I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Rev. 22:13 (NIV)
When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul. Ps. 94:19 (ESV)
You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! Isa. 26:3 (NLT)
Heavenly Father, we love everything these passages affirm about you. And that’s our main calling and the biggest issue in life—filling our minds, hearts, and hopes with who you are. Help us do so.
Indeed, it’s time for us to shift our focus from the immediacy of our fears and hurts, to the grandeur of who you are. Praying without ceasing is awesome, vexing without worshipping is exhausting.
So, with palms up, we release our burdens and worries to you, Father. We want to care less and trust more. You are God, and we are very much not so. In your time and on your dime, you’ll finish the good work you started in your children, creation, and history.
Though our unbelief says otherwise, you’re neither AWOL or disinterested, bored or negligent. About everything, you say, “I’ve got this one.” That includes next Tuesday’s voting and our children’s tomorrows, the cells in our bodies and the stars in the cosmos.
You are the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, and everything in between. You are Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—perfect Trinity, and you’re not looking to make a Trio into a Quartet. You don’t need us; you love us. Though the cares of our hearts are many, your consolations way outnumber them.
When we fix our thoughts on you—as opposed to fixating on broken stories and messy people, your peace rules in our hearts. So as this day begins, we choose liberation over consternation. We choose to count blessings more than we list messes. We choose to believe the gospel over trying to be our own savior, or anybody else’s. So very Amen we pray, in Jesus’ wonderful and merciful name.
