Daily Devotion – July 20, 2021 – Dr. Pat Taylor Ellison
Psalm 145:10-18
145:10 All your works shall give thanks to you, O LORD, and all your faithful shall bless you.
145:11 They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom, and tell of your power,
145:12 to make known to all people your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
145:13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations. The LORD is faithful in all his words, and gracious in all his deeds.
145:14 The LORD upholds all who are falling, and raises up all who are bowed down.
145:15 The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season.
145:16 You open your hand, satisfying the desire of every living thing.
145:17 The LORD is just in all his ways, and kind in all his doings.
145:18 The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
How much do we believe these words? That the Lord upholds all who are failing and satisfies the desires of every living thing? That the Lord is near, is just, is kind?
This is indeed the Lord that Jesus taught his disciples about – this God of love, ever caring and concerned over all his people, no matter their status or tribe.
If we really believed in the vast abundance of the Lord, wouldn’t we be more generous with what we have? Wouldn’t we take more seriously the idea that everything we have is a gift directly from God, the abundant Lord of all?
God is great and very very good. Not domesticated to our wants, but big and very very good. And we are God’s children. We can not only afford to be generous with our treasure and our talent and our time, we can promise to be generous! We can live into generosity with our whole heart and both feet. We can do it because God has been just that generous with us. Any other kind of life seems stingy and ungrateful. Any other kind of life bears witness to a stingy God.
Nope. That is not the nature of our God. So live generously, as your God lives. By so doing you reveal the goodness of your God to all who see you!
Gracious God, thank you for loving us. Thank you for all the goodness you shower upon us. Starting now, help us to bravely shower the same goodness to those you place on our paths every day.  Amen.
