A few weeks ago, I brought home a Russian Tortoise. Since then, I have fallen more in love with this shelled creature than I thought was possible. I needed him in more ways than one, only I didn't know it until I had him. 

The other day, I decided to take him on a walk. Imagine a tortoise on a leash and that was the scene as we slowly walked across the driveway together. When we got back home, I had him out on the deck with me, watching him closely as he explored his new surroundings. Sometime later, I needed both my attention and my hands free, so I took him back inside and placed him in his enclosure: a 50 gallon plastic tote that he can't see out of. 

As I went about what I needed to do, I stopped to check in on him every now and then. Each time I did, he was as high as he could get in the enclosure. One time he was on top of his log, while the next he was standing in the plant with his body pressed flat against the wall. He seemed restless. He had tasted freedom and was trying to escape.

But he couldn't. The walls were too high and there was nothing for him to grab onto for climbing out. He was helpless. Only I could free him.

How many times have we tasted freedom, only to be enslaved again? How many times has our Master set us free, only to find ourselves being put back in our prison? Just a few weeks ago, I was basking in the fact that I had been set free from something. Then, before I knew it, tempting thoughts and feelings were assaulting me and I was in a fight. There was one particular moment when thoughts of going back were swirling in my head. I found myself shouting, "No! I have been set free from that!" Scripture says, "He whom the son has set free is free indeed." I was free indeed, and not about to allow myself to be put back into slavery. 

Yet, sometimes it happens. Sometimes I find myself back in my prison, unable to free myself. It’s then that I need Jesus to lead me again to freedom. And thankfully, He is faithful to lead me every time. 

More Than the Sand

There are a few people in my life whom I care about deeply and think about often. I'm sure you have them in your life, too. And I also have a few people in my life who know me pretty well. They know my likes and dislikes, my quirks and even my faults. You probably have a few of those people in your life, too. Those are the people who can read me like an open book. 

However, as much as they care about me and I about them, our knowledge of one another is limited. We can never know all there is to know about one another. There is only One Who knows all there is to know about us and Who cares about us more than anyone who loves us ever could. 

I was reading Psalm 40 today and was struck by verse 5. It reads, "Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works which You have done; and Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered" (NKJV). David wrote similar words in Psalm 139:17-18: "How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand..." (NKJV). 

If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand. 

 I don't know about you, but it leaves me dumbstruck to read that someone, anyone, would think of me that much. And yet, He does. If you look at a small sampling of sand, even that is an innumerable amount. And yet, His thoughts about us outnumber all of the grains of sand.

Scripture also says that He knows the number of hairs we have on our head (Luke 12:7, Matt. 10:30). My best friend doesn't even know that about me. I don't know that about me! Yet He does! He loves us and cares about us so much that even the number of hairs on our head matter to Him and are known by Him. When one falls out, He's aware of that. I'm not even aware of that! 

We are loved and known and cared about more deeply than we realize. I cannot begin to comprehend His love and tender care for me. There's a song by Steffany Gretzinger called, "No One Ever Cared for Me Like Jesus." This, my friend, is the truth. There is no one we have ever known who has ever cared for us like Jesus. No one ever has and no one ever will. It is more than we can comprehend, but it is the truth. It's incredible to think that the one person in your life who loves you and cares for you more than any other does not love you nor care for you like Jesus. He is the One Who promises to never leave you nor forsake you. He promises to take care of you. He is the only one worthy of your affection. He is the God who loves. He is the God who cares. He is the God who sees and knows and is there. 

And He thinks about you more than all the grains of sand.