Respect

My wife and I had a wonderful afternoon and evening yesterday as we spent the day visiting our older son, his lovely wife, our energetic two grand daughters and their newest addition, a feisty little kitty named Sheldon!  I'm not too sure how many piggy back rides I gave, nor of the times jogging around the house with one of the girls riding on my foot and the other clutching my neck!  And the most surprising thing of all… I could walk without any soreness this morning!

We even got to visit with some old friends who used to attend our church that we hadn’t seen for about three years.  It was exciting to see the big smile of recognition that came across my wife’s face as they came in the front door!  Then to top off the evening, we had the pleasure of listening to the radio as the San Francisco Giants beat the Los Angeles Dodgers on the leisurely drive home.  All in all it was a very refreshing and relaxing day for us.  I’m sure that you would agree with me in that it sure is special to spend time with others who care for you.

This morning I read in my Bible about another individual who cares about us.  I Peter 5:7 states that “God cares for you, so turn all your worries over to him.”  (Contemporary English Version)  The King James Version encourages us to cast “all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”  The Lord had shown me quite awhile back that this particular verse possesses a two fold meaning. Firstly, that our heavenly Father cares for us, and secondly, that He takes our cares for us.  Today we’ll take a quick peek at His care for us, and tomorrow we’ll look at the secondary meaning of the verse.

Vincent’s Word Studies says that “He careth” implies “the watchful care of interest and affection.”  In plain simple wording, God is interested in us with a fatherly affection.  Our youngest daughter JoAnna, who lives in Oklahoma, had her wisdom teeth removed this last Friday.  Needless to say, as her Dad, I was very interested in how the whole process went from surgery through recovery.  I began texting her husband Jeremiah within an hour of the scheduled Doctor’s appointment.  Jeremiah was great in that he understood my concern and delightfully and dutifully sent me text, picture and video messages from the recovery room that day and then throughout the weekend.  It was almost as if I was there with them, and the continual updates kept any and all concern in check!

My concern and interest in my daughter’s situation is similar to that which God has toward us.  He is very interested in each of us, and He likes to have continual updates to assure that we are doing okay!  Another one of my commentaries expressed that the statement “he careth for you.” Literally means that He is “respecting you.”  That puts an additional twist into the meaning for me.  The other day I received a note from someone close to me who stated that he “really respected me” and thanked me for being who I am.  I have to tell you that his words were a total blessing to me!  That sincere comment from his heart just made my whole weekend!  But then I realized the twist… That respect also means that I have a responsibility to him to keep that respect, and to honor the mutual respect that I have toward him.

Since our scripture says that God respects us, we should also honor him by respecting who He is and the unlimited love and power that He has toward us as well as for us.  Think about that for a moment.  The very God of this universe respects YOU!  I mean Wow!  If that doesn’t make you want to please Him and to do what is right in His eyes, then I don’t know what will!  I guess you could say that we honor His respect for us by respecting Him and His word!

It was like the action of our youngest grand daughter Lily yesterday.  She was sitting on my lap when my wife went walking off down the hallway in their new apartment.  I looked at Lily and said “Oh, we better go help Mema!”  Lily just calmly turned back to me and said “I’ll help her Grandpa,” and with that she jumped off my lap and ambled after Piper.  A few moments later she came back into the living room hand in hand with my wife, gently and respectfully leading her and saying “This way Mema!”

That’s just like the respect that God has for us as He gently and with concern for our health and safety leads us through our daily lives.  And I for one will honor Him by listening to and following through on whatever He requires of me, just like Piper did with Lily yesterday.  Remember, “God cares for you, so turn all your worries over to him.”  It’s really not that difficult to do when you consider how much He loves, cares and respects you.  Have a great day.  Stay in tune to His Word and keep asking yourself… “What am I expecting today?”