Liz’s Morning Devotional: Scripture selected from Upper Room
October 25, 2023
Psalm 147:1-11
1 Praise the LORD! Because it is good to sing praise to our God! Because it is a pleasure to make beautiful praise! 2 The LORD rebuilds Jerusalem, gathering up Israel’s exiles. 3 God heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds. 4 God counts the stars by number, giving each one a name. 5 Our Lord is great and so strong! God’s knowledge can’t be grasped! 6 The LORD helps the poor but throws the wicked down on the dirt! 7 Sing to the LORD with thanks; sing praises to our God with a lyre! 8 God covers the skies with clouds; God makes rain for the earth; God makes the mountains sprout green grass. 9 God gives food to the animals, even to the baby ravens when they cry out. 10 God doesn’t prize the strength of a horse; God doesn’t treasure the legs of a runner. 11 No. The LORD treasures the people who honor him, the people who wait for his faithful love.
Good Morning. It is good to sing praise to the Lord, our God!
When I was young, students had to buy their books for school. I remember each August, the local markets would have boxes of textbooks sitting around so that you could buy the books for your grade level. Families with multiple children would save the books for the younger siblings to use when they reached that grade. I was the oldest child, so the most advanced books at my house were for my grade level, but my best friend had older brothers and sisters, so they had many books from which to choose.
My friends would gather in the summer to play school. We would take turns being the teacher and the students. Occasionally, we would pick up one of the advanced books and imagine that we knew what all those weird math symbols meant or how the really complicated words were pronounced. After a few minutes of pretending, we would laugh and return to the books we understood. Even though we didn’t yet understand what was in these books, we dreamed of the day we could understand what was on the pages.
This is how I feel about much of God’s mystery. I don’t yet understand, but I take comfort that one day, I will see God face-to-face and find the answers I have been seeking. How can God intimately know each part of creation? God names and cares for the stars, the sparrows, and even me. I am not ready to make sense of all that God sees and does, but one day, my eyes will be opened, and God will reveal the mysteries and glories that I seek to find.
Awesome God, We love you! We like to pretend we know things that are beyond our comprehension. Sometimes this gets us into trouble. Thank you for being ready to rescue us in our times of need and confusion. Thank you for loving us. In the name of Christ, we pray. Amen
Thought for the day: In God’s time, we will find the answers we seek.
Give Praise to God! Pastor Liz
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