Morning Devotional 071823 In the Shelter of Your Wings

Liz’s Morning Devotional: Scripture selected from Upper Room

July 18, 2023

Psalm 31:14-34

14 But me? I trust you, LORD! I affirm, “You are my God.” 15 My future is in your hands. Don’t hand me over to my enemies, to all who are out to get me! 16 Shine your face on your servant; save me by your faithful love! 17 LORD, don’t let me be put to shame because I have cried out to you. Let the wicked be put to shame; let them be silenced in death’s domain! 18 Let their lying lips be shut up whenever they speak arrogantly against the righteous with pride and contempt! 19 How great is the goodness that you’ve reserved for those who honor you, that you commit to those who take refuge in you in the sight of everyone! 20 You hide them in the shelter of your wings, safe from human scheming. You conceal them in a shelter, safe from accusing tongues. 21 Bless the LORD, because he has wondrously revealed his faithful love to me when I was like a city under siege! 22 When I was panicked, I said, “I’m cut off from your eyes!” But you heard my request for mercy when I cried out to you for help. 23 All you who are faithful, love the LORD! The LORD protects those who are loyal, but he pays the proud back to the fullest degree. 24 All you who wait for the LORD, be strong and let your heart take courage.

Good Morning, All of you who are faithful; love the Lord!

I had to go back and find what proceeded verse 14 because “but me?” raised questions as to what happened to elicit this response. The Psalm begins with David asking for mercy as he describes his current challenges and needs for refuge. Within those verses, David recounts the efforts of his enemies to slander and break him down. They were even plotting David’s death. Beginning with today’s passage, we see David affirming his faith in God.

God is our refuge! God is our source of strength in a world filled with non-believers and evil forces. I like the imagery of being hidden in the shelter of God’s wings. Through these words, I can feel the safety of being held in God’s presence. I find peace in the understanding that everything is going to be okay because God upholds his promise to protect us from all harm.

We have become a world with instantaneous expectations. The wonderful innovations of technology have removed the need to wait for many things. We have information at our fingertips, we can talk to people thousands of miles away with the push of a button, and even daily tasks like food preparation take a fraction of the time compared to our ancestors.

I appreciate and love all of these advances, but they have allowed us to become impatient with things that take time. So much of what we call beautiful and special cannot happen in a matter of minutes. Think of the beautiful flowers and delicious vegetables growing in your gardens. These things take time to come to fruition! Painting, writing, composing, reading, creating, and building all take time and patience.

What if we use the time that we gain from our modern conveniences to create things that are lovely, holy, and pure? What a wonderful world!

I see trees of green

Red roses too

I see them bloom

For me and you

And I think to myself

What a wonderful world

I see skies of blue

And clouds of white

The bright blessed day

The dark sacred night

And I think to myself

What a wonderful world

The colors of the rainbow

So pretty in the sky

Are also on the faces

Of people going by

I see friends shaking hands

Saying, "How do you do?"

They're really saying

I love you

I hear babies cry

I watch them grow

They'll learn much more

Than I'll ever know

And I think to myself

What a wonderful world

Yes, I think to myself

What a wonderful world

Loving God, We thank you! You provide us with what we need. Thank you! In the name of Christ, we pray. Amen

Thought for the day: God is faithful in fulfilling his promises.

Focus on what is good! Pastor Liz