Devotional Reading Plan

DAY ONE | JOY IN THE MORNING

Part I

Scripture: Psalm 30

Everything happens for a reason

But you don’t know what you don’t know

And you’ll never have peace

If you don’t let go of tomorrow

There have been moments in the midst of my faith-walk when I have struggled to make sense of the difficulties I’ve experienced personally or helplessly watched others face. I’ve been in worship services singing words to songs that declared truths that seemed to contradict what I or others in tough situations were experiencing. I’ve caught myself singing about how God is undefeated and never loses battles while feeling like I was in the middle of a losing streak. I’ve heard myself proclaiming God’s healing power while seemingly not seeing that power at work in the lives of those fighting physical battles every single day.

It seems at times what we proclaim to be true about God is held in uncomfortable tension with what we perceive to be happening in our lives and in the world. This tension can lead to doubts about God, His ability, and His involvement in the details of our lives. The truth is that it’s impossible to reconcile these doubts when we have only one reality in view. We have to step back from the temporary vantage point from which we view our lives. If we only look at things in isolation, in one dimension, all we are left with is pain, disappointment, and confusion.

Before we step back to consider life from a broader perspective, we must first consider the light in which we see God. There is a beautiful duality to the nature of God. Two realities exist within Him: His transcendence and His immanence.

God is transcendent. He is beyond the material, beyond time and space, beyond logic and reason to an infinite degree. Because He is transcendent, sickness can’t touch Him, sin can’t reach Him, doubt can’t debunk Him, brokenness can’t break Him, fear can’t fool Him, and the devil can’t dethrone Him. He’s the beyond-God! Yet, He also carries this strand of immanence in His divine DNA. Immanence simply means closeness. He plainly displayed His immanence by taking on human flesh, by becoming the God-man—Emmanuel, God with us. He became human in order to share an unparalleled closeness with humanity.

Through Jesus, He was no longer a God beyond tears; He would weep Himself. He was no longer a God beyond heartache, for He would face betrayal and criticism as a man. He was no longer a God beyond temptation, for He was now a man tempted in every way we are. He knew the pain of witnessing a loved one’s death and the sorrow that soaks the soul. It’s remarkable that God would have the power to call Lazarus out of the grave but also possess the compassion to wrap His arms around the women weeping over the brother they had buried. In the book of Mark, we see Jesus encounter a woman who had suffered for years, who was beyond the help of physicians. Even though this woman only touches Jesus’ clothes, she is healed. Jesus was divine enough to know what to do to heal this woman’s body, but He was also human enough to know what to say to heal her soul. He calls her “daughter.” He tells her “Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” In the book of John, Jesus is divine enough to step through a wall to meet Thomas in his doubt but is human enough to reveal the wounds in his hands and side. In His transcendence, God existed outside of time and suffering, yet in His immanence, He willingly stepped into it.

If it’s not good, then He’s not done

No, He’s not done with it yet

There will be joy in the morning