Daily Devotional

It was a day of encounters. It had been a night of disarray. The power went out around 2am. I stumbled around the house in pitch dark. I was trying to remember in my sleep deprived brain where even one flashlight was, hoping not to fall or break something. Having found one small one, I searched for candles. I found a few and began to light the house the old prairie frontier way, one small candle at a time, here and there. My plodding around noisily got Lynn up, too. The power finally restarted a couple of hours later.

All this made for a discombobulated morning. Some of it was kind of fun and different. Some of it was threatening and scary. Was our house being “targeted?” Were criminals lying in wait for me in the darkness? I quickly ascertained our whole block was without light. But it all led to disarray – the house a mess, schedules off, and the day beginning with sleep deprivation.

Yet, it was a day of positive encounters! I was off, late, to my Monday getaway, but was so disoriented I had to stop and just pray. Where do I go to meet with You, Lord? After waiting and wrangling with various ideas, I went to a Starbucks I rarely visit. I was sure I could be “alone,” knowing no one. I was wrong! I encountered and spent a little time with three men from a church we had previously attended. Then I talked to Destiny, a Starbucks manager doing admin at our joint table. Then with Pete, as he was waiting for his drinks to be ready. Finally, to our neighbor, Nancy, on my out.

Despite the busy unexpected encounters, my greatest encounter was with the Lord! And it came with a profound reminder. I skipped my normal Bible reading program, and was prayerfully led to Revelation, chapters 20-22. Not a surprise for my day that day, such as it was. I was struck by the opening phrase, “Then I saw an angel coming down.”

Revelation 20:1-3 – "Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while." (ESV)

For nearly two hours, in and around my encounters in that small coffee shop, I received large encouragement and instruction. It started with the angel. We don’t think much about angels. Life on earth is so demanding and so much “in our face” that we are easily consumed by it. But this phrase spoke of another part of our world. It spoke of an angel. Coming down. I got excited, and started writing notes in my phone. This one angel, bound him described as the dragon, the serpent, the devil, Satan, all by himself, and locked him into a pit for 1,000 years! We simply have to start having more open eyes to the world of God the Spirit, God the Son and God the Father, and all the host around them in heaven and on earth.

It went on to speak of thrones & judges (in the heavenlies), the beast and an image. Of a great white throne and Him judging. Of books and the book of life. Of the Holy City coming down out of heaven, the New Jerusalem. Prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Death being no more. Old things gone, all made new. “It is done!” No more mourning, crying or pain – all passed away! Of a great high wall. Twelve gates. 12 foundations. No night there, the temple, the Lord God Almighty, and the Lamb. God is the light, the lamp the Lamb. The river of the water of life. No longer anything accursed, but the throne of God and the Lamb will be in it!

Then came the line, like a lightning bolt to me, “and his servants will worship him.” (Revelation 22:3, ESV). It continued by saying they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. Night will be no more. The Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

It was all a lightning bolt because it revealed to me the future, the summation of it all, which is forever and ever, “and his servants will worship him!” I thought, if that is the summation of it all, if that is the future and permanent and eternal goal, what of now? What was it Israel had consistently failed to do? To worship Him. They sought out idols. They worshiped false gods and created things. Then what about us? How does this inform us now, while we wait for the predestined events of Revelation to occur? What is the central piece of all our life? It has to be the same as was laid out for Israel, in the desert, with the tent of meeting in the middle of the tribes –WORSHIP!

There are many great truths declared to us in God’s word. While the most critical piece of coming into His kingdom and His presence has to be Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, who suffered and died for our sins, was buried, was raised to new life, appeared, ascended and is now seated at the right hand of the Father, and coming soon, yet the first and most essential activity for us has to be now what it was then: WORSHIP!!! Yes, evangelism and missions. Yes, teaching the word, prayer and faith. Yes, fellowship and love. Yes, living in joy and peace. Yes, many works. But the center of it all has to be worship, as it will come to in heaven. “And his servants will worship Him!”

I commend to you now, worship. Worship on your own, alone with the Lord. Major on it. Worship together with His brethren. Do not forsake it! Glory in it! What will be our future then must be our present now: WORSHIP. It is what Israel failed to do. I must be what we become consumed with doing: WORSHIP! If we consistently and profoundly worship, all else will be made clear. All direction will be given us there, in that “position,” WORSHIP.

Read: Revelation, chapters 20-22
Sing: Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee, by Henry Van Dyke (Beethoven)

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.