Joni And Friends Daily Devotional 2nd November 2024, Saturday Message
TOPIC: This Is My Father’s World
“The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.” – Psalm 24:1
TODAY’S MESSAGE
This is my Father’s world. I was thinking back to a Wednesday last year when I arrived early for our church’s weekly prayer meeting.
I wheeled to the back of the church, which overlooks Malibu Creek. A green lawn slopes gently to the creek, which is lined by trees and bulrushes. Two huge eucalyptus trees provide shade, and the rays of the setting sun were touching the rosebushes. (Yes, even in November California has roses.)
I spent half an hour meticulously cataloging everything in my heart, scanning the pine trees, the yew bushes, the ice plants, the roses, the rabbits, and the birds. I took in each part of the scene slowly and spent a moment or two thanking God for his marvelous, creative variety.
What a way to start a prayer meeting. And what a way to remember that this world does not belong to the movers and the shakers. The power brokers don’t own it. The governments don’t run it, and the banks don’t finance it. The terrorists can’t destroy it, and the United Nations can’t bring it peace.
Kodak may try to capture the color, and A&M Records may try to create the sound, but there’s no mistaking…this is my Father’s world. I realized that all over again as I sat in our church’s rose garden.
Bundle up if you need to and go outside to scrutinize your view of our Father’s world. Look it over slowly, really noticing the fine attention to detail the Artist has used. Then praise him.
PRAY: Creator God, you’ve tucked so much beauty into each portion of creation that to try to take in even a little of it fills me with awe and wonder. Thank you that this is your world—no one else can own it. I’m grateful you’ve created it for us to enjoy. Teach me to pay more attention to the beauty with which you’ve surrounded me.