Daily Devotional - 9/8

Focus Letter - H



Pray for:
Five things you are grateful for beginning with the focus letter
Five people whose first or last name begins with the focus letter
A place that begins with the focus letter
A characteristic beginning with the focus letter for you and your family to grow in


Dear Lord - help me to hear your ever present voice and grant me the strength to obey



Psalms 8



It is fitting to praise God. All of creation praises God. We are to look to nature and to the heavens to see the ultimate power and glory of our Creator. God is majestic and grand. There is so much beauty in the world because He made the world. I look to the mountains that surround my home and I see their strength. They are not moving. They are constant like God. I am reminded of the verse, " I lift my eyes to the hills - where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth." (Psalms 121:1-2)

There is an interesting psychological experiment that I read about and tried. It illuminated the principle of looking up and out at God's beautiful creation. Here is the experiment. Look down at the ground for about five minutes and let your mind wander. Then analyze what you thought about. Next, look up for about five minutes and let your mind wander. Once again, analyze what you thought about. Generally what people find, and I was no different, is that when they are looking down, they tend to think primarily about the past and about negative things. While looking up, however, people tend to think of plans they have for the future and they tend to have more positive thoughts cross their minds.


I believe that God made us this way and this is how we function best. We are to look up - at God and also at the world He made. We are to look up to the heavens, to the moon and stars. All of creation is shouting of His glory, existence, and power. This ability to enjoy the world and have the innocent view of God's beauty as seen in nature is something that children and infants know. In verse 2, it states that, "From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise." My children know how to see things that I miss because they are not too busy to go for a walk. They are not too busy to smell the flowers and make bouquets. They are not too mature to roll down the hills of grass in the park. They know this joy that we, as adults, have forgotten - that of play, the experience of sheer joy and the experience of the majesty of God that is all around us.


Before children become old enough to be corrupted by the sinfulness of the world, they have such a pure and unaffected belief and knowledge of God. I think they are in tune to the spiritual world in a way that we lose as we get older, just as surely as we lose the ability to play. Their faith is so much stronger than ours. This, I believe, is why Jesus stated that unless we become like little children, we will never inherit the kingdom of God (Matt 18: 3-4). Jaded people cannot really know God. We need to believe again. We need to have that pure joy, love, and devotion that children bring to everything they are involved with.


If we can cultivate this type of mindset, then we will truly be able to consider how great God is. It inspires in us the incredibility that He is even paying attention to us at all. We are so weak and sinful and yet He created us and loves us. He cares for us. He has given us a special place and honor in His creation. His thoughts about us are too numerous to count. He is there. It is truly amazing.


And not only that, but He has put us over all of His created things. We aren't just one of His creations, we are one of His most special creations! We have been given the great task of taking care of His world. What a great responsibility! What a great honor; that the Creator of Everything, who knows me inside and out, would still crown me with glory and reward me. It is awe inspiring that He would stoop down to make me great. That He would even reckon with me at all! I praise His name. His love and belief in me makes me want to prove myself worthy of this honor. I do not want to hide my gifts any longer and fail to live up to the works He has designed for me. I want to hear Him say on that final day, "Well done good and faithful servant, well done" (Matt 25:21).