More From Teresa Todt

As I read and study scripture each day, I often feel praise and thanksgiving well up inside of me.  God’s goodness, faithfulness, mercy, and love for his children shine through the words I read.  Scripture gives me hope and strength.  I might be discouraged before I sit down at my prayer desk, but soon that discouragement gives way to a quiet peace, a deep joy, and trust in God’s will for my life.

There are other times, however, when I feel conviction as I read God’s word, as was the case when I wrote the devotion “Choose Mercy Instead.”  Realizing that I, like Solomon, had “idols”—things I put before God—was a troubling awareness revealed to me by the account in 1 Kings 11.  With God’s help, I learned I can change those things which are displeasing to God and can know God’s forgiveness and mercy anew as I experience the sweet side of surrendering to God’s will while confronting my failings.  Turning from sin with the realization that it separates me from God is difficult but necessary, I learned, if I’m to grow in my faith.

Scripture tells us in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 that “all scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (NIV).  Writing my devotional helped me more fully grasp the magnitude of those words.  God uses everything for our good (see Rom. 8:28).  Even the ugliness of sin has the power to transform my life and better prepare me to be used by God.  I’m so thankful for all of scripture and for the many ways God uses it to redeem my heart.  The peace and joy I discover in the pages of the Bible are life-changing, but as I learned in the account of Solomon, the scriptures that lovingly convict me change my heart as well.