March 25 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

God's sorrow over his runaway children was so severe that he came down to find them and bring them home.

God came to us in Jesus Christ. Jesus is not merely one of us who points to God as the way out. Jesus came from God, and he himself is our way out.

In Jesus Christ, God came to seek and save what was lost. Of course God first looked for his son Israel, for Israel was the one on whom he had spent so much love, the one to whom he had spoken so often.

After all those years of calling, seeking, and pleading, Christ spoke the sorrowful words: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem . . . how often I have longed to gather your children together . . . and you were not willing." And still the people did not understand. Their faces remained blank when they saw the tears of God in the eyes of Jesus.

Humanity is not suffering under a heavenly arch of cold blue steel, as some philosophers have thought. God's sorrow is revealed in his Word. And heaven's compassion became flesh and blood in Jesus' words and deeds. He has cried out for us, but so few have answered.

This is the sorrow of love. Those who do not love do not know this sorrow.

Parents know it. Children never fully realize what is in the hearts of their parents until they have children of their own. Yet much parental pain is downright worldly. It is hurt pride. It may still be noble, but it is not Christian. Christian sorrow springs from Christian love. It is of one piece with the love and sorrow of God and Christ.

The worst pain Christian parents suffer is when their children leave God. Whatever else their children may possess or become, that pain is not healed. By the same token, the joy of Christian parents whose children walk in the ways of the Lord is deep and lasting. Nothing is right if we aren't right with God. But everything will be all right if we only cling to God.

REFLECTION

What does the "sorrow of love" mean? How does this phrase describe "the Man of sorrows," Jesus Christ?

Andrew Kuyvenhoven's Daylight, a modern devotional classic, was originally published by Paideia Press in 1977. This updated edition is copyright 2009 by Faith Alive Christian Resources. You can order a copy of this revised version of the book directly from the publisher.

A man of many accomplishments, Andrew Kuyvenhoven is probably best known for his contributions to Today (formerly The Family Altar), a widely-used monthly devotional booklet associated with the Back to God Hour. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations for this updated edition of Daylight are from the Holy Bible: Today's New International Version copyright 2001, 2005 by the International Bible Society.