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Key Bible Verse: Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion according to the greatness of his unfailing love (Lamentations 3:32). Bonus Reading: Lam. 3:22–33

My wife and I heard an angry bang. There stood a woman beating on a vending machine that refused to honor its part of the deal. Finally, in exasperation, she gave it a vicious kick. That's when it returned her money.

"Look!" my wife exclaimed. "She put her money right back in that machine."

Sure enough, she did! Why? It's simple: What was inside of that machine was so valuable to her that it overshadowed the trouble it caused to obtain it.

The same can be said about God. I remember a time about midway into the years of my Christian journey. God had blessed me. But I'd ignored my part of the deal. I'd become spiritually lazy, and just relaxed in my prosperity. Then God responded. Like a well-placed kick in the pants, His wrath came down on me. Nothing I did worked. Making simple decisions terrified me. My life had become a mess.

At my wits' end, I prayed, asking God to forgive my ungrateful attitude. I waited, anxiously, thinking of how I didn't deserve it. But my sincere regret opened the way for Him to flood me with His mercy. On the inside, I began to feel the warmth of His love embracing me.

—Howard Swann in Texas

My Response: I'll thank God for "riding" me to repent.

Thought to Apply: In confession … we open our lives to the healing, reconciling, restoring, uplifting grace of Him who loves us in spite of what we are. —Louis Cassels

Adapted from Texas by permission.

Prayer for the Week

Holy God, enable me to view sin as you do, so that I am determined to reject it.

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