Do the ThingEsimerkki

Heaven on Our Hearts

When I was in my early twenties, I was waiting on a lot of dreams to come true. I believed God had gifted me to write and to speak, but was discipling a group of college girls in my living room enough? I believed He wanted me to be a wife, but were any of my dates ever going to lead me to the right husband?

Feeling weary, I sat in church one morning desperately needing a dose of hope. I began telling God how I really felt: let down by my life circumstances. That’s when the Holy Spirit spoke to me and asked, “Rebecca, who do you know that I am?”

I mentally began listing off everything I knew to be true about God: He is sufficient, all-knowing, faithful, omnipresent, a provider, a sustainer, a deliverer … And you know what I realized? These aspects of His character were truer than true and could never be compromised. While life might have let me down in that season, God had not.

Suddenly, 2 Timothy 2:13 had a whole new meaning for me: “If we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself.” In other words, God’s faithfulness didn’t hinge on my ability to notice it in that season of disappointment.

Because of the brokenness we experience in this world, it’s easy to become discouraged, burned out, and even cynical about the path we’ve been given. When we lose sight of eternity, we can end up chasing quick wins and temporal rewards.

But with heaven on our hearts, we can lay aside the temporary for the eternal. Hebrews 12:1-2 reminds us to “lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.”

Perhaps you’ve lost sight of God’s character in your current season. Maybe you have taken steps to do the thing, but you haven’t seen the progress you anticipated. If you came to this devotion feeling weary today, remember that God’s character remains, always. And He is bringing everything together for your good … in His divine timing.

God, thank you that You remain faithful to me even when I feel lonely, doubtful, or even despairing. Help me to know You more and more, no matter what my life circumstances look like. Amen.