had already been receiving electronic devotions by email every day from several sources, my favorite being “Turning Point” from Dr. David Jeremiah. What I decided to do was to include devotional scripture but add my own thoughts and comments only so there would be no issue of copyright infringement. Creating and maintaining journal by computer also addressed my deteriorating handwriting ability. I started an electronic devotion journal January 1, 2013 and have been faithful to that practice every day since. I prayed about method and level of distribution. My initial intent was to only share it with my two children by email, but quickly discovered others in my family, my church, and friends from work (both retired and still working) who knew me and wanted to be included in distribution when they learned what I was doing. I now distribute by email my daily journal at the beginning of each month to over 150 friends and relatives. God has richly blessed and encouraged me.
I am concerned with the state of our church and nation, and world for that matter, believing we are living in the end times the prophets of old and Christ have talked about in scripture, so time is short. I desire to be true to my Savior and a witness to help others come to a saving knowledge of Him and equipped to share His Good News too. If my journal can encourage and help others, I believe God wants me to share it. I struggled, for a time at first, because I know many others keep similar journals but only for their own edification and do not want to share them because they are private.
However, Christ has stirred my heart to share it as a witness tool.
Our son and daughter have a long-time friend who grew up with them who we also befriended nearly 25 years ago. He had a lot of family problems, so would gravitate to our family as a refuge and eventually thought of us as his adopted parents and he as our adopted son. We lost contact with him for some time when he grew up and left home. He traveled around the U.S. and eventually ended up in Ukraine where he resided for next 10 years. He had to return to the US to renew his visa and took opportunity to recommend I begin a blog of my devotions and helped me set it up. He is also an active blogger and has been an email subscriber to my journal for several months, so he has been suggesting I expand my distribution by starting a blog to get broader exposure. After reflection and prayer, I concluded God was in this, so he is helping me set up my blog site. This brief autobiography is my first entry.
He returned to Ukraine, then resided there until circumstanced made him decide to move back to US with his young son. This biography was my first post February 29, 2016 .
I have published 600 posts from 2016-2023 automatically sent to all my Facebook friends, published on WordPress to be accessible to anyone curious or seeking a deeper walk with God. I decided to take a sebatical to prepare for a new chapter. In 2014 I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease which affects patient ability to walk, drive, do physical work, and eventually talk. By mid 2023 it became evident our home for last 42 years (previously owned by my parents for previous 44 years and by my mother's grandparents for 39 years before that) would eventually not meet my needs so we decided to sell it and move into 1st floor of a duplex we also owned that was the town school from 1855-1913. Likewise, the property was requiring more maintenance that I was no longer able to keep up with. 2023 involved selling our home and moving into apartment next door and then in early 2025 an opportunity to move closer to our daughter and granddaughter in Kentucky which was completed in May 2025. For a number of months I have been seeking direction seeking God's direction and timing to return to blogging as my journey with Parkinson's continues to unfold with God's guiding hand in mine.
I hope and pray my devotions will continue to be a blessing for you. God certainly has become closer and more real to me since started this blog in 2016. I have spent time with Him studying scripture and praying and listening and writing this journal. I will continue seeking God’s help and will welcome your input to make this site as meaningful as I can and true to God, who is motivating me to create and maintain it. I will also welcome input in order to make format more meaningful going forward.
Don & Arlene McDaniel
In His Service,
Email: mcdanieldonald769@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 600+ blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present (https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/link-to-dons-devotional-journal-entries-2013/ )
You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials. View all posts by donsdevotions
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