Devotionals are short essays written by GSLC members and staff that explore the ways the Holy Spirit works within our every day lives. There are several ways we invite you to use these devotionals:

Make them a part of a prayer practice - read a devotion and consider the ways that Christ has worked similarly in your life or works in unexpected ways.
Make them a part of a journaling practice - read a devotion and journal about what the Holy Spirit is stirring in you as you reflect on the essay.
Use them as a reminder that God works in all things, the bad and the good.

With over 400 available devotions, you can use these daily, weekly, or monthly. It's up to you! We just hope that by reading these inspiring stories provided by Good Shepherd's flock you are able to better see where Jesus is present in all things! Thank you to all of our members that have provided devotionals throughout the past couple of years!

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church / Thursday, June 24, 2021

/ Categories: Publications, Daily Devotions

Daily Devotion

THANKS FOR STUDY

Today I am thankful for study. As I write these words, I am thinking I am thankful for what is hard work filled with questions and a push to change. I am a slow, very slow reader. It takes forever to finish a book. I am not a good writer. It takes many drafts for what I write in order that it would pass as being the product of a literate individual before it goes to the proofreader. Yet, I spend my first hour(s) of the day in study. Why?

Study has at least three benefits. The first is study sometimes is an affirmation and reminder of what I already know and believe. It is good to recall what I have forgotten, i.e., that insight into a problem that lives in the back of my mind but is needed now to confront a challenge. It is good to affirm and rehearse the core beliefs that have guided my life. For me, study is often an affirmation and a sharpening of what I already know and do.

Second, study opens the door to something new. I am now 80 pages into a commentary on Isaiah chapters 40-66. The author begins this work with the statement that for 150 years it has been taught in seminaries that the book Isaiah was written by three separate independent authors. (I was taught that.) The author continues that this teaching is incorrect. Isaiah was written by one author who connects the three main sections of the book. I now have a new way of understanding and appreciation of the book of Isaiah.

Isaiah in chapters 40-44 has a common theme, i.e., God is doing something new for God’s people who are in exile in Babylonia. If God can do new things for Israel 2,500 ago, then God can be doing something new today in, through, and after the exile of the covid pandemic. I am now looking for God’s new thing today.

The third benefit of study is sharing. I study so I can share affirmations and new things. This is a basis of much of my social discourse. By teaching, conversations with friends, and writing, the joy of study is transmitted through what is learned from study.

In conclusion, affirmation, remembering, seeing new things, and sharing through study leads me to give thanks for this gift from God today.

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Daily Devotion