God of the Morning

So I don't know how many of you HAVEN'T seen LOTR FOTR (Lord of the Rings - Fellowship of the Ring for those not in the know). No I'm NOT that cool my wife & the wackey neighbor girl have learned me on this cool acronym to use...

But there was an awesome moment in the movie when Bilbo Baggin (Not Frodo) said something I could relate with. It goes with being tired & worn out, ask me if you want to know!

Anyhow.. This devotion came ab0out 16 hours later in response to my revealing my connection with that scene.

I hope you enjoy it too...

BTW www.PlanetWisdom.Org is awesome !!!

Humans hadn't been invented, yet, but I would love to have been there. I guess it would have been what we might call Thursday morning of God's creation week -- after he completed the work on Wednesday:

"And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day." (Genesis 1:14-19)

Can you imagine it? Being there to witness the first morning with a sunrise, as the "morning stars" faded and that burning ball of fire broke over the horizon for the very first time in a brand new world untouched by sin and cynicism and short attention spans? I'd guess that witnessing such beauty would yank the praise for its Creator from the deepest parts of a person.

Again, no humans. God made that point to Job with these sarcastic questions. He also revealed just who was there that morning:

"Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone -- while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?" (Job 38:4-7)

I don't know what that means, but what a sound it must have been -- the morning stars singing together and all the angels shouting for joy at the beauty, craftsmanship, and wisdom of God's incredible act of creation. They witnessed the beginning of "evening and morning," "evening and morning," "evening and morning" that continues to this day.

Of course, the beauty remains, but it has also faded on this sin-soaked, suffering planet. Now, all of creation groans as it waits for the redemption day. (Romans 8) The worst happens again and again and again. And on the darkest of nights, some wish they'd never had a first morning, at all. Job felt that way about his own life:

""May the day of my birth perish. . . May its morning stars become dark; may it wait for daylight in vain and not see the first rays of dawn." (Job 3:3,9)

We can understand why someone who has lost his family would feel that way, but when God showed up to answer Job he didn't let him get away with that wish. God made it clear (with such imaginative poetry) that all the mornings belong to Him. He will not let it be night forever. Wickedness will end.

""Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place, that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it? The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment." (Job 38:12-14)

We still praise God in the morning, even on the painful and mundane ones. We praise him because he created each day new. And we praise him because each morning is a reminder that one day night will end forever.

"Sing to the LORD, you saints of his; praise his holy name. For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning." (Psalm 30:4-5)

Thank you Mary, Mark & John

LOVE PEOPLE AND USE THINGS -
NOT LOVE THINGS AND USE PEOPLE