Caught Up in Your Goodness

Glorious God,

You know our doubts and our reservations. You know our fears and our anxieties. You know our sorrow and our joy. You are well acquainted with our sin and brokenness, and you know the wounds we carry. You know us perfectly, and this morning you beckon us to know you. To see you.

See what, though? Your presence that lingers with us, as a doting King? Your gracious love that does so much more than the unexpected? A Savior who would meet us in the lowest places with tenderness and kindness? A hand always available to lift us from the ashes, mud, and filth of life and place us on firm ground by streams of quiet, living water to rest? Somehow, you are all that and so much more than we can possibly comprehend. 

So this morning, we come before you once again to be reminded of who you are and who we are because of you. We desire to have our hearts caught up in your goodness, with our walls down and our hearts open. 

And as we are caught up in your goodness, we grasp tightly to your compelling love, one that we know will disrupt us, calling us to a way of life that feels foreign in this world. Yet we are confident that as we linger, staying with you, abiding in your presence, living in obedience, and taking your direction as we relinquish control, there will be a holy turn — one in which the cries of the nations will become songs of praise and adoration.

As the busyness of the day tries to capture our attention, or as the unresolved seeks to steal the spotlight, we pause before you with humble adoration. As we contemplate the not yet, the unhealed and hurting, or the challenging news, we relinquish our suffering and pain to you, the Suffering King. In stability, change, or the unknown, we say aloud what is in the quiet places of our hearts: that we love you, Jesus, and that we are here for you, to worship you with all we are and have. 

We take this time now, in quietness, to have you reorient us, and we bring before you the offerings of our hearts and minds, seeking your will and your ways.

Amen.