Mark Sorensen Some mornings are just harder than others to get out of bed. Ever have those mornings? Actually, it’s those two or three minutes after the alarm clock goes off and before you actually make your feet hit the floor that, I believe, are the hardest. My mind gets to work. I think about the day and what’s on my list of things to do. I think about what didn’t get accomplished the day before and what needs to be done in the remaining days of the week. I think about what awaits me in the midst of the day. What circumstances will I face? Will I face them with one who has the mind of Christ or will I submit to fear and live small in the face of fear?
If I can be honest with you, I really think that I think way too much (within that sentence alone is the proof of my over thinking).
This morning, however, I love what I found in God’s work. Look at this verse from Isaiah:
The sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught. -Isaiah 50:4
Stop. Did you catch it? Read it again. In fact, let me share the same verse from a different translation:
The Lord, the Eternal, equipped me for this job– with skilled speech, a smooth tongue for instruction. I can find the words that comfort and soothe the downtrodden, tired, and despairing. And I know when to use them. Each morning, it is God who wakes me and tells me what I should do, what I should say. –Isaiah 50:4
I love it when God catches me by surprise and takes my breath away with His answers that meet me in the midst of my questions.
This day with all of its unknowns and possible circumstances? These next twelve to fourteen hours where I am working in the midst of His Kingdom alongside those whom God loves? It’s not about me. It’s about what God can do through me. Here’s the greater truth. Am I leaning on His words?
What if?
What if, instead of taking those two to three minutes between the alarm clock and my feet hitting the floor where I process the various scenarios of what needs to be done over the course of my day, instead, I asked the Lord to guide my words. What if, instead of despairing over what lies ahead, instead, I am reminded that the same God of Jacob, of Moses, of Peter and the apostle Paul, is the very same God watching over me now, in this very moment? What if, instead of thinking of what I have to accomplish today, instead, I ask God to accomplish His will through my ways today?
Here’s the beauty in the midst of this passage: we aren’t alone. God is still at work, instructing, guiding and leading. We just need to let Him.
Let’s awake with this truth on our hearts and then see what God does as a response.
