Prayer
Heavenly Father, I praise and thank you today for the gift of life, and for sustaining me through the night. You are altogether faithful and kind in every way, upholding the downcast, and you have raised me up when I have fallen. I have looked to you in my time of need, and you have provided. My need is great again today, and I call upon you for mercy and help. Please feed me now from your holy word, that I may live. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Reading
Psalm 38 & 1 Thessalonians 5.
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1.
Meditation.
God is the source of all life, that is an unmistakable reality that we must learn from the first chapter of Genesis. See how richly and abundantly he supplies us with all that is needed! “The Lord is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works...The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works. The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.” - Psalm 145:13-18. He made all life, and he sustains all life. Genesis 1:1 is the fountainhead of revelation to help us see all of God’s kindness, goodness, and faithfulness as the source of life for everyone.
As we read Genesis 1, and we see our incomprehensible God at work, we should be awed, and we should also be incredibly thankful. Everything we have is from him. The problem is that you can’t force someone to be thankful, it requires a transformation of the heart, a seeing of the truth which will set us free into gratitude. When I was 10, and my little brother was on a body board getting pulled out to sea, and I watched a life saver dive in and swim him back to shore… let me tell you, I felt thankful to that man! Far more significantly, as we gain a deeper insight into our incomprehensible God, we should be thankful. Let’s go back to our midweek morning coffee scenario from a few chapters ago…
God has done amazing incomprehensible things to make it possible for you to have your coffee. Firstly – you should be thankful because he’s provided that coffee itself for you. Do you thank God for your coffee? Or do you treat it as an entitlement to help soothe your complaining heart? (ouch! We’ve all been there…). He gave you coffee beans, sunlight in your kitchen, eyes to see, tastebuds to enjoy it – all of it comes from him. The doxology puts it well: “Praise God from whom all blessings flow”. It is unspeakably appalling to consider how many humans living on the face of the planet do not give thanks to God for the countless, unfathomable deluge of blessings that he pours out on us day after day after day after day. Even as Christians, how little we give thanks to God! How tiny is our awareness of his constant, incomprehensible goodness toward us! 1 Thess 5:18 says: “Give thanks in all circumstances”.
Be ye doers of the word…
Do you thank God for his abundant provisions for you? Do you thank God for his forgiveness? Because we all know what happened that morning after we poured out our coffee don’t we? Not only did we fail to give thanks to God, but we yelled at our kids. We got irritated at our spouse. We sent a gossipy text message to our friend (possibly complaining about our spouse...). And as the day went on, we piled up sin upon sin. Now mark this, dear believer, as you yelled at someone, or did something sinful, God – incomprehensibly – did something amazing. In that moment, as we thanklessly and grumpily drank our cup of coffee, God exercised his patience toward us. He did not give us what we deserved in response to our sins. He did not show us who’s boss. He did not humiliate or judge us. No, in that thankless moment, as Christ interceded at the Father’s right hand on our behalf, God showed patience toward us. Have you come back seeking forgiveness yet?
God constantly suffers wrongs against himself in response to his daily kindness. He constantly endures our sorry, sin-sick ways while we blindly complain and rage when our self-entitled hearts are denied what they want. How long can he put up with it? Most days, I would probably explode after 30 seconds of such treatment. He endures the countless weight of billions of such sins. But it’s more staggering still, because Christ doesn’t leave us in our misery (though we richly deserve it). Instead, he works relentlessly to change and sanctify us. That’s the work of God in the life of a believer – constant grace! Never-ending grace! Daily lavishings of patience! Daily offerings of forgiveness and mercy! Our lives – even the thankless moments that we drink our coffee – are a story of the abounding mercy and compassion of God. Thankful yet? SDG.
Prayer of Confession & Consecration.
Lord, I thank you for your abundant kindness and grace toward me each and every day of my life. I thank you for your abounding patience in the face of my graceless and thankless responses. Lord, please teach me each day to live in a constant state of thanksgiving. Please help me to see at all times that I do not deserve your goodness, and yet in your goodness I receive everything I need and could desire. You have been so good to me. Please lead me not into temptation this day, and deliver me from the evil one. I pray that gratitude may abound more and more in my local church, and that together we may rejoice constantly in all your goodness. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Day 9: God the source of all life (Gen 1:1).