God’s Ideal

Meditations for Seeking the Life in Christ

Daily Thoughts 

January 15, 2025

God’s Ideal

He will not crush the weakest reed

    or put out a flickering candle.

Isaiah 42:3a

Read Isaiah 42:1-8

I believe one of the most tender, and compelling images in the Bible is in Genesis 3 where we learn that “When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden.” (Gen 3:8) God wanted to walk through His garden with Adam and Eve in the cool of the evening. That, I believe, is God’s ideal for humankind. God wants fellowship with his people.

Adam and Eve hid from God because they knew they had sinned against Him. The rest of the Bible is the story of how God built a bridge so humankind can return to His garden and walk with Him in the cool of the evening. The bridge is God’s son, Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Today’s reading describes the tenderness in which Jesus will shepherd God’s people into fellowship with God, our Heavenly Father. I see a dichotomy in the Christian Faith. In response to all that God has done to rescue us from sin and death, we are called to “show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe, for indeed our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:28-29 NRSV)

And, within our response of reverence and awe, we are also called friends of God (ex., Romans 5:11), and as such God’s ideal for us is to enjoy fellowship with Him in the cool of the evening.

My Takeaway: “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” (Philippians 2:13) In this verse, doing what pleases God includes walking in friendship with our Creator.

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

 

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2025 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.