Liz’s Morning Devotional: Scripture selected from Upper Room
November 26, 2024
Psalm 139:13-18
13 You are the one who created my innermost parts; you knit me together while I was still in my mother’s womb. 14 I give thanks to you that I was marvelously set apart. Your works are wonderful—I know that very well. 15 My bones weren’t hidden from you when I was being put together in a secret place, when I was being woven together in the deep parts of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my embryo, and on your scroll every day was written that was being formed for me, before any one of them had yet happened. 17 God, your plans are incomprehensible to me! Their total number is countless! 18 If I tried to count them—they outnumber grains of sand! If I came to the very end—I’d still be with you.
Good Morning! Welcome home!
Do you remember Norm from the 80s sitcom Cheers? The theme song included the words Where everybody knows your name
And they're always glad you came
You wanna go where everybody knows your name
Home is one of those places where everybody knows your name. There is comfort in that, but there is also vulnerability. Going home means returning to a place where you are an open book.
When we leave home and start a new life—a grown-up life or a career—we start with a clean slate. Unless you share your shortcomings, no one knows about the time when you tripped up the steps to the stage to receive an award, the two black eyes you received when you angered your best friend, the crooked nose that was fixed with surgery, or the hillbilly accent you have worked to overcome.
There is loneliness in that new life where no one knows your name. When we create a new persona, we must keep up our guard so that those skeletons don’t tumble out of the closet. We can never fully relax because we want to be this new person.
God knows us intimately in a way no person can. God knows our flaws, broken teeth, and unsophisticated accents but loves us for who we are. We can be ourselves when we develop a relationship with God because God created us. Of course, we must give ourselves the same grace that God freely gives because there are no secrets with God.
Jesus invites us to come home and feel the love where everybody knows our name.
Dear Lord, We are your children! Like children playing peek-a-boo, we try to hide our faults from you, O God. Help us relax and embrace your love. Praise be to God! Thank you! In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen
Thought for the day: God loves us every day!
God is waiting to welcome us home! Pastor Liz
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