May 22: Morning Devotion

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Good Morning, Lord!
I Am Baptized
Baptism … now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. (1 Pet. 3:21 ESV)

Make the sign of the cross as you say, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

A Morning Prayer
Father in Heaven, I am in awe of your love that moves you to call me your child. And that is what I am through faith in Jesus Christ. As your child, I pray that my life would show the values of your family: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. I ask that you would help me to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with you. Help me to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Empower me to seek first your kingdom, Father, and trust that you will add all things needed to me. Over all these things, set the cross of Christ firmly in my heart and mind so that I will value forgiveness. Let my life show forth what it means to be forgiven, and let the message of your mercy and forgiveness flow through me to those you bring into my life today. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

I Believe …
You shall have no other gods.
You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God.
Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy.
Honor your father and mother.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Bible Reading – Psalm 4
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.
4 Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
    You have given me relief when I was in distress.
    Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!
2 O men,[a] how long shall my honor be turned into shame?
    How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah
3 But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself;
    the Lord hears when I call to him.
4 Be angry,[b] and do not sin;
    ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah
5 Offer right sacrifices,
    and put your trust in the Lord.
6 There are many who say, “Who will show us some good?
    Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!”
7 You have put more joy in my heart
    than they have when their grain and wine abound.
8 In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
    for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

Joy and peace. I find myself wrestling with those words. I was going to wrap up my meditations on Psalm 4 yesterday talking about sacrifices and forgiveness in Christ. But those two words, joy and peace, kept rattling around in my head. (Which, as a side note, is a pretty good example of meditation. It is not always deep and focused thought, sometimes it is just living with a bit of God’s word lingering in your mind.)

Over the last couple months during this pandemic, my thoughts have probably been more characterized by grief and anxiety than by joy and peace. I believe that everything is going to be okay, but I am a little nervous about what this virus is going to do between now and then. I grieve the loss of contact, the regular reception of the Lord’s Supper, the gathering of God’s people for worship, and singing together. I am anxious about the polarization of people on how we should respond, the political preening and posturing related to how well or poorly this pandemic has been handled (depending upon who you ask), and the overwhelming sense of contamination that comes from assuming I and everyone else has been exposed and is a possible source of infection.

But the Psalm says that God puts joy in my heart. It says there is more joy than people have when their grain and wine abound. That’s the equivalent of saying that we have more joy than when the economy is roaring and folks have an abundance of everything. It says that I can lay down and go to sleep in peace, without the racing thoughts and bad dreams that sometimes come with stress and tension.

Why? How is this possible? Because God answers when we call. Because we can trust him to meet us in our time of need. Because he loves us and his desire is to do us good and be our refuge in time of need. This is an invitation to leave our troubles with God, and to trust him to sort things out. It is an invitation to rest in God’s presence, believing that Christ’s life, death, and resurrection prove that God will not abandon us. In fact, we can cling to his promises to give us joy and peace.

Question for Meditation
What does this reading teach you about Jesus, what He said and did, or what He wants His followers to believe? What does it teach you about God’s love and forgiveness?
What does this reading lead you to be thankful for?
What behavior, thought, or attitude does this reading challenge? What sin does it lead you to confess?
How might you pray for God to have a richer impact on your life through this reading?

Prayer
Pray for those who are sick, injured, grieving, dying, lonely, bullied, and experiencing injustice.

Petitions of the Lord’s Prayer
The Sixth Petition: “And lead us not into temptation.”
Father in heaven, You tempt no one. Please guard and keep us so that the devil, the world, and our sinful nature may not deceive us or mislead us into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice. Although we are attacked by these things, we pray that we may finally overcome them and win the victory through Jesus, our Savior and Lord. Amen.

Benediction
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 1:24-25 ESV)


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