October 26, 2025 Devo

I love action movies. Lots of shooting, lots of explosions, lots of martial arts fighting, that kind of stuff. I especially like action movies where the bad guy “gets his” in the end. You know, he makes life miserable for everyone and gets away with everything until the very last scene. That’s when the hero mops the floor with him and saves the day. There’s something extremely gratifying to me about justice prevailing and seeing the guilty punished. And punished HARD.
But as I was reading these verses, I realized how far I am from having the heart of God. As bad as the people were, He pitied them. Their destruction did not bring Him joy. It brought Him sadness. God didn’t want them “to get theirs.” He wanted them to get “His.” His Grace. His Forgiveness. His Peace. His Blessing. He didn’t want them to get what they deserved. He wanted them to get what they didn’t deserve. Him. And it broke His heart when they didn’t.
That’s what God wants for us, too. He doesn’t want us to suffer the consequences of disobeying Him. He doesn’t want us to mess up our lives and end up in a heap on the side of the road somewhere. He doesn’t want us to destroy our relationships and end up all alone. He doesn’t want us to be dominated by addictions and lose our jobs, lose our families, and decimate our bodies. It brings Him no joy when we stay on the dead-end trail and then finally “get ours.” It breaks His heart. He wants us to get “His.”
That’s why you hear His voice whispering to you even when you haven’t talked to Him in a long, long time. That’s why you feel that nudge in your heart, even though you’ve ignored it time and time again. That’s why He keeps bringing people into your life to call you back, call you out, and remind you that yours is a life worth saving. And so is that horrible person that you’ve been hoping crashes and burns. God doesn’t want you to hate them. He wants you to pity them.
Remember that the next time you’re suffering from yet one more stupid thing you did. Remember that the next time your poor decisions catch up with you. Remember that the next time you’re reaping what you’ve sown, and you’ve made a mess again. Look to Him. He’s not mad at you. He’s SAD for you. His heart is not full of punishment. It’s full of pity. Cry out to Him and He will hear your desperate cry. Even if you’ve messed up time and time again. I may like it when the bad guy gets his, but not God. God doesn’t want you to “get yours.” He wants you to get “His.” That’s God’s Word for you today.