A Few Thoughts on How the Lord Cares For His Creation
Thank you, Lord.
Psalm 104 says: 27 These all look to you, to give them their food in due season. 28 When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things. 29 When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. 30 When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground.
Psalm 104 proclaims how God cares for His creation and how we seek the good things that He grants. He sustains and we are pleased. He is Lord over the living and the dead. It is a pleasure to think on the blessings that He gives.
A few points to bring you encouragement this week:
(1) We all have a due season
We look for our daily bread. Mealtime seems to be rather habitual. Payday is a welcome time.
We have needs; God provides. He doesn’t provide in the same way for everyone, but He is aware of our due season and He grants at just the right time for what we need. I give thanks that God recognizes my due season and is willing to sustain me with all that I need. At just the right time, God sent His Son that we might have the redemption we need.
God knows your due season. He knows the ups and downs of your day, your week, and your year. God is not a God of neglect, but a God with the watchful eye, ready to give that we might receive. Be filled with good things.
(2) God doesn’t play peek-a-boo
Our lives are not a game to God. He took great care in creating each and every one of us with our own gifts, joys, and what He knew would be challenging to us. There are intentional times where God holds back, either because of our sin our because we’re not ready, and those can be the most difficult times of our lives. But God promises that those times will not be forever. He will reveal Himself and He allows Himself to be found, even by those who weren’t looking for or seeking Him.
God does not play games of taunting. When He challenges us, it is for a reason. When He tests us, it is for a reason. When He rebukes us, it is for a reason. It is never so that He can “Lord” it over us. We are too precious and valuable to God for that. It’s a shame when we treat others in a way that God would never treat us.
Be encouraged to know that during those times of dismay, God has His reasons. He will stretch out His arm and welcome you as you need, before things are beyond recognition or salvation. Stay, true and trust that God holds that precious life that we share in His grace.
(3) There are many opportunities for God to revive the path in front of you
This world can make it so rough that we don’t even want to venture one step further. When life gets too hard and the challenge too painful, every step seems like a step in the wrong direction. Whether it’s a leadership decision we’re dreading, that agonizing conversation we need to have with an in-law, or the phone call to the doctor we’ve been dreading to make, the path ahead has a way of leaving us dissatisfied and timid.
But God says that His Spirit can renew the face of the ground in front of us. It doesn’t mean that the challenges ahead will be wiped away and the path will be turned into the perfect environment we had hoped for, but the way is paved for His Spirit to create opportunities for well-being and growth. What was once pain and struggle can be redeemed, so that the path ahead is doable. God’s Spirit moves with us, refreshing as He goes. That leadership decision, handed over to the Spirit, can create immense openings for God’s Kingdom to thrive; that difficult conversation, with the Spirit’s guidance, can forge new respect between embattled people; that doctor’s appointment can yield a path of personal ministers, raised up for your sake, or a thousand praying churches sending their prayers to the highest heights, or it can yield the relief that was only a phone call away but fear kept it from being received.
The Spirit brings life, hope, and persistence of a God who is willing to give for our benefit.
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Thank the Lord for His providence. Thank the Lord that He cares so much for us. Thank the Lord that He is a God of opportunity. Amen.
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