07/11/2023
Everything in our lives points to Jesus. The greatest and the least of our experiences lead us to Him. Saints haven't achieved some higher plane of self-realization... they have simply come to the understanding that everything in life reveals God, and Jesus Christ. Then, in all of this, nothing trumps the embodiment of God's will and grace in The Son! In this realization comes a relationship of incredible closeness.
“"But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.”
Job 12:7-10 ESV
We see God in every living thing and in all of creation, and when that truth comes to us we can no longer doubt or deny Him, but it doesn't stop there. The psalmist goes further yet when glorifying the remainder of God's creation in two wonderful passages...
“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.”
Psalms 19:1 ESV
“In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!”
Psalms 95:4-6 ESV
When our first conscious thought arrives each morning, make it praise for the very air in our lungs because the sheer joy of that simple act is a miracle and lends evidence to the maker. Indeed, it reminds us of Him through scripture, and we should understand that in that breath He is in us... and in that act our Breath becomes a metaphor of Him.
“Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.”
John 14:19-20 ESV
So God is not only around us but in us, and as we go into the world this morning, even our first exhalation should begin our day in praise.
I have often been traveling through my morning and seen God in the most amazing things, and each time I do, it leads me into immediate prayer. Do you see Him in this way? Does something that you have witnessed a thousand times before suddenly speak His name to you? Here is an example of such a moment in my life, and I hope that upon reading it you will look about you and see the hand of God as He leads you into prayer and praise...
Naked Trees
By Rich Forbes
On Tennessee winter’s morn
I drove to work, though forlorn,
Grey clouds raced across darkened sky
Naked trees cutting cold wind cry
To brighten up my somber mood
I sang a hymn as not to brood
Then when the sunrise met the earth
I saw the trees as they gave birth
They gave birth to praise unheard
Reaching for God without a word
Each branch raised like tiny finger
Stretched for heaven, joy would linger
Waving to and fro in worship
Stout wind helping heads to slow dip
Roots traced lawns as there they knelt
Heads bowed low, their prayers I felt
How had I, who had driven this way,
Missed such spectacle every day
Passed right by a miracle born
Of wind and branch where sky is torn
Sky is torn from its hold on earth
By waving trees as they give birth
Birth to song of heaven’s splendor
Bowed to God and worship rendered.
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for all of creation as it speaks to me of your greatness. I thank you for all breathing things, and for those wonders that never take a breath. You are glorious in your creation and the wonder of your work overwhelms me. I thank you for creating me in your image, but I also thank you for allowing me the emotion of awe in which I experience your splendor. Holy Father, my very reflection gives witness to you, but even when I don't look inward, I see you in everything about me. I feel you as my hand moves through the air and water, I feel you as my feet walk towards you, and I know you when the love and awe of your presence wells up in me. Lord, from the moment of your first creation you knew your Son would need to redeem us one day, yet this was never a tragedy, but a love story. The beauty of all creation sings and attests to that fact... your vision is not morose, but splendid in every detail. How could I miss seeing you, who loves me so much, in every word of creation you spoke? How can I not see your Son, and the love you have for Him, in the very air I breathe, and feel Him in the sun on my face? Holy Father you overwhelm me with your beauty, and you fill my senses to overflowing with the emotion it evokes. I sing to you; I make music for your ears; I write beautiful words to touch your heart; all of this for your pleasure as I celebrate you in all that surrounds me... it all of the wonder you have placed me in the midst of... in the simplest of breaths.
“then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.”
Genesis 2:7-8 ESV
Rich Forbes