Consider the Source: Returning to the God Who Has Always Known You
There is a phrase most people have heard at some point in their lives: "Consider the source." It usually comes up when someone has said something hurtful, when words have stung or silence has cut even deeper. The advice is simple — before you let something destroy you, think carefully about where it is coming from.
But what if we turned that phrase in an entirely different direction? What if the real challenge is not just dismissing the wrong voices, but actively returning our attention to the right one? What if the source we most need to consider is God himself — who he is, how long he has been at work, and what he has already planned for every single day of your life?
That is the invitation worth accepting today.
You Were Known Before You Were Formed
Psalm 139 contains one of the most staggering declarations in all of Scripture. The psalmist writes that God knit each person together in the womb, that his eyes saw the unformed body, and that every single day was already written in his book before even one of them came to be. This is not poetry meant to be admired from a distance. It is a truth meant to be lived inside of.
God has not been catching up to your life. He has been ahead of it the entire time. Every season of confusion, every moment of feeling forgotten, every circumstance that seemed like a dead end — none of it caught him off guard. Our times are in his hands, and that changes everything about how we face what is in front of us.
The "But God" Moment That Changes Everything
Ephesians 2 opens with an unflinching description of where humanity stands apart from God. Dead in trespasses and sins. Following the course of a world that runs in the wrong direction. Carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind. Children of wrath by nature. It is not a flattering picture, but it is an honest one.
And then come two of the most powerful words in the entire Bible: but God.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, made us alive together with Christ. That pivot point is not just a theological concept. It is a personal moment that every person either has experienced or desperately needs to experience. There is a before and an after, and the difference between them is the grace of a God who refused to leave us where we were.
The question worth sitting with is this: Have you had your "but God" moment? Not just knowing about him, but surrendering to him. Not just admiring the story, but stepping into it.
Staying the Course When the Circumstances Are Against You
The life of Joseph is one of the most dramatic illustrations in Scripture of what it looks like to trust God when everything appears to be going wrong. Sold into slavery by his own brothers. Imprisoned. Forgotten. And yet, when the moment came and he stood before those same brothers with every reason in the world to seek revenge, his response was remarkable. In Genesis 50:20, he tells them that what they intended for harm, God intended for good, for the saving of many lives.
That is not the conclusion of a man who lost sight of God in the middle of his suffering. That is the declaration of someone who kept considering the source even when the circumstances argued against it. God was not absent during Joseph's imprisonment. He was working. He is always working.
Hebrews 12:3 calls us to consider Jesus, who endured opposition from sinners, so that we will not grow weary and lose heart. The instruction is deliberate. When you feel like giving up, look at him. When the weight of circumstance presses in, consider the source.
Praise as a Practice, Not Just a Feeling
Psalm 34 opens with a commitment that does not depend on conditions being right: "I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth." Not when things are going well. Not when the answers have arrived. At all times.
Psalm 150 takes it even further, calling for praise with trumpets, harps, timbrels, strings, cymbals, and dancing. Every instrument, every voice, everything that has breath. The picture is not one of quiet, polite acknowledgment. It is full-throated, whole-hearted worship.
There is something that shifts in the spirit when a person chooses to praise God in the middle of a storm. It does not always change the storm immediately, but it changes the one standing in it. Praise reorients the soul toward the source of all strength, all comfort, and all hope.
Comfort That Was Never Meant to Stop With You
Second Corinthians 1:3-4 describes God as the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles. But the passage does not stop there. There is a purpose embedded right in the middle of it: he comforts us so that we can comfort others with the same comfort we ourselves have received.
This is not a faith meant to be kept private. The comfort, the grace, the rescue — all of it is meant to flow outward. The world around us is crying for peace, and the only lasting peace available comes through faith in Jesus Christ. That is not a message to be whispered apologetically. It is news worth declaring.
Like Esther, who was reminded that she had come to her position for such a time as this, every believer carries an influence that someone in their life will respond to. The call is not to be loud for the sake of noise, but to be faithful for the sake of those who are still waiting to hear.
Come to the Fountain
God is the source of every good and perfect gift, as James 1:17 reminds us. He does not change like shifting shadows. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever — the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.
When strength runs out, there is a fountain. When words fail, there is a fountain. When the weight of life becomes too heavy to carry, there is a fountain. And the best thing anyone who has found that fountain can do is tell someone else that it is there, that it is real, and that it is open to anyone who will come.
Consider the source. He has been thinking about you longer than you know.
