Day 81: Generosity

Reading: Psalm 36: 1-12

God's generosity is described in mighty ways in this Psalm. This is indeed a refreshing look at generosity as we live in a world where sometimes people think it's best to take more for themselves than to give excess to others. We read here though, that God is different, in giving all that He has for us. His love reaches to the heavens. His faithfulness reaches to the sky. His righteousness is like the mighty mountains. His justice is like the depth of the ocean. Maybe you've heard the Third Day song, Your Love Oh Lord, which follows this Psalm almost word for word.
The love of God is so huge, that no matter what we do, unless we reject Him, He will always love us.
His faithfulness will always stand beside us in all times.
His righteousness is firm and strong, and He has never sinned.
His justice is as deep as the ocean. This means He'll judge those who have wronged us, but we will also be judged.
We can seek refuge in Him and come and feast at His table. God's generosity is unending and humbling. We can learn from Him.


Reading: Luke 4:14-37

We see that Jesus went to ministry with the power of the Holy Spirit. The power of the Holy Spirit comes to all who follow Him. The generosity of God is again revealed as He makes the Spirit available to us. This may sound freaky or weird, but we can see how it worked as Jesus healed, taught, and rose all sorts of emotions in His presence. People were amazed and riveted by His words and teaching. Others, were driven to fury and rage. The same rings true today as Christians. The name of Jesus is a powerful one, raising feelings of all sorts in a mere whisper of it. Some people are excited about this Christian thing, but others flee from it and want nothing to do with it. In other countries, Christians are killed for their status. I'm sure a few of my friends have blocked me or "defriended" me because of what I share on Facebook about my faith. Thee is endless controversy and emotion when it comes to Jesus. We are granted this authority through the Holy Spirit as well. We can stand by it, or run from it.


Reading: Numbers 13:36-14:45

When God pours out His generosity on us like He did for the Israelites, there are a few things to keep in mind as we learn from the people in this reading. When we face a blessing and generosity from God, we need to own it. What I mean by this is claim the blessing He gives to you. The people here are too frightened to enter into the land because of the giants. Even though God had brought them this far, only four people in this entire nation believed they could defeat the giants. They obviously didn't remember how powerful their God was. How many times do we do this in our lives? We stare long and hard at a problem and practically give up without ever even giving God a thought.
We need to remember God's promises. God will be generous to us if we follow Him. He promises to never leave us or forsake us. This kind of generosity should be empowering and cause us to stand up, not shy away from what God has given us, even if it seems unknown. The people here didn't keep God's guidance and provision at the front of their minds. They looked at the problem instead of at God and His will. When God is generous to us, we need to also remember that He takes care of us and always intends good for us.


We can see many traits of generosity that God has throughout these readings in all His forms. God was generous to the Israelites in leading them to the Promised Land. The Holy Spirit is generous in empowering Jesus to do His ministry while He was on this earth, as He is to those who walk in the ministry of God today. And Jesus lived a life of selflessness, coming to proclaim the work of His Father and serve others. May we follow and be empowered by these examples of generosity.