Today you should read: Isaiah 16
God loves His enemies… and so should we…
It doesn’t make sense. God’s love seriously has no boundaries. No matter how often we discuss it, God’s love will continue to surprise us, if we take the time to notice it. Check this out…
God has been addressing, and will continue to address “other nations.” Moab is one of those other nations. It is a nation other than His people, Israel. It’s a nation that does not pursue the one true God. Moab is an adverse nation. We see glimpses of Moab throughout the Bible at various times, but there is usually some glimpse of sin that comes along with Moab. In our chapter today, as well as in yesterday’s chapter, we see God tell of Moab’s ruin.
God has stopped their pursuits. Yet in the midst of this, God has compassion on this nation.
Today’s “Walk-a-Way”
Verse 9 and verse 11 tell us that God moans and weeps in His heart for Moab and their destruction. Even in the midst of their lack of submission, and even though God is the one who has ended their pursuits, God still cares for their souls. This tells us a lot about God, and about us.
What we learn about God: God loves people. He brings discipline out of love. He desires not only to restore “His people”, but He desires to bring hope to the whole world (even “other” nations). God is not sinfully bitter towards people who disobey Him. God pursues people who fail to love Him back, whom He knows will leave Him, and who become slaves to their own sin. God’s love is seriously unconditional and perfect.
What we learn about us: We need to love our enemies. We need to pray for those who persecute us. We need to pursue people with the love of Jesus even if they have hurt us. We need to avoid thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought, and being so easily hurt, and instead we should have compassion. We should fight bitterness and actively seek to have a compassionate heart like God. And we should pursue people of “other nations.” We should not be so content with our “church friends” that we forget about the disobedient “nations” around us. We should help the lost people in our lives to end their vain pursuits and live for Jesus.
Today, I am going to try to learn from God’s example and pursue my “enemies” in love. How about you?
Posted by: Sam Cirrincione
JumpstartCPC.com 
Good word today, Sam! I have some “other nations” people in my life who, quite honestly, I’ve considered to be a thorn in the side. I need to see them as God sees them with compassion and love. Thanks for the reminder to see those folks through the eyes of Christ.
Thanks for your input, Mike!