Scripture: Psalm 117:7-20
All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.
ONE of my favorite summer activities is picking wild raspberries. I love to stand in one spot and pick as many raspberries as I can find before moving on to the next patch. Often when I think I have exhausted the supply of berries before me, I prepare to move on, only to spy the ripest, biggest, most luscious berry yet. How did I miss this one? I wonder. The answer is simple: Changing my stance and my line of sight lets me see what had been there all along, waiting for me to claim it.
In a way, the same is true with God's word. At times I become complacent, even bored, with a passage of scripture, thinking I have exhausted its meaning and relevance to my life. When time and experience have changed my outlook on life, however, I find myself re-reading the passage and thinking, Wow, how did I miss that? Surprised I didn't see some message sooner, but grateful to have the newfound insight, I am enriched. The wisdom is fresh and new every morning. (See Lam. 3:23). Thanks be to God!
Kristine Liknes (Ohio, USA)
Imagine if you will, standing at your high school or college graduation ceremony, waiting and anticipating. You've finally done it, you made it through and you're getting your degree. You've gained all this knowledge and are ready for the world. You're family and friends are there with you. You're family behind you supporting you waiting for that moment you graduated, and you're friends beside you waiting for the same thing. Then the moment hits you, and you finally see the light.... "What am I going to do now????"...then you walk across the stage with all of this banging around in your head, and finally graduate.
Sometimes all we see is the 'what's happened' and the 'what's next', not the 'now' what we need to see because this is not our time to worry about, but God's time. We don't need to keep looking to the past, or to the future, but be in the now. That's what the devotion above says to me, especially where it has mentioned "I find myself re-reading the passage and thinking, Wow, how did I miss that?". I think it has to do all with God's timing. It's those moments of clarity we get when talking with someone when we don't know what to do, read a passage from the Bible or a book and it finally makes sense, or sitting alone somewhere peaceful and the world finally makes sense. I'd like to point out, for me this is the 'clue-by-four' (much like a 2-by-4 piece of lumber) which God has finally gotten tired of giving me a million ways to see it, and much like a light turning on moment or being smacked in the head, I finally get it.
We all lead such busy lives, we seem to walk around with blinders, that we only see where our head is turned, and never what's going on around us. We can miss out on the places we can find the answers that God is giving us in little clues, that we need a big "Ah HA!" moment to see what we are indented to see/figure out. All in God's time, for he knows our plans, because he has made plans for each of us, and he will never give us more than we can handle.
So as we each lead our individual lives today, don't forget to look around, and smell the roses; see the sun rise or set, and be surrounded by the beauty that is around us, you don't want to miss the big moment when it seems everything finally make sense.
~Courtney S-B~
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