Daily Devotions
Tuesday, June 17, 2025
Isaiah 65:1-5, 8-9 – I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for Me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek Me. I said, “Here I am, here I am,” to a nation that was not called by My Name. I spread out My hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices; a people who provoke Me to My face continually, sacrificing in gardens and making offerings on bricks; who sit in tombs, and spend the night in secret places; who eat pig’s flesh, and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels; who say, “Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.” These are a smoke in My nostrils, a fire that burns all the day …. Thus says the Lord: “As the new wine is found in the cluster, and they say, ‘Do not destroy it, for there is a blessing in it,’ so I will do for My servants’ sake, and not destroy them all. I will bring forth offspring from Jacob, and from Judah possessors of My mountains; My chosen shall possess it, and My servants shall dwell there.”
If you think about it, we have a very strange God. He doesn’t sit in a temple, waiting for people to bring Him sacrifices. No, we have a God who chases us—who calls, “Here I am, here I am!” to people who are running away from Him, who comes down into our world searching for the very people who have rebelled against Him and are hiding from Him.
Ask your non-Christian friends: Is that the way a proper God should behave? Shouldn’t He have more self-respect than to go chasing after human beings who have made it clear they want nothing to do with Him? The gods of the other world religions don’t do this. But our God—our God behaves like a lover scorned, a lover who still wants His beloved back. He is not proud, He doesn’t worry about what people will say, He does not count the cost to Himself. He comes after us anyway.
And God is never more like this than when He comes down into our world as a human baby, Jesus Christ our Savior. He came for just that reason, to rescue us and to bring us home again to God. But doing that cost Him everything—years of ministry, betrayal by a close friend, and then suffering, shame, and death on a cross. All this He went through to get us back, because He loves us. And then, on the third day afterward, Jesus rose from the dead, never to die again. He appeared to those who trusted in Him and sent them out to share the Good News with anybody who will listen—that all of us who trust in Jesus can come home to God as His forgiven children, beloved, happy, and living forever.
WE PRAY: Dear Savior, thank You for chasing me. I want to be Yours forever. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.
Reflection Questions:
- Would you keep trying with someone who hated you, or would you give up? Why?
- Why does God chase us?
- Do you want to be caught by this God? Why or why not?
Today's Readings:
Proverbs 19-21Acts 3