Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Can mortals make for themselves gods?
Such are no gods!
‘Therefore I am surely going to teach them, this time I am going to teach them my power and my might, and they shall know that my name is the Lord.’”
NL Daily Devotion for Wednesday, November 27, 2024
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
We can certainly worship the things of our own making. But they are no replacement for a vital connection to the God who is in and through all of creation.
How does God teach us who God is? Look around! This morning (late October as of this writing) I drove out of my garage as the sun was turning the clouds on the eastern horizon a gorgeous pink, and the pale light intensified the rich hues of the autumn trees all around me. The morning before I witnessed a crow effortlessly stepping off a branch just overhead and floating gracefully to a lower branch on a tree a little way off. A week prior I stood in Spearfish Canyon in South Dakota watching in wonder as a cascade of lustrous water roared past lush mats of moss and forget-me-nots. And that’s just nature!
What about the people in my life? Yesterday my adult daughter told me how much she appreciated me. My adult son spent time hanging out with me. A shopper on Instacart brought me the most beautiful produce (and I gave him an extra tip). Last week I spent time with my boyfriend’s delightful dad, uncles, aunts, brother, sister-in-law, nephew, and nephew’s girlfriend and felt welcomed and loved, and was able to show my love in return. I won’t start in about my recovery community or my church family or my own parents, siblings, nieces, nephew, great-nephew or any of the rest of it.
God is in and through all things. God shows up in my life in the most astonishingly beautiful ways again and again and again.
I could not make for myself “gods” that would come close to touching the real and vital presence of the one God who delights to give me life and give it abundantly.
Where and how does God show up in my life?
