Corona Devo 3223
On a boat ride the other day, everyone aboard was searching for water life...and killer whales were at the top of everyone's watch list. Orcas have been spotted in the area waters, and we set sail with high hopes of glimpsing one or more of these glorious beasts.
We never saw an orca, but we did lock in with a large Gray Whale for about 25 minutes, as he rose to the surface to breathe and then fell to the sand bar forty-feet beneath to scoop up mouthfuls of sediment and feast on the amphipod crustaceans within.
Seeing the Gray Whale was fascinating and amazing, but do you know what drew the most oohhs and aahhhs from our family and the other people peering over the side of the boat? Dolphins.
Porpoises, to be more specific. We had a number of quick and periodic sightings of Harbor Porpoises, and oh, how they delighted and tickled us!
Not as grandiose or as famed as whales, Harbor porpoises native to these waters happened to be swimming and living their daily lives along many miles of our boat ride...and we couldn't get enough of the prized "spottings" of their dorsal fin coming out of the water and then disappearing quickly beneath.
They were not doing anything special or aerobic, they were just being exactly who God had created them to be. And yet, when anyone saw their black fins break the water...we all shared the location information, all eyes focused, and we rejoiced and smiled and cheered!
As I watched one of them disappear under the water and then reappear...and I again felt the jolt of joy in witnessing them just be themselves...I felt a spiritual reminder that our Heavenly Father feels the exact same way about us.
We don't have to do anything special for God. We don't have to perform tricks to impress Him or complete a spiritual cleansing routine to get His attention. He already loves us and delights in us.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ~Romans 5:8
It's often so hard for us to believe...let alone to understand: But we don't have to be big like a humpback whale, or infamous like an orca whale...we can just be us, like a little Harbor Porpoise, and the Lord delights in us just being us. The Bible says that He rejoices over us. Remember that today, Beloved.
For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.” ~Zephaniah 3:17
There is nothing that we need to do or be today to "get" God to love and accept us. He does.
The Lord smiles upon us and is "taken" with us, just as my boatful of people were enamored and impressed with the simple and natural act of porpoises swimming by. We don't have to do a thing...our Lord has already chosen us. Let's choose Him today.
“But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend, (9) I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, ‘You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. ~Isaiah 41:8-9
Just as we (a crowd of onlookers on a boat), ooh-ed, and aahh-ed at the dolphins surfacing and disappearing, our Lord ooh's and aaahhh's at us being just who He created us to be. He fashioned and formed us and He has summoned us as His own. Just as we are. Not as he hopes us to be, but (us) just as we are. We are His today.
- For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. (14) I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. ~Psalm 139:13-14
- But now, this is what the Lord says—he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. ~Isaiah 43:1
If we are still trying to be something faithfully-famous before we think God might take notice of us...we can stop. God loves the whales and big fish, but he loves the medium and smaller fish too. God even loves the sardines of the sea.
We are all His creation and He couldn't be more proud of each of us. ...Just as He made us, and He made us to be His own children.
~~~Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God... ~John 1:12
...the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love. ~Psalm 147:11
When God catches a glimpse of us, He is tickled.
For the Lord takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with victory. ~Psalm 149:4
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