Weekly Devotional: God, Our Lover
from the September 27, 2026 message
Speaker: Pastor Timmy Rotter
Day 1: Unwanted But Found
Reading: Ezekiel 16:1-8
Devotional:
Apart from God, we are like the abandoned child in Ezekiel's vision — exposed, helpless, and without value in the eyes of the world. Yet the God who created galaxies and orders the migrations of salmon chose to pass by, to notice you, and to say "live." This was not because you earned his attention or impressed him with your worth. He acted purely out of his own covenant love. Before you had anything to offer, he saw you in your most vulnerable state and called you his own. Sit with that today. You were found before you knew you were lost.
Reflection:
Where in your life have you felt unwanted or overlooked? How does it change your perspective to know that God saw you there and chose you anyway?
Application:
Write down one area of your life where you have struggled to believe God sees you. Bring it before him in prayer today and ask him to make his presence real to you in that place.
Day 2: Adorned and Restored
Reading: Ezekiel 16:9-14; Ruth 2:8-12
Devotional:
God does not rescue us simply to leave us surviving on the margins. In Ezekiel's vision, the abandoned child is not merely sheltered — she is washed, clothed in fine linen, adorned with jewelry, and given the best food. This is the picture of what God intends for those he calls his own: not barely enough, but abundance. The story of Ruth and Boaz mirrors this same truth. Boaz had every reason to pass Ruth by, yet he chose to redeem her and give her full rights in his household. This is the doctrine of adoption taken to its fullest expression. God does not bring us in to leave us in the hallway.
Reflection:
Do you tend to see yourself as a servant in God's household or as someone with full rights and belonging? What might be shaping that view?
Application:
Read Romans 8:15-17, which describes how we receive the spirit of adoption and are called co-heirs with Christ. Spend time today thanking God for one specific way he has provided for or restored you.
Day 3: The Wandering Heart
Reading: Ezekiel 16:15-22; Hosea 2:6-8
Devotional:
The most sobering part of Ezekiel 16 is not the abandonment at the beginning — it is the betrayal in the middle. God lavished his love and provision on his people, and they took those very gifts and offered them to idols. It is easy to read that and feel distant from it, but the sermon asks the right question: do you worship other things? Achievement, approval, wealth, relationships, social media — none of these would call themselves a god, but when they become the source of our identity and value, that is precisely what they are. The wandering heart is not just an ancient problem. It is the condition of every human being who has not placed God at the center.
Reflection:
What are the things in your life that compete most consistently for the place that belongs to God? Be honest rather than quick.
Application:
Identify one idol — something you are drawing life, identity, or security from apart from God. Confess it specifically in prayer today and ask God to reorder your affections.
Day 4: The Pursuing God
Reading: Ezekiel 16:59-63; Luke 15:11-24
Devotional:
After cataloguing every act of unfaithfulness in Ezekiel 16, God does something that should stop us in our tracks. He says, "Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you." Not despite what you have done, but after all of it — the running, the rejection, the wasted gifts — he still pursues. This is the same God who, in Jesus' parable, has a father who sees his returning son while he is still a long way off and runs to meet him. God is not waiting for you to clean yourself up before he moves toward you. He is already moving. The question is simply whether you will turn and let him reach you.
Reflection:
Have you ever felt that you had gone too far or done too much for God to still want you? What does Ezekiel 16:59-63 say to that feeling?
Application:
If there is an area of your life where you have been running from God, take one step back toward him today. It does not have to be dramatic. A prayer, a confession, a conversation with a trusted believer — one step is enough.
Day 5: Fully Known, Fully Loved
Reading: Psalm 37:3-7; Romans 8:38-39
Devotional:
The deepest longing of the human heart is to be completely known and still completely loved. Our culture chases this through relationships, achievement, and self-presentation, but none of those can deliver what only God can. The gospel is the only place in all of human experience where you are fully known — every failure, every blemish, every regretful decision — and fully loved at the same time. God does not love a cleaned-up version of you. He loves you as you actually are, and he proved it at the cross. Psalm 37 invites us to delight in this God, and when we do, he begins to align our desires with his own. This is not religion. This is relationship with the ultimate lover of your soul.
Reflection:
What would it look like practically for you to delight in God this week — not as a discipline to check off, but as a genuine response to who he is and what he has done?
Application:
Spend at least ten minutes outside today. Follow the example from the sermon and simply observe what God has made. Let creation point you back to the Creator. Then, as you close that time, tell him one specific thing that you find beautiful about who he is.
Speaker: Pastor Timmy Rotter
Day 1: Unwanted But Found
Reading: Ezekiel 16:1-8
Devotional:
Apart from God, we are like the abandoned child in Ezekiel's vision — exposed, helpless, and without value in the eyes of the world. Yet the God who created galaxies and orders the migrations of salmon chose to pass by, to notice you, and to say "live." This was not because you earned his attention or impressed him with your worth. He acted purely out of his own covenant love. Before you had anything to offer, he saw you in your most vulnerable state and called you his own. Sit with that today. You were found before you knew you were lost.
Reflection:
Where in your life have you felt unwanted or overlooked? How does it change your perspective to know that God saw you there and chose you anyway?
Application:
Write down one area of your life where you have struggled to believe God sees you. Bring it before him in prayer today and ask him to make his presence real to you in that place.
Day 2: Adorned and Restored
Reading: Ezekiel 16:9-14; Ruth 2:8-12
Devotional:
God does not rescue us simply to leave us surviving on the margins. In Ezekiel's vision, the abandoned child is not merely sheltered — she is washed, clothed in fine linen, adorned with jewelry, and given the best food. This is the picture of what God intends for those he calls his own: not barely enough, but abundance. The story of Ruth and Boaz mirrors this same truth. Boaz had every reason to pass Ruth by, yet he chose to redeem her and give her full rights in his household. This is the doctrine of adoption taken to its fullest expression. God does not bring us in to leave us in the hallway.
Reflection:
Do you tend to see yourself as a servant in God's household or as someone with full rights and belonging? What might be shaping that view?
Application:
Read Romans 8:15-17, which describes how we receive the spirit of adoption and are called co-heirs with Christ. Spend time today thanking God for one specific way he has provided for or restored you.
Day 3: The Wandering Heart
Reading: Ezekiel 16:15-22; Hosea 2:6-8
Devotional:
The most sobering part of Ezekiel 16 is not the abandonment at the beginning — it is the betrayal in the middle. God lavished his love and provision on his people, and they took those very gifts and offered them to idols. It is easy to read that and feel distant from it, but the sermon asks the right question: do you worship other things? Achievement, approval, wealth, relationships, social media — none of these would call themselves a god, but when they become the source of our identity and value, that is precisely what they are. The wandering heart is not just an ancient problem. It is the condition of every human being who has not placed God at the center.
Reflection:
What are the things in your life that compete most consistently for the place that belongs to God? Be honest rather than quick.
Application:
Identify one idol — something you are drawing life, identity, or security from apart from God. Confess it specifically in prayer today and ask God to reorder your affections.
Day 4: The Pursuing God
Reading: Ezekiel 16:59-63; Luke 15:11-24
Devotional:
After cataloguing every act of unfaithfulness in Ezekiel 16, God does something that should stop us in our tracks. He says, "Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you." Not despite what you have done, but after all of it — the running, the rejection, the wasted gifts — he still pursues. This is the same God who, in Jesus' parable, has a father who sees his returning son while he is still a long way off and runs to meet him. God is not waiting for you to clean yourself up before he moves toward you. He is already moving. The question is simply whether you will turn and let him reach you.
Reflection:
Have you ever felt that you had gone too far or done too much for God to still want you? What does Ezekiel 16:59-63 say to that feeling?
Application:
If there is an area of your life where you have been running from God, take one step back toward him today. It does not have to be dramatic. A prayer, a confession, a conversation with a trusted believer — one step is enough.
Day 5: Fully Known, Fully Loved
Reading: Psalm 37:3-7; Romans 8:38-39
Devotional:
The deepest longing of the human heart is to be completely known and still completely loved. Our culture chases this through relationships, achievement, and self-presentation, but none of those can deliver what only God can. The gospel is the only place in all of human experience where you are fully known — every failure, every blemish, every regretful decision — and fully loved at the same time. God does not love a cleaned-up version of you. He loves you as you actually are, and he proved it at the cross. Psalm 37 invites us to delight in this God, and when we do, he begins to align our desires with his own. This is not religion. This is relationship with the ultimate lover of your soul.
Reflection:
What would it look like practically for you to delight in God this week — not as a discipline to check off, but as a genuine response to who he is and what he has done?
Application:
Spend at least ten minutes outside today. Follow the example from the sermon and simply observe what God has made. Let creation point you back to the Creator. Then, as you close that time, tell him one specific thing that you find beautiful about who he is.