Get Your Fire Back With the Psalms!نموونە

All languages create shorter words over time to speed up communication.

However, the introduction of text messaging on phones has created a whole new language.

For example, LOL means "laughing out loud." BRB means "be right back." SMH means "shaking my head (in disgust)."

But, there is one phrase in the text message vocabulary that I want you to consider more seriously. That's the phrase NBD, which means "no big deal."

When I type NBD, I'm trying to let someone know not to worry about something or that I consider it insignificant. But I can also use those three letters to minimize something they think matters.

One of the saddest things I see is followers of Jesus who lose the sense of wonder we once had about God's love for us, the grace God extended us, and how God has transformed us. It's one thing to tell someone "NBD" when they thank you for holding the door open for them at a store entrance. It's another thing to say "NBD" when you think about what God has done in your life.

While there's a significant gap between those two uses of NBD, both happen every day. What once provoked wonder now fails to register as important. What once took our breath away produces a yawn instead. Experience over time can dull our wonder.

Here's the important question for today: Have you lost your sense of wonder about what God has done for you?

Some of you reading this devotional shouldn't be alive after what you've been through.

Some of you reading this shouldn't be joyful with what you've endured.

Some of you shouldn't be married or be in your children's lives. It seems unbelievable that you're out of prison or sober. It is incomprehensible that you are healthy or in church today.

Apart from the grace of God, your life could look very different.

Is it possible you lost your fire because you're overly familiar with what God has done in your life?

King David hadn't lost his wonder, and we see evidence of this in Psalm 8:3-8. There, David remarks on humanity's place in the magnitude of creation. He asks God, "What is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?"

The third thing you need to know to get your fire back is that wonder regarding what God has done in the past keeps you engaged with God in the present.

I love what David says. Here's how I would paraphrase it, "what is man, in light of all you've done, that we're such a big deal to you? I don't get it!" It's unreal to David what God has done in our lives. And it can be unreal to us if we cultivate a sense of wonder about it.

David encountered God in creation. He was overwhelmed with awe and wonder, and then he connected the two. He asked God his honest question: "Why do I matter to You? Why have You extended me grace and given me honor and responsibility in this creation?"

ACTION STEP: Before you close the app today, I want you to ask yourself a question. Looking back at your life thus far, what causes you to step back with awe and wonder? What fantastic thing has God done in your life story? I wonder if the fire you're looking for might be found when what God did in your past becomes impressive to you in your present.

Tomorrow, we'll explore how a quality we all had as small children is vital to rekindling our passion for God as we age!