Topic: God Will Meet You Where You Are [Joyce Meyer Devotional 29 February 2020]
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And God heard the voice of the youth, and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven and said to her, What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the youth where he is.— Genesis 21:17 (AMPC)
Throughout the Bible, when people were in trouble, God met them where they were and helped them. Thank God He doesn’t wait for us to manage to make our way to Him—He comes to us!
In today’s scripture, “the youth” whose voice God hears “where he is” is Ishmael, who had been sent to the desert with his mother, Hagar. To give you some context, God had promised a child to an elderly couple named Abraham and Sarah. When years went by without them conceiving a child, Sarah asked Abraham to sleep with Hagar (her servant), and they conceived Ishmael (see Genesis 16-18). Even though Ishmael was born out of human striving, not God’s promise, God still loved and cared for him and his mother. Practically everyone in this story made some kind of mistake, but God forgave each one of them, and He never stopped working with them. He’s always faithful, even when we’re not.
God is an expert at taking our mistakes and turning them into miracles. For example, I suffered sexual abuse as a child, which was definitely a mistake—it should never have happened. But God has restored me, and He’s taken that mistake and made a ministry out of it. God met me where I was, accepted me, loved me, and healed me, and He wants to do the same for you. When you give Him your wounds and mistakes, He works them together into something beautiful!
Prayer Starter: Father, thank You for hearing and meeting me where I am, and for redeeming every mistake—both the ones I’ve made and the ones that have affected me. I invite You to restore me, and to use every piece of my past for my good. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.