SET YOUR HOPE ANEW by Margaret Baldwin (alternate reading for day 1)

“Each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting his glorious miracles and obeying his commands.”   Psalm 78:7 (NLT)

Today, God, I am this generation. I, MYSELF, ME. The current, up-to-date, lazy, not very thoughtful and often self-centered me. Oh God, if You are really talking to me, help me to listen better than I ever have before. I really do want to hear what you have to say specifically to ME—not to anyone else. So if I listen now, and hear You, it truly will be a current, ongoing miracle! Usually I'm listening to my favorite music, or my friend on the phone or reading my incoming texts or thinking about what's going on in Facebook. Okay, I'm ready to listen.

You tell me to set my hope ANEW on God. But right now my hope is focused on getting through college, or at least getting a good paying job until I can afford to take at least some college classes. Right now I'm hoping my girlfriend, who I really care about, won't expect too much of me and make me feel tied down. And also my buddy is asking me questions—advice-type questions—that I can't even come up with answers for myself, let alone give advise to him for his problems.

What I hope for, from You, is help to creatively solve all my problems, or at least accept where I am right now and live peacefully and energetically with these problems. Help me to recognize them as challenges and embrace their uniqueness, trusting You are guiding me moment by moment. Please keep me alert enough to recognize Your direction when it comes. 

Help me to set aside a listening-for-Your-voice-time every day. Let me be comfortable with no distractions—no noise, no sound, no TV, no computer, no earphones, and total solitude. Oh WOW! IS THAT POSSIBLE? Could You, would You help me decide how much time I could program for myself each day just for that—maybe at least five minutes—maybe before I get out of bed each morning. Or when would be best for me?

You created me. You know me better than anyone else. What would I like the best? What would bring me the most creative fun?

Okay, God. This seems pretty silly. I'm not kneeling or closing my eyes, or folding my hands, but I am talking to You and posing some questions. Anyway, because You've told me to hope, I'm hoping for some external or internal blip or flicker or kick from You to help me realize it's You in my life.

This Psalmist says I'm not to forget Your miracles. Yeah, I'm the miracle and I won't forget me! I don't keep my pulse ticking, and I don't tell my stomach to digest that hamburger. But what “glorious miracles” am I not to forget? Those old-fashioned Bible stories are okay for little kids. But I want to know a grown-up, modern, current personal miracle. I promise to write it down when I see one, feel one, have one or remember one. I'll even post it on Facebook, I promise.

You say I'm also to obey your commandments? Yuck, I hate rules! I'm not sure I even remember all of them, but I think there are at least ten. What if I don't want to obey them? Did I just hear You say You will keep them for me? How's that? If I ask you to live Your life in me right now, You will keep your commandments in me with Your power? Wow! I want that! Obey You and still have fun, friends, success. I'm ready to experiment. For the next six weeks of ANEW I choose to let You live in me every day and depend on Your keeping Your commandments in me. Maybe I won't even know what commandments I'm tempted to break or which ones I'm keeping. Just show me Your power during this period so I can recognize it and get the hang of what You're trying to show me and tell me. Thanks.

M.B.