Liz’s Morning Devotional: Scripture selected from Upper Room
September 3, 2022
Read: John 14:1-4
1 “Don’t be troubled. Trust in God. Trust also in me. 2 My Father’s house has room to spare. If that weren’t the case, would I have told you that I’m going to prepare a place for you? 3 When I go to prepare a place for you, I will return and take you to be with me so that where I am you will be too. 4 You know the way to the place I’m going.”
Good morning! This is the day that the Lord has made! Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
It was wonderful to wake up in my own bed this morning. I praise God for safe travels for all who traveled and are continuing to travel this weekend. My family is so blessed!
These words from John 14:1-3 are very comforting and are used often in times of sadness, particularly for funerals. However, verse 4 is very interesting and thought-provoking. In fact, Thomas, in the next verse immediately says, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Do we know the way?
I would guess that most of us have had the experience where we needed to ask directions to some place. The world has changed with GPS, but before that we would try to make sense of a location from a map or many of us would simply ask someone.
First, when you ask someone for directions, we don’t always listen as well as we think we did. More importantly, the person who knows the way makes general assumptions that you “know” things. They tend to skip obvious details or use terms with which you are uncomfortable. For example, “go north for three miles.”
Now this sounds very easy, but what if you don’t know which way north is. You might laugh at that, but if you are honest I’m sure that I’m not the only one who is sometimes totally turned around and has no idea which way is north. Afterall, part of being lost is being confused.
The funniest part is that too many times we ask directions, we say ``got it,” get in our car and think, “I have no idea” or we go and make the first turn and then we think, “I have no idea.” Because I have had those issues, I appreciate Thomas voicing his thoughts in verse 5. For Jesus, who knows the way, it is obvious, but for the disciples and us we need more details. In the next verses, 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
Philip and Judas also ask for further clarification as we read the remainder of the chapter. Of course, they did not have the benefit of knowing what was to come, but we still struggle to understand. This is where we must rely upon our faith and believe that Jesus will return and take us to God. We are blessed because we are a resurrection people. Christ has died, Christ is risen and Christ will come again.
Gracious God, Thank You for loving us. You are always here. You sent Jesus, the way, the truth, and the light to guide us! Hallelujah! In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen
Thought for the day: Our joy will be made complete in heaven.
Trust and Believe! Pastor Liz
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