Verse of the Day - Isaiah 50:4

He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.
~ Isaiah 50:4 (NIV)

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(NOTE: You may start feeling like you're watching TVLand with me these days, with so many re-runs! I'm just going through a real dry writing period these days. Don't know why, but it is what it is. So, I offer you my VOTD from two years ago, 7/11/07. May God bless you today)

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Boy, did I have a hard time waking up this morning! I reset my alarm for 15 minutes and laid back down, and I fell right back to sleep! Lots of dreams...none of which I can remember, but my mind was sure busy in the dream state.

And mostly, when I wake up, I confess that my heart is not set on the Lord. What I'm after is not a teaching moment from God, but ... coffee! Got to get to the kitchen and get that stuff brewing, amen?!?

Isaiah is a great example of a man who knew his purpose and was serious about it. In Chapter 50, he talks about being on mission, of God giving him "an instructed tongue", of having his ears opened by God, and of being obedient to tell the people God's message. Isaiah didn't shirk his calling, even though it caused him humiliation and harm at the hands of those who rejected God and His message. He took his calling seriously.

So -- are we intent in our purpose, like Isaiah? Do we wake up in the morning, expecting to hear from God and intentionally listening for Him? Or does our mind just begin racing with all that the daily grind holds?

I think we all need help in focusing on the Lord in the morning. Prayer, Bible reading, and listening to music that lifts up the Lord are all good ways of setting your mind in the direction of God. But in this rat race we live in, you'll have to make it a priority or there won't be time. I get up at what most would say is an ungodly hour, but unless I want to shortchange the God things in my morning, it's necessary. And even if you don't do full-on Bible study in the morning (I realize that some aren't morning people like me :-), make sure you talk to Him before the world goes crazy on you. (To be honest, He's better than a cup of coffee...hopefully, I haven't sent Starbucks stock plummeting on Wall Street with that revelation! :-)

Make yourself available to Him, and He will "waken your ears to listen, like one being taught."

Gotta run -- I think my Professor is calling...! :-)

Love,
Joelene