Partners
In Hope

Just For Today Enjoy

Tuesday June 18, 2024

Just for today I will have a quiet half hour all by myself to relax and enjoy all that God is giving me.

We are not the only people who failed to trust God and wander into a destructive lifestyle.  In the Bible we read stories of human beings to whom God showed amazing grace and patience.  Though they struggled with doing the right thing and often failed, God was gracious to forgive them and restore their relationship with Him. 

 

Just like us, when these persons realized what a mess they had made, they felt sad and guilty about their past behaviour and received God’s forgiveness.  They were then restored to have a joyful relationship with God and with one another.  This was the case for the people we find in the book of Nehemiah.  For many years the people wandered in ungodly lifestyles of self-centeredness and sin.  This resulted in a complete breakdown of community life and a time of captivity and exile to another land.  However, God was not finished with the people for He raised up a person who called them to turn away from their sin and come back to Him. 

God helped the people rebuild their lives in an amazing way.  At one point during a community gathering the priest, a man named Ezra, stood up and read to the people from God's word.  As they heard God's word, the people wept and mourned over how far they had wandered from God’s ways.  However, the leaders said something amazing to them that can serve as encouragement for us today. 

Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared.  This day is holy to our Lord.  Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.  (Nehemiah 8:10 NIV)

We need to take time to read God's word and see all the promises God has made to us.  Perhaps it's a time to repent, turn back to God, let guilt go, and welcome forgiveness.  God has given us today; why not rejoice and be glad in it?


Prayer:  Gracious God, Forgive me for the many times I look past Your gifts and fail to enjoy all that You are giving me.  Help me to pause and notice and give thanks for this day.  Thank You for filling my life with good things.  Amen

Audio for Just For Today Enjoy

Recent Meditations

GROWING IN MATURITY
April 1, 2025
OLD GROWTH GOODNESS
March 31, 2025
ANGER
March 30, 2025
DISCOVERING TRUTH
March 29, 2025
AFFIRMED AND ACCOMPANIED BY A LOVING GOD
March 28, 2025
See all

Giving Hope

Partners in Hope is supported wholly by our friends and community. We are thankful to everyone who partners with us to help bring hope to the discouraged, hurting, and hopeless.