Daily Devotion – September 14, 2021 – Dr. Pat Taylor Ellison

Psalm 78:23-29
78:23 Yet he commanded the skies above, and opened the doors of heaven;
78:24 he rained down on them manna to eat, and gave them the grain of heaven.
78:25 Mortals ate of the bread of angels; he sent them food in abundance.
78:26 He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens, and by his power he led out the south wind;
78:27 he rained flesh upon them like dust, winged birds like the sand of the seas;
78:28 he let them fall within their camp, all around their dwellings.
78:29 And they ate and were well filled, for he gave them what they craved.

A psalm of abundance. A poetic rendering of the bread and meat provided for the children of Israel in the wilderness.  A psalm of being satisfied thanks to the Lord’s providing.

Have you been satisfied thanks to the Lord’s providing?

Are you trying to think of a time?

Think harder.

Has the Lord not provided you first one thing, and then another thing, and then still another thing, each building upon the last? Couldn’t your life have gone in any number of ways if just the right combination of things hadn’t happened just at the right moment?

God has given you skills and talents, and people who encouraged them in you. This was no accident, and you certainly did not do it for yourself.

God has made it possible for you to make friends who have supported you for years.

God has even kept you in decent health, and when you have ailed, has given you people to help you recover by using their gifts in your service.

These are no accidents. And why has God blessed you so abundantly? To be in service to the whole world, not just your family and friends. To help the world that God loved enough to send Jesus into it.

YOU and I are parts of God’s plan for humanity. Think about how you reach out, not just to your own personal fan club, but to the whole world on behalf of your Creator and Redeemer by the power of their Holy Spirit. And if you haven’t been reaching out, ask God how you might. Somehow your abundance from God has been given so that you in turn might share it in ways you must listen for. Especially now.

Gracious God, thank you for loving us. Thank you for blessing us. Help us to ask, by the power of your Holy Spirit, how we might reach out to the world that you love with all that you have given to us.  Amen.