2 Corinthians 5:7 ESV
Psalm 69:13 ESV
From the Jar
When I was growing up in a metropolitan city, we didn’t have to worry about if it was ‘safe’ to go to the mall.
We didn’t have security guards in schools. We didn’t wonder if children were okay playing outside.
When I grew up, church was a sacred place. To my knowledge no one entered a house of worship who wasn’t there to worship.
Even when my children were growing up we didn’t consider school or church to be part of a war zone.
That is not the case in today’s world.
I do remember reading or hearing about books that described a future world that wasn’t so safe.
Seeing that play out is frightening.
I am reminded that what we can count on in today’s precarious world is God, for only God can make all things new. Only Jesus saves and sustains.
In 2 Corinthians 5:17 we read, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
As I watch the news every night and hear special reports of disasters that happen in the ‘unlikeliest’ of places, I am reminded that even when life is difficult and uncertain, God can make all things new.
Only God can heal and help us face uncertainty.
Being a new creature in Christ means I have someplace I can turn to when nothing makes sense.
It means I can be comforted.
It means we can find healing.
It means we have hope.
It means even when we are afraid, we have a ‘place’ where we can go.
It means we can turn to the one who holds the universe in His hands.
Today, I turn.
I turn my world over to God.
I turn to God for help and courage and hope.
Every time I hear about another school shooting or a shooting in a church or people being shot at when they go to the grocery store, I turn.
I turn because I know we need God’s help.
I turn because we need God.
We need God in our world.
We need God to heal our world.
In Psalm 69:13 David offers a prayer of hope that applies to us today, “But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.”
As we ask and keep on asking, God is faithful.
Our prayers matter. They matter to God and they matter for our world.
As we join together to ask God that this would be the acceptable time. As we stand together asking God to pour our His abundance of steadfast love to answer us with His faithfulness.
We ask God to make all things new in our world.
Protect the children. Protect families. Protect the innocent.
Dear Lord, provide and protect our world with Your steadfast love with your saving faithfulness.
Today’s Spiritual Practice is: Turn to God
Turn to God who makes all things new. Ask God to change and heal our world.
In God, Deborah
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