Be Careful What You Ask For

I’d like to be one of those people who – for as long as their joints allow -  get out of bed and fall to their knees to meet with God instead of heading to the kitchen for the coffee pot. However, I am not. Neither am I am proud of saying that until that first sip awakens my senses, there is a definite disconnect between my head and my heart.

I really want to be diligent. I want to thank Him for another sunrise and focus on His goodness before my eyes are even open. I want to ask for strength for the day ...or patience...or grace; always, always grace (sidebar: some of us need more grace than others.  A dear one sent me a cartoon that said ‘I asked God to give me patience because if He gives me strength, I might just have to punch
someone!’ )

I do thank Him and I do ask for strength – I just do it a bit later and differently, often with sleepy eyes and difficulty concentrating on the Word.  But He’s always there waiting; He knows my routine and loves me anyway. 

Very recently, while nearing the bottom of my first cup of java, I said aloud, “Good morning, God. And what might you have for me this day?”

I have several devotional books, and I usually read from one of them first then follow up with Scripture. That day’s reading was in Psalm 119. I don’t remember any verses before or after, but Psalms 119:7 (NIV) seemed to jump off the page as I read “I will praise you with an upright heart as I learn your righteous laws.”  The praise part was good, and surely an upright heart is good, but the words  ‘as I learn’ …as I learn …as…I….learn... played over and over in my head. Had I never read them or had I just never absorbed them?

It was a revelation, and I was immediately both relieved and convicted. What God had in mind that day for me (remember I had asked) was simply this:  I will never be expected to do more than I know …but as I learn, I cannot be expected to do less!

Ouch.

Blessings, Rosi