Devotion
God’s thunderous storm
David Jacobs
The Lord works in mysterious ways. Have you heard this? While this may seem profound at first, if we dig deeper I think we can see that this phrase is a superficial explanation for something more meaningful. As these verses discuss, do we find it marvelous or mysterious when it rains or snows? Do we dwell on the ways that the Lord is working or do we take it more or less for granted? If we stop and take a moment to consider what we understand about our existence on Earth, we can start to appreciate how beautiful life can be. It helps us to understand our place and our own existence as well as reveal some of the mysterious ways that God is working.
Our worries are often about what God has planned for us: why won't He show us a sign? Why do we feel alone? We become anxious over things beyond our control, causing us to forget that God wants us to enjoy our time on Earth. Worship takes many forms, and one of the most important forms of worship is appreciating the natural world that God created. Rain, snow, thunder, lightning, humans, animals...instead of viewing God's plan as "mysterious", try to appreciate the wonders of His love and the infinite manifestations that we can see, feel, touch, smell, and taste.
Prayer
Take a moment from your busy life and go into nature. The next time you encounter rain, snow, sunshine, wind, plants, and animals, realize that these are all God's creations. More importantly, realize your own place among them and that you, too, are God's work.
Night Prayer
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
Inspiration
We despise the thought of a pile of dirty dishes in the sink. The outside is easy to clean; it's the caked-up residue on the inside that's so difficult to remove. Jesus compares the scribes and Pharisees with dishes that have been wiped clean on the outside while dirty inside. The Pharisees took exceptional care of their outward appearance and neglected their inward spirits. We are guilty of allowing our hearts to be left filthy as well. We look and act as we should while our souls are full of darkness. We must continue to converse with the Holy Spirit daily and trust His guidance to cleanse our sinful nature.
Prayer
Dear God, Please forgive our sinful nature. We yearn for cleansing from within, so we are genuine witnesses to Your name. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
