Good morning, beloved,
The earth is filled with His glory. Will we take time today to look outside of our circumstances and see the magnificence in the tall trees? Will we stop and listen to the birds that flock? Will we watch the squirrels play tag? Will we pause and lift our hands and thank Him for this new day?
Psalm 19: The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours out speech
and night to night reveals knowledge.
What is His will for this day?
Awake, my soul, and with the sun
Thy daily stage of duty run;
Shake off dull sloth, and joyful rise,
To pay thy morning sacrifice.
I have to tell you, I’ve been longing to figure where Thomas Ken found his inspiration for the preceding hymn. To take it apart as I strive to discover God’s will for my day, it begin with:
Awake, my soul, and with the sun..
“Wake up, sleeper!
Rise from death,
and Christ will ·shine on [give light to] you [C likely an early Christian hymn based on Is. 26:19 and 60:1–2].”
Awake! Rise!
Isaiah 60: “Jerusalem, ·get up [arise] and shine, because your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord shines on you.
2 [L Look; T Behold] Darkness ·now covers [or will cover] the earth;
deep darkness covers ·her people [the nations].
But the Lord shines on you,
and people see his glory [C his manifest presence] ·around [upon] you
Waking up, walking in the confidence that His light shines on us. We are representations of His glory. We are representations of His love. We can shine, shine, shine!
Look outside your window. Go ahead. What do you see? Even if you see stone and brick, you know that Jesus declared even the rocks will cry out in praise to God. This, you know. This we declare together. We awake with a thought. What if that thought was…
Thy daily stage of duty run…
Romans 12: 11 Do not be ·lazy but work hard [L lacking in zeal], serving the Lord with ·all your heart [L a fervent/eager/enthusiastic spirit].
What would it be, for me, to arise and be excited that today I get to serve my God? My God who has given me everything. He has given me Christ! Therefore I am a new creation and the old has gone and the new has come. Notice the stage of duty is not walk, is not jog or canter or crawl. It is RUN. We need to work hard. And even if we are in pain, dizzy, crazy busy, we can set our minds on our service to Him with our whole hearts. We can pray fervently for the saints if we cannot rise out of bed. We can write encouraging notes if we cannot be there in person. The Lord has given us a task this day. Will we join Him?
Shake off dull sloth and joyful rise…
Rise! Joyful!
10 Wicked people have many ·troubles [pains; torments; woes],
but the Lord’s ·love [loyalty; covenant love] surrounds those who ·trust [have confidence in] him.
11 ·Good [Righteous] people, rejoice and be happy in the Lord.
·Sing [Shout joyfully] all you whose hearts are ·right [upright; virtuous].
To pay thy morning’s sacrifice...
14 Give an ·offering to show thanks [thank offering] to God [Lev. 7:12; 22:29; Heb. 13:15].
Give God Most High what you have ·promised [vowed].
15 Call to me in times of ·trouble [distress].
I will ·save [rescue; T deliver] you, and you will ·honor [glorify] me.”
15 So through Jesus let us ·always [continuously] offer to God our sacrifice of praise, ·coming from[L which is the fruit of] lips that ·speak [profess; acknowledge] his name.
263. My wedding ring
264. A scarf
265. Slippers
264.
Pray on. Pray on.
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