Kari’s Question
GOD VALUES PERSEVERANCE BECAUSE GOD PERSEVERES WITH US.
Bible Reading of the Day: Read Deuteronomy 31:1-6.
Verse of the Day: “[Love] always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” (1 Corinthians 13:7, NIV).
Mom tucked Kari into bed and sat down beside her on the edge of the bed.
“Mom,” Kari asked, “do you ever get tired of being a mommy?”
Mom raised her eyebrows at her daughter’s interesting question-particularly since she asked at the end of a day that had been hard and tiring for Mom. “Well,” Mom answered honestly, “sometimes I get tired of cooking dinner and doing laundry and making beds.”
“I thought you liked doing those things,” Kari said innocently.
Mom chuckled. “No, sweetheart,” she said. “Sometimes those tasks are harder than at other times; but doing laundry and making beds are never my first choices of what I’d like to do.”
“Then why do you do those things?”
“Because they need to be done,” Mom answered. “But even when I’m tired of doing all that, I’m still not tired of being your mommy.”
“You’re not?” Kari asked.
Mom shook her head as she played with a strand of Kari’s hair. “Kari,” she said softly, “do you think God ever gets tired of being God?”
Kari’s mouth dropped open as if she were surprised by the question. Her forehead wrinkled in thought, and she twitched her nose as she always did when she was thinking. “I think he gets tired of us doing bad things and saying bad words,” she said in her tiny voice. She paused for a moment before continuing. “But I don’t think he gets tired of being God.”
Mom smiled and nodded. “I don’t think so, either,” she said, “and even if he does, he won’t give up because he loves us. The Bible says that love always perseveres.”
“What does that mean?” Kari asked.
Mom touched noses with her daughter. “It means God will never leave us or fail us. He’ll never get tired of being God and give up.”
“I’m glad,” Kari said, “because if he did get tired, who would take his place?” “I don’t know,” Mom said, laughing. “I don’t know.”
TO DISCUSS: The verse Mom referred to in the story above is the “Verse of the Day.” What are some other ways of saying that God perseveres? (He’ll never give up, never leave us, never forsake us, never fail us.) How does it make you feel to know that God perseveres for you and with you?
TO PRAY: “Thank you, God, for never giving up on us.”