The Sovereign Lord has given me his words of wisdom, so that I know how to comfort the weary. Morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to his will. Isaiah 50:4 NLT

What was the very first thing you did this morning? Did you reach for your phone and scroll away?  And what about last night?  Was the temptation to binge-watch strong, so you ended up consuming mindless media until your eyes dropped closed?

In these times of uncertainty and unrest, it’s no wonder we are feeling anxious and ill at ease.  Rather than turning to the One who cares for our innermost beings, we spin in noisy, meaningless circles.  Here’s the alternative.

“We begin the day in silence,” wrote Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “because God should have the first word.  We end the day in silence because God should have the last word.” God gets the first and last word when we interact with Scripture first thing in the morning and the last thing at night. Think this is a bit much?  “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God,” Jesus himself said (Matthew 4:4).  The Holy Spirit works through Scripture to refresh our souls and transform our characters, habits and relationships.

Here’s a challenge:  resolve to give God the first and the last word for the next two weeks. Make Scripture the first and last thing your eyes see and then, listen. Here is what He promises about His own words: “The words that come out of my mouth [will] not come back empty-handed. They’ll do the work I sent them to do, they’ll complete the assignment I gave them (Isaiah 55:11 Message).

Resource reading:  Psalm 25:5-6