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A Minute of Hope from the PsalmsSample

A Minute of Hope from the Psalms

DAY 4 OF 6

Establish the Work of My Hands—Psalm 90:17

“Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us,
And establish the work of our hands for us;
Yes, establish the work of our hands.” (Psalm 90:17)

In his book Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer reminded his readers that “without the burden and labor of the day, prayer is not prayer, and without prayer, work is not work.”

Our times of prayer remind us that life is not simply about work, while our work reminds us that life is not simply about prayer.

To our great surprise, we see that God, who waits on high to have compassion on us, longs to be gracious to us.

When I walk the dog and give thanks for the vast blue sky and the bracing wind in my face, God is there.

When I am ironing the collar of a shirt and folding my son’s jeans still warm from the dryer, God is there.

By turning our attention purposefully toward God in the midst of our ordinary days, we demolish the wall between sacred and secular.

Our work becomes an offering to God as we meet him in the ordinary moments of life.

May the beauty of the Lord our God be upon you today!

Turn your calendar and your to-do list over to God and ask him to establish — to bless! — the work of your hands.

Scripture

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About this Plan

A Minute of Hope from the Psalms

The Psalms were Israel's hymn book, and when we open our Bibles and begin reading and praying the Psalms, we find ourselves singing in the key of hope. If hopelessness is truly "a poverty of imagination" these short devotionals are meant to make a deposit to your account, to bring the poetry of the psalmist into your day for a minute that might change everything.

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We would like to thank Michele Morin at Living Our Days for providing this plan. For more information, please visit: https://michelemorin.net