When I was growing up, my Dad never paid anyone to do anything. He really could do everything. He did electrical work, plumbing, furnace repair, auto repair, he installed roofing, and anything else that needed to be done. He didn't necessarily like it, he did it because he was raised during the Great Depression of the 1920s and couldn't bring himself to pay anyone else to do it. When he had a project to do around the house, he could get pretty cranky with the rest of us. Sadly, sometimes I share that trait. I was thinking about that recently and these two passages came to mind. The first is from Psalm 36:8, written by David.

They feast on the abundance of Your house, and You give them drink from Your river of delights.

The second was written by the prophet Jeremiah, Chapter 21:3.

The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with loving devotion.

When my Dad was doing the things that needed to be done, he would sometimes lose his temper with us. But that’s not what God does. He loves us through and redeems us from our destructive waywardness. We’re not God’s project—we’re His family. In today's passages we are reminded that God lavishes His relentless, redeeming love on us. We "drink from His river of delights" and He loves us with "everlasting love" drawing us to Himself with "loving devotion."

Can you get your mind around that? Rejoice! Today, you aren't God's project—you're his delight...and that is very Good News!