Most mornings I wake up with a song in my heart and a smile on my face. No need for coffee. I’ve got His joy surging through me each morning. But what about those occasional mornings when I wake up and everything seems just a bit off? No song. No smile. And at times it feels like no God in sight. What I mean by that is that He seems so far away.

An interesting thing happened to me this morning. I woke up just that way. Everything seemed off. I seemed off. I don’t like coffee, but it sure felt like I needed one.

I sat down in my prayer chair. I know He never will leave me nor forsake me, but I almost wanted to ask, “Are You there?”

Then this little thought flitted across my mind. I’ve heard it before. I’ve thought it before. But this morning I recognized that the enemy of my soul was behind it and trying to cause me to not be confident before God. This is what I heard, “Did I do something wrong?”

There have been times in the past when I’ve entertained that thought. The more I thought about it, the further God felt and the further down my soul sank. But not this morning. I heard that thought. I was a bit puzzled by it. And then I said, “What matters is that He did it all right.”

My righteousness, my right standing with God, is not based on me. It is based on what Jesus did and that’s not changing.

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21, KJV)

For our sake He made Christ [virtually] to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in and through Him we might become [endued with, viewed as being in, and examples of] the righteousness of God [what we ought to be, approved and acceptable and in right relationship with Him, by His goodness]. (2 Corinthians 5:21, Amplified)

I did not earn my righteousness by doing everything right. I was made righteous through Jesus. I like how one minister put it. He said, “In life I got an F. Jesus got an A. I got His report card.” (Leif Hetland)

So this morning, rather than sit in my prayer chair, feeling miles from God, and wondering what I may have done wrong. I sit in my prayer chair and thank Him that Jesus did everything right, and I got His report card!

God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God. (2 Corinthians 5:21, The Message)