Daily Lesson for Monday 20th of January 2025

The incalculable depths of God’s compassionate love for humanity are manifested in Hosea. God had commanded the prophet Hosea, “ ‘Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry, for the land has committed great harlotry by departing from the Lord’ ” (Hosea 1:2, NKJV). Hosea 11:1-12 later depicts God’s relationship with His people, but with the metaphor of a loving father for his child.

Image © Educational Concepts Collection at Goodsalt.com

God’s love for His people is likened to the tender affection of a parent for a child. Scripture uses the imagery of teaching a young child to walk; taking one’s beloved child in one’s arms; healing and providing sustenance; and otherwise tenderly caring for His people. Scripture also states that God “carried” His people just “ ‘as a man carries his son’ ” (Deuteronomy 1:31, NKJV). In “His love and in His mercy He redeemed them” and “lifted them and carried them all the days of old” (Isaiah 63:9, NASB).

In contrast to God’s unwavering faithfulness, His people were repeatedly unfaithful, ultimately pushing God away and bringing judgment upon themselves and deeply grieving Him. God is compassionate, but never to the exclusion of justice. (As we will see in a later lesson, love and justice go together.)

Have you ever been so upset about something that your stomach churns? That is the kind of imagery used for the depth of God’s emotions over His people. The imagery of one’s heart turning over and compassions being kindled is idiomatic language of deep emotions, used of both God and humans.

This imagery, of compassions being kindled (kamar), is used in the case of the two women who came before Solomon, each one claiming the same baby as her own. When Solomon ordered the infant cut in two (with no intention to harm the child), this imagery described the emotional reaction of the real mother (1 Kings 3:26; compare with Genesis 43:30).

<–Sunday Tuesday–>

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25a-04-gut-wrenching-love/

Daily Lesson for Sunday 19th of January 2025

Perhaps the greatest love common to human experience is the love of a parent for a child. The Bible often uses the imagery of the parent-child relationship to depict God’s amazing compassion for people, emphasizing that God’s compassion is exponentially greater than even the deepest and most beautiful human expression of the same emotion.

Image © Jeff Preston at Goodsalt.com

According to these texts, God relates to us as His beloved children, loving us as a good father and mother love their children. Yet, as Isaiah 49:15 explains, even a human mother might “forget her nursing child” or “not have compassion on the son of her womb” (NKJV), but God never forgets His children, and His compassion never fails (Lamentations 3:22).

Notably, the Hebrew term raḥam, used for compassion here and in many other texts describing God’s abundant compassionate love, is believed to be derived from the Hebrew term for womb (raḥam). And thus, as scholars have noted, God’s compassion is a “womb-like mother-love.” Indeed, it is exponentially greater than any human compassion, even that of a mother for her newborn.

According to Jeremiah 31:20 (NKJV), God views His covenant people as His “dear son” and “pleasant child,” despite the fact that they often rebelled against Him and grieved Him. Even so, God declares, “My heart yearns for him” and “I will surely have mercy on him.” The term translated “mercy” here is the term used above for divine compassion (raḥam). Further, the phrase “My heart yearns” can be translated literally as “My innards roar.” This description is the deeply visceral language of divine emotion, signifying the profound depth of God’s compassionate love for His people. Even despite their infidelity, God continues to bestow His abundant compassion and mercy on His people and does so beyond all reasonable expectations.

<–Sabbath Monday–>

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25a-04-more-than-a-mothers-love/

Daily Lesson for Sabbath 18th of January 2025

Image © Pacific Press

Read for This Week’s Study: Psalms 103:13, Isaiah 49:15, Hosea 11:1-9, Matthew 23:37, 2 Corinthians 11:2, 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.

Memory Text:

“ ‘Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you’ ” (Isaiah 49:15, NKJV).

Emotions are often viewed as undesirable and to be avoided. For some people, emotions are intrinsically irrational, and thus, the good man or woman would not be described as “emotional.” In some ancient Greek philosophy, the idea of the “rational” man, who is (mostly) either impervious to passions or who rules over his emotions by way of unemotional reason, is prized as the ideal.

Unbridled emotions can be problematic, yes. However, God created people with the capacity for emotions, and God Himself is displayed throughout Scripture as experiencing profound emotions. If God can experience deep emotions, as the Bible consistently portrays, then emotions cannot be intrinsically bad or irrational—for the God of the Bible is perfectly good and possesses perfect wisdom.

In fact, there are beautiful truths to be garnered from the realization that God’s love for us is a deeply emotional love, but always with the caveat that though God’s love (emotional or otherwise) is perfect, it should not be thought of as identical to emotions as humans expe­rience them.

*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, January 25.

Sunday–>

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25a-04-god-is-passionate-and-compassionate/

Inside Story for Friday 17th of January 2025

By Andrew McChesney

Jong-Moon Yoon is known as the thankful deacon. The first words out of his mouth no matter the circumstances are “thank you.” When someone asks for help, he says, “Thank you.” When he faces a conflict, he says, “Thank you.” When hardships and even losses beset him, he says, “Thank you.”

The deacon at a Seventh-day Adventist church in South Korea has taken to heart the words of the apostle Paul, who said in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (NKJV). People have noticed.

Image © Pacific Press

Jong-Moon is the longtime owner of a café on a beach in Jeongdongjin, one of the most popular places to watch sunrises in South Korea, especially on New Year’s Day. Among his customers was Nanum. As a teenager, she occasionally dropped by the café to enjoy the sunrise over a simple breakfast of tea and a toasted sandwich with a fried egg, lettuce, and cheese. As she grew older, she got married and had a daughter, Azsa. The two became regular breakfast customers, and the mother was amazed at Jong-Moon’s thankfulness. When she placed an order, he said, “Thank you.” When she paid for breakfast, he said, “Thank you.” When she thanked him for the meal, he said, “Thank you.”

During one visit, she struck up a conversation and learned that he goes to church on Saturdays. She had never heard about people worshiping on Saturdays. “Can I come to church with you next Saturday?” she asked.

The next Sabbath, she and her five-year-old daughter accompanied Jong-Moon to his church, located about a 30-minute drive from his café. Church members warmly welcomed the mother and daughter, and they eagerly asked how they had learned about the church. She said she had come because of the thankful deacon.

After the church service, Nanum told Jong-Moon that she wanted to come again. “If this is a church that you attend, I will follow you,” she said.

Even though Nanum never heard the name of Jesus at the café, she saw Jesus through Jong-Moon’s thankful spirit. The gospel is not only spoken but also conveyed through a person’s life. Through Jong-Moon’s example, the young mother and her daughter started attending church regularly. Now, she is praying that her husband will join them on Sabbath mornings.

Part of this quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will help spread the gospel in South Korea. Thank you for planning a generous offering on March 29.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25a-03-inside-story-the-thankful-deacon/

Daily Lesson for Friday 17th of January 2025

Read Ellen G. White, “ ‘Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled,’ ” Pages 662–680, in The Desire of Ages.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

“The Lord is disappointed when His people place a low estimate upon themselves. He desires His chosen heritage to value themselves according to the price He has placed upon them. God wanted them, else He would not have sent His Son on such an expensive errand to redeem them. He has a use for them, and He is well pleased when they make the very highest demands upon Him, that they may glorify His name. They may expect large things if they have faith in His promises.

“But to pray in Christ’s name means much. It means that we are to accept His character, manifest His spirit, and work His works. The Saviour’s promise is given on condition. ‘If ye love Me,’ He says, ‘keep My commandments.’ He saves men, not in sin, but from sin; and those who love Him will show their love by obedience.

“All true obedience comes from the heart. It was heart work with Christ. And if we consent, He will so identify Himself with our thoughts and aims, so blend our hearts and minds into conformity to His will, that when obeying Him we shall be but carrying out our own impulses. The will, refined and sanctified, will find its highest delight in doing His service. When we know God as it is our privilege to know Him, our life will be a life of continual obedience. Through an apprecia­tion of the character of Christ, through communion with God, sin will become hateful to us.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 668.

Discussion Questions

<–Thursday

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25a-03-further-thought-to-be-pleasing-to-god/