NIV 365 / Stewardship

The NIV 365-Day Devotional Reading Plan

Day 241 of 365 Stewardship This rich poem dealing with the manner in which the created order displays the beauty and glory of the living God is filled with expressions of praise, wonder and adoration. All things find their origin and nourishment in the mind and power of the personal and inexhaustible God. "Who is like the Lord our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth?" (Psalm 113:5 - 6). The Lord's splendor and majesty are displayed in the heavenly bodies, as well as in the clouds, winds and lightning. God formed the earth with its oceans and mountains, and the water he provides sustains the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. Earth's stately forests and lush vegetation sustain humans and animals, and the sun and the moon differentiate day from night and mark off the seasons. The incredibly rich diversity and abundance of creatures both large and small are a continual source of awe and amazement. All things look to God for their existence, and when he takes away their breath, they die and return to the dust. Paul employs parallelism for emphasis when he states that "For us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live" (1 Corinthians 8:6). In another passage he says: "You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies" (1 Corinthians 6:19 - 20). Jesus owns us by virtue of both creation and redemption. He is the source of our biological and spiritual lives. What are the practical implications of this truth? Taken from NIV Leadership Bible Psalms 104:1-9 Psalms 104:1-9 KJV 1 Bless the Lord , O my soul. O Lord my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty. 2 Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain: 3 Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind: 4 Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire: 5 Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever. 6 Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains. 7 At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away. 8 They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them. 9 Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth.