Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. (Ps. 36:5)
CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES can result in twisted views. For example, those who have been abused may grow up feeling inadequate and unworthy of love. In today’s passage, we are given a peek into the mind of the abuser—even on their beds they plot evil. But even though wrongdoers can lead their victims into false beliefs, God reaches far and wide to love us and convince us to exchange the lies we believe with His truth.
What does this great exchange look like in everyday life? For cynical me, positive affirmations were a tad too formulaic until I discovered research by Dr. Masaru Emoto, who claims human consciousness has an effect on the molecular structure of water. He put water in jars and placed positive and negative words on them and exposed them to different kinds of music. After freezing the water in jars with words like love and happiness, beautiful crystals formed. But the water surrounded by negative words did not form crystals at all and displayed chaotic, fragmented structures. Dr. Emoto’s experiments speak to the human condition.
In our world, we are surrounded by wickedness and deceit. These influences constantly barrage us, causing the crystals of our hearts to be broken and confused. Praise God for His great love and faithfulness that preserves us and transforms our disordered fractures into magnificent shining crystals.
Live every day as if you are deeply loved, because you are!
Susan Browning Schulz is a Bible teacher, wife, and mom of three grown children. She lives and plays on the Etowah River in Georgia and loves leading her small group.
