THE UPPER ROOM 22 MARCH 2024 DEVOTIONAL, FRIDAY MESSAGE
Read The Upper Room 22 March 2024 Devotional Message wriiten by Lucinda J. Rollings (Indiana, USA)
TOPIC: Opportunities to Serve
TODAY’S READING
Ecclesiastes 9:7-12
7 Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do. 8 Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. 9 Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.
11 I have seen something else under the sun:
The race is not to the swift
or the battle to the strong,
nor does food come to the wise
or wealth to the brilliant
or favor to the learned;
but time and chance happen to them all.
12 Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come:
As fish are caught in a cruel net,
or birds are taken in a snare,
so people are trapped by evil times
that fall unexpectedly upon them.
KEY VERSE: We’re praying this so that you can live lives that are worthy of the Lord and pleasing to him in every way: by producing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God. – Colossians 1:10 (CEB)
TODAY’S MESSAGE
After enjoying the first few months of retirement, I found that days of fun and relaxation do not always bring the peace and contentment I thought they would. Some days I have too much free time on my hands. It’s frustrating for me not having a schedule.
As I have taken this to the Lord in prayer, asking for guidance about how to spend my time, I have received a surprising answer. I have learned that even those unscheduled hours have God’s purpose stamped on them. Sometimes the purpose may be to teach me patience or to have a positive attitude no matter what is happening — or not happening — that day. The Bible says we are to “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thess. 5:18, NIV).
As I have accepted unplanned times of rest and relaxation, God has given me peace. I’m not rushing through my day, and I have the glorious privilege of spending more time studying scripture and in prayer. Having a more leisurely pace to my days has opened up new opportunities to serve: taking ice cream to a friend recovering from surgery, helping friends clean and pack for a move, or sitting with a cancer patient during chemo treatments. I have found God’s peace in the unplanned moments.
TODAY’S PRAYER
Almighty Father, our time is in your hands. Help us to serve you each and every day. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Unscheduled hours open up opportunities to serve God.
PRAYER FOCUS
Someone who has recently retired
The Upper Room is a daily devotional magazine published in more than 30 languages and 100 countries around the world. The daily meditations are written by readers of the magazine and others interested in sharing their faith experiences through writing—both laity and clergy, published authors and new writers. The meditations are stories of real people working to live faithfully with the Bible as their touchstone. Every day, readers of The Upper Room around the world read the same story in many different languages and pray the same prayer together.