My God takes delight in picking up the pieces.

“…we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men…” (1 Timothy 4:10 NASB).

Wow to us if God were not a Savior by nature! Wow to us if the Living God never took pleasure in picking up the pieces! Where would we be if God never took the time to save sinners? I myself can testify that I would be completely lost if God did not have compassion on my soul so many years ago. Every time I meditate on these things, I remember David asking the Lord these sort of questions as in Psalm 8, verse 4: “what is man that You take thought of him and the son of man that You care for him?” (NASB). It just blows my mind that the eternal and living God, creator of the universe, takes time to care for me, to save me, to pick up the broken pieces of my life. Certainly, there are innumerable things out there in the vast universe that He could be more interested in, and for sure, any of those things is more glorious and majestic than I am. Yet, Paul says He is the Savior of all men. God saves us by fixing us, by changing who we are into what Christ is (Roman 8:29).

It is without any doubt that this whole world is broken and unfixable by us. We ourselves are broken and cannot be fixed by our religions, by our humanistic ideas, by our governments, by our drugs and by our lies, and deceptions. Only God in Christ Jesus can fix us, and the beauty of it all is that He offers His time, resources and love to accomplish just that. I, like the apostle Paul, understand and feel humbled by the grace and kindness of my God. Why? Because before Messiah Savior saved me, I was “…a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor” (1 Timothy 1:13 NASB), and as also Paul, I declare “that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all” ( 1 Timothy 1:15 NASB). He basically came to pick up my pieces.

Even the best of us with the best circumstances in life, the best upbringing by his/her parents, the best natural talents, in the best society, that person still would be broken in a million pieces. That person would be alienated from the knowledge of God (Colossians 1:21), would not know Him (John 8:55) and would be darkened in the heart (Romans 1:21). That person still would be a sinner in need of a Savior. Thanks be to the God of Israel, the one true God, for giving Himself the task of saving sinners, even since the beginning (Genesis 3:15). Thanks be to the God of my salvation that He wasn’t content with leaving us in the state of death, brokenness, hopelessness and loss. Thanks be to His name that by His very nature, He is ” compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin” (Exodus 34:6-7 NASB). Again, thinking about the past before my Jesus and the present with Him: the things He had to deal with, the many things He was forced to put back together in me because I was in such a mess, how He bears with my infirmities, inadequacies and weaknesses, yet He is still here, caring, providing, protecting, guiding, teaching, strengthening, walking alongside me and suffering with me. Who am I, oh Lord, that you should be mindful of me or what am I that you should care for me? Indeed, the Son of God came to pick up my pieces.