His Wondrous Works Still Speak Truth Today: Psalm 104

A while back I wrote a post describing how God eliminated a wrong way of thinking I had. It had to do with this big ball we call the Earth. My misconception was born from incorrect teaching and my failing to research and ask the Holy Spirit for His guidance in the Word. Thank goodness for time and the people that God places in your life because He finally showed me through correct teaching and my own seeking what the truth really was. Talk about freeing and invigorating and walking on cloud nine. Chucking the old and replacing with the new was such a great experience I love to go back and reminisce quite often about this particular lesson with the Lord.

NASA Photo

I notice that once the Lord lays your foundation of faith through letting Him teach you, He likes to build upon it. He did this for me today when I was reading more about His wondrous handiwork in Psalms 104. What a beautiful, poetic passage! The title of the chapter in my Hebrew Greek Key Study Bible is God is the Creator.  The first line starts with "Praise the Lord, O my soul," and mine was soaring as I continued reading the description of our Maker's personal involvement in His creation.

At verse 30  I had to stop and smile because this verse talks about sustainability. A word our culture and the modern, industrial age has embraced. The word is everywhere; ads, marketing, teaching material, documentaries. I see time and again a negative ploy against humans because we are 'destroying the Earth' our carbon footprint is the cause supposedly. I don't spend too much time on the issue because it is an absurd one. Don't get me wrong, I am for stewardship and conservation; humans need to be responsible, no argument there. BUT....let's get down to the nitty gritty of the matter. The earth is eternal and it will stay that way by the grace and plan of God.

Psalm 104:30 states God, the magnificent Creator of the Earth; the great ball we live on and use, is also its Sustainer. "...and You (God) RENEW the face of the earth."

And may the Lord get the glory (verse 31) for it.

The Hebrew word "earth" translated from verse 30 is 'Adamah' and means "ground" "land" and "country". It refers to the soil, agriculture, fruit, produce , region and even the ENTIRE EARTH. ( page 1575 - Lexical Aids to the Old Testament)

The Merriam Webster Definition of the word: Sustain: 1 to provide with nourishment 2 to keep going: prolong 3 to hold up:prop 4 to hold up under: ENDURE 5 to support as true, legal, or valid: prove corroborate.

A Godly perspective of sustainability sure does take a weight off the human race! Knowing God will nourish and prolong the earth through eternity and the fact His previous, present and future actions proved valid and true in His word should make us REJOICE!

Since the last verse in Psalms 104 rightly states my sentiments I'll quote it now, "Praise The Lord."

The Wondrous Works Of God

Photo by Alex Brown

My daughter Alex and I have our best chats just before bedtime. Pillow talk has become a pastime we both look forward to. Often we end up talking about God and that always leads into a late night and more subject matter to build on for our future pillow talks.

One night Alex said, "Mom, why don't we make a list of all the awesome things God has done in the Bible," after we just got done listing a few things He had done for us personally. We started with a few from the top of our head and realized we would need to get a pencil and a lot of paper as we proceeded to list things from the Bible.

We started this exercise as something fun to do and it has started to branch into something more. We started in the very beginning, Genesis. I began to think, "since God has done all this why do I fret, and get anxious especially when he has proven over and over again through His Word and through His active participation in my life that He IS ALL that He says He is and DOES ALL that He says He's going to do.  The phrase, "O, ye of little faith" from Matthew 8:26 just hung in the back of my head as a mirror of my frailty for not always fully trusting Him when evidence is so easily documented. (I won't get into all the ways in which this is born out, that is another post)

No one likes being reminded of the things lacking or in need of refining in their life, yet the task in writing out the amazing, awesome things God has performed for our well-being, benefit and strengthening of our faith makes me reflect on His utter goodness, His plan, His glory and through this I am strengthened with a new perspective.

Take a look at this list packed full of amazing wonders God personally performed for you and me. We barely made it out of the first chapter of Genesis. ( Alex said we will probably take a year to get our list done..she's probably right!)

CREATION:
1.   Universe (Heavens and the Earth)     Genesis 1:1
2.   Angels                                                 Job 38:1-7
3.   Light                                                   Genesis 1:3
4.   Day and Night (Time)                        Genesis 1:4,5
5.   Water                                                  Genesis 1:6
6.   Atmosphere (Firmament)                   Genesis 1:8
7.   Land                                                    Genesis 1:9,10
8.   Sea                                                      Genesis 1:10
9.   Plants                                                  Genesis 1:11
10. Moon (lesser)                                      Genesis 1:14,16
11. Sun (greater)                                       Genesis 1:1,4 16
12. Stars                                                    Genesis 1:16
13. Sea Life                                               Genesis 1:20,21
14. Birds                                                    Genesis 1: 20, 21
15. Animals                                               Genesis 1:24
16. Man (In His image)                             Genesis 1:26, 27
17. Food (vegetarian)                                Genesis 1:29,30
18. Rest                                                     Genesis 2:2

If you ever have a chance to watch the documentary God of Wonders your spirit will rejoice in the creation of our Intelligent Designer.
Another must watch documentary series for educational viewing is, Incredible Creatures that Defy Evolution with Dr. Jobe Martin.

Netflix had both of these on the instant watch recently.

What wondrous things has God done in your life?

When The Going Get's Tough...

The tough go to their daughter's school and have lunch with her....
The winter break is over and the kids go back to school. Sometimes we are ready and sometimes we wish we could all have just one more day to push the grind away. My husband and I dropped my daughter off at school and she said, "do you have to work today?" before rolling her backpack inside. I shook my head yes, and she replied, "darn, I wanted you to have lunch with me."

I received some not so good news the minute I got home from dropping her off from school but life must go on so I headed to my one job that is out in the boonies only to have the door locked and I wasn't able to enter. So I ran errands and came home early. What a fretful first day back from break. With the morning that just wouldn't work out in my schedule and my thoughts attacking my nerves, a little sanity was just what I needed so I decided to take my daughter up on her offer and go to lunch.

Seeing my daughter, friendly and tall, walking with her lunch sack to find her seat brought a smile out of the brooding mess I was in. She didn't see me sitting on the stairs waiting for her so I snuck up behind her and tapped her shoulder and she beamed a huge smile and in a super excited tone said, "Mom, you came to lunch," then she grabbed me and hugged me in front of at least eight packed tables full of kids.

The cafeteria was louder then women at a hen party, the constant murmuring drowned out the onslaught of hounding questions that just don't have answers. Who knew a cafeteria full of yammering kids would be relaxing? 

The state of limbo is the docket for the day, I feel myself squirming and writhing and wanting to run around with my head cut-off like a chicken but what good would any of that do? I wrote a post in the beginning of my blog escapade called Doing Nothing.  If I get any wiser as I age, I think I better listen and just rest for now. How does one do that without a pill or a distraction especially when human nature tells you to figure it out, manipulate til the cows come home, bang out a miracle or else you'll be labeled a failure? Gratify, gratify, gratify on my terms!

I've got my answer.. BE STILL, GO TO GOD!  PSALMS 46:1-10

I find it interesting (as I always do) that to be still in Hebrew is raphah. It has many meanings but the one that hit me was; to desist. This is what I thought after seeing that meaning: Let God do His work and don't try to meddle so that you can see His handiwork and He can take the Glory.

Jason Jackson made a good point in his article, Be Still and Know that I am God in this quote, "Here is the irony in this term “be still.” While we must take the initiative to fulfill our responsibilities and live our lives, the uncertainties of living in a world of sin and woe will continually challenge us. Personal initiative is no substitute for reliance upon God (cf. James 4:13-17)."

Of course I read James 4:13-17 and immediately knew I better sit on it and submit to God.

(One thing I can say with absolute confidence: I am blessed...remember my New Year's Salutation...God is active in my life and for that I can PRAISE HIM!)

When shaky news finds its way to your door; what do you do?