Morning Devotional 071624 God is Good

Liz’s Morning Devotional: Scripture selected from Upper Room

  July 16, 2024

Psalm 33:1-5

1 All you who are righteous, shout joyfully to the LORD! It’s right for those who do right to praise God. 2 Give thanks to the LORD with the lyre! Sing praises to him with the ten-stringed harp! 3 Sing to him a new song! Play your best with joyful shouts! 4 Because the LORD’s word is right, his every act is done in good faith. 5 He loves righteousness and justice; the LORD’s faithful love fills the whole earth.

Good Morning! Sing to the Lord a new song!

Our earthly walks are filled with challenges and successes. Sometimes we are very happy, but other times we are equally sad. Along the way, we make choices. Within these choices, we find opportunities to grow. 

When we are toddlers, we eagerly accept the challenge to learn new things. How many times does a toddler fall down before they manage to walk from mom to dad? Learning to balance ourselves to ride a bike takes practice, but we endure the falls to reach the freedom that the bicycle represents. 

This pattern of persistence and triumph plays out many times in our lives. Somewhere along the way, we become weary of the “game” and think, “I want things to be easy.” If we choose this route, we lower our standards and begin to accept less of ourselves. This path leads to a slippery slope, and before we realize it are wallowing in self-pity. We find ourselves asking, “How long, O Lord?”

In those times, we only see the problems, not the solutions. God provides us with everything we need and is always there for us. When we need help, God has the answers. I would love to assure you that things will be easy, but nothing worth having is easy. We learn to endure the challenges to find the joy of God's glory. When we look for what is good, lovely, and holy, we see rainbows instead of storm clouds. Open your eyes and look for God all around you. 

Truthful God, Thank you for creating us. We think that we want things to be easy, but you know that the challenges build our strength to endure whatever obstacles we face. Thank you for loving us. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen

Thought for the day: Look and find signs of God’s love.

God is Good! Pastor Liz