With all the noise in the world, do you hear the voice of God? Your calendar tells you what to do, but do you remember who you are? Being comes before doing. This is a call to put first things first. Return to the Lord with this daily pattern of prayer and devotion. Set aside this time as a sanctuary. Find a space free of distraction and follow this pattern.
Invocation
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Invitation
“You have made us for Yourself. And our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” (Augustine)
Creator of all things, hear my voice, for you have made it. You who live in heaven, hear my prayer from earth. I am one person in one little town in one corner of your vast creation. Of all the people on the planet, hear me also. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Confession
O God, in the beginning you made us good, even “very good.” I admit the many things in my life that are far from your good intent. I try to change, and then find myself in the same place once again. Lord, you know me. Have mercy. Make me right. Forgive my wickedness. Bring me back to good, as you intended from the beginning. Amen.
Word: Revelation 1:4
“Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come.”
Meditation: Revelation
Today’s meditation is written by Susan Senechal.
I don’t like Revelation. There. I said it. I mean, I hate when I’m kept in the dark about a secret, so I like when things are revealed to me; what I don’t like is the Book of Revelation in the Bible. It’s too full of things I just don’t understand. As I move through my Bible app, I see scrolls and lamp stands and double-edged swords and seas of fire. There are dragons and other strange creatures with wings and eyes all around and more. And I just don’t get it. And I wonder why this book is even in the Bible, and can I be a good Christian if I say I just don’t like part of the Good Book?
And then I take a good look at my life and I see a whole lot happening there that I just don’t understand either: turmoil and defeat and mystery and uncertainty, and what is really going on here, and I just don’t get it either. And though in hindsight, I might sometimes understand the why of something in the past, I still don’t understand what is happening now, and I don’t even want to think about the future and where all this will lead; it is dizzying. In my life I want revelation, small “r.” I want someone to reveal the “why’s” and the “what’s nexts.”
And then I look back to Revelation, big “R”…the book in the Bible, and I see this verse, Revelation 1:4: “Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come.”
And I stop. And I breathe. And I pray. And I thank God that in the midst of all the things I don’t understand, I have a God who offers me grace, and gives me peace, and reveals himself to me with a loving touch or a gentle word in the middle of my mess. The God I can sometimes so clearly see has acted in my past. And I know he will be with me for whatever I face in my future (this week, or this month, or this year, or ten years from now), even when for the life of me I cannot understand it.
And then I see toward the end of Revelation these words in Revelation 21: “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain…I am making everything new…it is done.”
These words near the end are words to cling to! To hold on, sometimes desperately, to this promise: the end of my earthly struggle—all the uncertainty, heartache and pain—will be washed away by the blood of Jesus and replaced by the certainty of life in His presence where all will be made new. That’s enough to keep me going—even on the worst days.
Dear Jesus, thank you for your grace and peace in the middle of my mess. And thank you for making all things new. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
Benediction
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (Rom. 11:33,36))