The Joy of Creation 071912

 

Psalm 23 is often referred to as the Shepherd’s psalm. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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The Joy of Creation 071912

The sun is just now rising (or will in precisely 18 minutes), so the sky is just getting light. I woke at 4:00 a.m. to begin the day’s work, which has to be done early if at all, because of the local severe heat.

But suddenly, after seven weeks of hot and dry, hot and dry, the thunder came, and then lightning, and actual rain. More is predicted for the next few hours, which as we know is about as far as a prediction is reliable. The rain overwhelmed me with a sense of the glory of the God-created earth (not the ‘world’, which belongs to Satan, but the earth, from every microbe and speck of dust and reaching to the tops of trees—this is a pretty wonderful and beautiful place.

The scriptures harmonized with these thoughts and the green pastures and still waters says what I am singing this morning, although not so well.

Jeremiah prophesizes that we will get no higher, no mightier and no wiser than the mountains and the trees and the natural earth.

And Colossians 1:23 proclaims that we should stay faithful to the gospel ‘which has been proclaimed to every living creature’.

Pray for peace

brother Bill

Peace Mennonite Church keeps a prayer list for those in need. If you need prayer, or want to e-mail our pastor, e-mail billd @ peacemennonitechurch.net (Take out the extra spaces to use this e-mail—the spaces confuse spam generators).

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Psalm 23

Jeremiah 10:1-16

Colossians 1:15-23

Psalm 23

¹The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

²He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters;

³he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake.

⁴Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff— they comfort me.

⁵You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

⁶Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.

Jeremiah 10:1-16

10Hear the word that the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. ²Thus says the Lord: Do not learn the way of the nations, or be dismayed at the signs of the heavens; for the nations are dismayed at them. ³For the customs of the peoples are false: a tree from the forest is cut down, and worked with an ax by the hands of an artisan; ⁴people deck it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move. ⁵Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, nor is it in them to do good. ⁶There is none like you, O Lord; you are great, and your name is great in might. ⁷Who would not fear you, O King of the nations? For that is your due; among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is no one like you. ⁸They are both stupid and foolish; the instruction given by idols is no better than wood! ⁹Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz. They are the work of the artisan and of the hands of the goldsmith; their clothing is blue and purple; they are all the product of skilled workers. ¹⁰But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation. ¹¹Thus shall you say to them: The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens. ¹²It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens. ¹³When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain, and he brings out the wind from his storehouses. ¹⁴Everyone is stupid and without knowledge; goldsmiths are all put to shame by their idols; for their images are false, and there is no breath in them. ¹⁵They are worthless, a work of delusion; at the time of their punishment they shall perish. ¹⁶Not like these is the Lord, the portion of Jacob, for he is the one who formed all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; the Lord of hosts is his name.

Colossians 1:15-23

¹⁵He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; ¹⁶for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. ¹⁷He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. ¹⁹For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, ²⁰and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. ²¹And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, ²²he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him— ²³provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. I, Paul, became a servant of this gospel.

The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.