Liz’s Morning Devotional: Scripture selected from Upper Room
September 17, 2024
Matthew 6:25-34
25 “Therefore, I say to you, don’t worry about your life, what you’ll eat or what you’ll drink, or about your body, what you’ll wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds in the sky. They don’t sow seed or harvest grain or gather crops into barns. Yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth much more than they are? 27 Who among you by worrying can add a single moment to your life? 28 And why do you worry about clothes? Notice how the lilies in the field grow. They don’t wear themselves out with work, and they don’t spin cloth. 29 But I say to you that even Solomon in all of his splendor wasn’t dressed like one of these. 30 If God dresses grass in the field so beautifully, even though it’s alive today and tomorrow it’s thrown into the furnace, won’t God do much more for you, you people of weak faith? 31 Therefore, don’t worry and say, ‘What are we going to eat?’ or ‘What are we going to drink?’ or ‘What are we going to wear?’ 32 Gentiles long for all these things. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 Instead, desire first and foremost God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore, stop worrying about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Good Morning! It’s a good day to be a duck!
Once again, we are back to worrying. If there were a PhD in worrying, many of us would have earned it many times over. Perhaps we could fill the office walls with diplomas for facets of worry. We worry about things we did in the past, the present, and even the future. We worry about what others will think, and we even worry about things over which we have no control.
Remember how it feels when a worry finally resolves itself? I am euphoric and filled with energy. I feel like skipping and dancing all at the same time. So if it feels so good to release a worry, why do we hold on to worry that we could give away to God?
I believe that God willingly accepts and manages our worries, but we are too proud or stubborn to truly let them go. How many times do you choose to do something yourself because you can’t trust anyone else to do it the way you would do it? Obviously, we believe that our way is the best, so any other way must be substandard.
Oh, how high and mighty we must think we are! Do we really believe that we know better than God? Perhaps, we fear how the worry will be resolved, so we work to manipulate the pieces to the very end.
God provides us with truths that Jesus shared during his earthly walk. This I know: God’s ways are not our ways, and God’s time is not our time. My goal is to give myself the grace to let go of my worries and embrace the feeling of peace that follows.
Faithful God, Thank you for creating us. We are your children. Thank you for providing for our needs even when we lack the trust and patience to see the results. Thank you! In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen
Thought for the day: When worried, remember that God provides the answer.
Let go and let God! Pastor Liz
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