Mary E. DeMuth - Jesus Every Day: A Journey Through the Bible in One Year

God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

G ENESIS 1:27

Jesus, you made everything from nothing. What a surprising Creator you are. All our creativity has its origin in you.

I acknowledge that every gift of inspiration originates from you. So forgive me for hoarding it, displaying it for my glory, dismissing it, wasting it.

I confess that I have tried to manufacture a life in my small strength. Left to my devices, Lord, I fail, grow prideful, and forget the kingdom.

You, who are the Word, are the one I worship with my words. You are the Storyteller of my life, but I have settled for a lesser story of stuff, recognition, and power. Forgive me.

Everything I do, Jesus, I do now because I love you and want my life to count for your kingdom. Any fame that comes my way is a trifle offering, and it becomes a platform to make you famous and proclaim your radical story of redemption to a dying, storyless people. I give you permission to write my story however you see fit. I hand the pen back to you. I no longer want to dictate to you what I want my story to be. I choose now to surrender my story wholly, fully to you.

Take the pen, Lord Jesus. And write. Amen.

Two by two they came into the boat, representing every living thing that breathes. A male and female of each kind entered, just as God had commanded Noah. Then the L ORD closed the door behind them.

G ENESIS 7:15-16

Jesus, I love that you are concerned about every detail of my life, just as you were in Noahs time. You gave him specific instructions. You warned him about what would come. You blessed him with skills and knowledge and guts to carry out the preservation of everyone. You didnt leave him alone, scratching his head, wondering where you were.

I love that you shut the door behind him and his family. Because who else could? Every last detail, you took care ofin person this time.

Help me remember your attention to minutiae when my mind wanders toward thousands of worries. Show me the picture of you shutting the door behind Noah as the waters erupted from the sky and ground. You know the big stresses in my lifebut more than that, Jesus, you know the smallest bothersome thoughts. You know what niggles me at night. You know me intimately.

So today I choose to worship you for remembering small things, for taking care of pesky details, for loving me in big and small ways. Help me to rest safely behind the door you close after me. Amen.

They said, Come lets build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world.

G ENESIS 11:4

Jesus, I confess that I long to be noticed. I want to make a name for myself, for others to see me, applaud my unseen efforts, and recognize me publicly. I may say this isnt true, but deep down, I struggle to base my identity on you, not on what I accomplish.

Thank you for this verse today that reminds me that all my tower building ends in confusion. Im sorry that Ive worshipped my own name, wanting to curry my own fame instead of reorienting my life toward your renown on this earth.

You are the famous one, O Lord. You are the one worth worshipping. I want to become more like what I worship. But when I worship myself, my life becomes shrunken and me-centric. Teach me to worship you so I become more like youbigger hearted, full of love for those who differ from me, a person of forgiveness and grace.

I tend to build towers to myself. But today, stop me short, Jesus. Remind me that anything I build on this earth will only tumble and ultimately fail. Oh, how I need your perspective today. Amen.

Abram traveled south and set up camp in the hill country, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built another altar and dedicated it to the L ORD , and he worshiped the L ORD .

G ENESIS 12:8

Jesus, thank you for the story of Abram, how he left everything comfortable and cozy, dared to trust you fiercely, and lived a life of faith-inspired adventure. Oh, how I want to live that way too. Teach me that kind of grit, Jesus. (And thank you for making the same kind of sacrifice, leaving the pristine fields of heaven to come to earth to willingly die for us. How can I thank you?)

In some ways, I dont relate to Abram, but in this one I truly can. He pitched his camp between two worldsBethel (house of God) and Ai, the heap of ruins that was a Canaanite stronghold. What a picture of my life on this earth.

Help me understand the pull of bothof spending time in the house of God, yet venturing out into the world to be a beacon of your light. Help me to worship you in the in-between placeswhere you arent named, where others blame you, dismiss you, rail against you, or flat out dont believe you exist.

Thank you that, through the Holy Spirit, I have the house of God inside me, wherever my feet take me. Help me rest in that today, trusting that you will always be with me. I choose to worship you wherever I find myself today. Amen.

Some time later, the L ORD spoke to Abram in a vision and said to him, Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great.

G ENESIS 15:1

Jesus, I love that you understand just how scared I can be. Because you walked this earth, experiencing mockery, storms, hunger, homelessness, and ridicule, I know you offer me sympathy when I struggle with fear.

Thank you for this example of your Father caring about the deepest parts of Abram. He mustve been bewildered at the journey before himwith a promise of offspring, a barren wife, and no homeland yet to call his own. He lived by the skin of his obedience, and oh, how I want to live that same way.

Even though Abram believed, he worried too. And you offered him sweet assurance that you saw him and knew his struggles. You didnt simply acknowledge that he struggled; you spoke into the situation with words of life.

Thats where I am right now, Jesus. I am struggling. Fear has become my companion for the next scary steps. And I need you to intervene with words. Speak protection over me. Help me to know you see me todaybroken, needy, worried.

I trust that you will protect me. All things that come my way sift through your sovereign embrace. Help me not to dictate what my reward will be, but to trust you for the reward you will bring. Amen.

Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the L ORD , who had spoken to her. She said, You are the God who sees me. She also said, Have I truly seen the one who sees me? So that well was named Beer-lahai-roi (which means well of the Living One who sees me).

G ENESIS 16:13-14

Jesus, thank you for the example of Hagar. There have been times when Ive felt just like herforgotten and fleeing from people and circumstances that have leveled me flat. She was forsaken by the very one who forced her into her circumstance, and she found herself alone in the wilderness.

And yetyou saw her. You noticed her there at the well she named. You intervened. And I love that she also gave you a name, the the Living One who sees me.

Thank you that you are living. Youre not a statue. Instead, youre a vibrant wella fountain of never-ending, thirst-quenching nourishment. You sustain me. You provide everything I need.

I need to know, in whatever small way you want to show me, that you notice me today. Please be the God who sees me as I wrestle with my own shame and inadequacies. I need to know youre acquainted with my weakness, and that you dont hold it against me. Meet me in the wilderness I find myself in today, and pour your refreshing water over me. Amen.

The L ORD kept his word and did for Sarah exactly what he had promised.

She became pregnant, and she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age.