In the fall of 2018, I heard a voice calling me to create a devotional that connects God’s children closer to God, closer to each other, and closer to the saints and sinners who make up the Bible. I heard it in the midst of a season when leaders who call themselves Christian were distancing us from God, from each other, and from those same stories that teach us who we are in the world. I hope these devotions offer comfort, encouragement, and deepening connections to God’s earth and God’s many and diverse children, so that we may be a people building God’s Beloved Community together. You’ll find a devotional here every Wednesday in 2019, and in other places I posted about below.* The devotions are written as if from God, and I hope I did not fail in my effort to honor both God and you in the process.
–Sandhya Jha
Obadiah 1:3-4 Your proud heart has deceived you,
you that live in the clefts of the rock,*
whose dwelling is in the heights.
You say in your heart,
‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’
4 Though you soar aloft like the eagle,
though your nest is set among the stars,
from there I will bring you down,
says the Lord.
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There is hardly a book in your sacred texts that does not call you to a life of humility. The best kings of Israel were humble, and when they failed to be humble their realms fell. This world punishes humility, but my realm rewards it beyond measure. A community grounded in humility is so much stronger and less prone to destruction from inside or out. I do not only call you to humility because it is right but because it is the only way to truly thrive. But humility requires a level of confidence in one’s own value that the braggarts and loud bullies who lead nations today simply do not possess. Today, reflect on what it means to be a treasured child of mine. Reflect on how much I love you. Reflect on what that makes possible. It is the beginning of the path to true spiritual humility.
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*You can find us Tuesdays on Twitter, Wednesdays here, Thursdays on Instagram, Fridays on Facebook, and if you sign up here, you’ll get a devotion in your inbox every Sunday!
Sandhya Rani Jha 