Focus

Stop and thank God for being present with you today. Ask for God’s guidance as you hear God’s voice through scripture and the writer.

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Read

Psalm 104:24-34 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

O Lord, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.

Yonder is the sea, great and wide,
creeping things innumerable are there,
living things both small and great.

There go the ships,
and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.

These all look to you
to give them their food in due season;

when you give to them, they gather it up;
when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.

When you hide your face, they are dismayed;
when you take away their breath, they die
and return to their dust.

When you send forth your spirit, they are created;
and you renew the face of the ground.

May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
may the Lord rejoice in his works—

who looks on the earth and it trembles,
who touches the mountains and they smoke.

I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have being.

May my meditation be pleasing to him,
for I rejoice in the Lord.

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Reflect

If there’s one word that comes to my mind when I read this passage it is ‘providence.’ Verses 27-30 speak especially of the power of God in terms of how He has the ability to both give and take away life. Job says it well: “the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).

Instead of trying to comprehend how all of this is possible, the psalmist freely embraces all of these things are out of his control, and he just praises God by saying in verse 33, “I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.” In summary, the psalmist says, “Until God removes the breath from my body, I will praise His name and sing of His glory.”

Today, how are you giving thanks and praise to God?

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Pray

Gracious and Life-giving God, thank You for the gift of life. I praise You for the ability to live, move, and have my being, and I pray that You would empower me to do so in a way that would bring You glory and honor. In Your Son’s precious and holy name, I pray these things. Amen.

Go with God!