#DailyDevotion The LORD Provides Everything & Everyone Daily Bread

Psalm 104 16The LORD’s trees, the cedars of Lebanon that He planted, drink their fill. 17Birds make their nests in them, the stork having his home in the fir trees. 18The high mountains are for the wild goats; the rocks are a shelter for badgers.



If you read the previous devotion on the earlier verses, you know this psalm is praising the LORD, blessing and thanking the LORD for His creation. Verse 15 was sort of a culmination of the psalm as it pointed out how God had made it all for man.



Now, the psalmist continues in his praise of the LORD’s creation. It is a meditation on the creation of the LORD in this world. These verses begin a bit on how it all works together. So we have the tall trees and how the birds make their nest in them. The high mountains and rocky places are perfect for the wild goats and badgers. There is something in all creation for everything and everyone.



19You made the moon to mark the seasons, the sun that knows when to go down. 20When You make it dark, it is night; then all the animals in the woods move around; 21the young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God. 22When the sun rises, they slink away and lie down in their dens. 23Then man goes out to work and to toil until the sun goes down.



Everything has its place and timing. The moon was made to mark the seasons and the sun counts away at the days. Evening and morning all have their part to play in regulating what men and beasts do. At night the lion seeks their prey from God’s hands. During the day, man goes out to work when it is safe for him. That animals seek food from the LORD, is picked up in the next few verses. It is the LORD who blesses our work with daily bread.



24O LORD, how many are the things You made; You made them all by wisdom. The earth is full of Your creatures, 25living things large and small. There is the sea, great and wide, with countless things moving in it. 26There go the ships, and Leviathan You formed to play in it. 27All of them are looking to You to give them their food at the right time. 28You give it to them — they pick it up; You open Your hand — they are satisfied with good things.



The LORD’s creation is full of wonder and creatures. He has made them all. There is such a diversity of life to ponder the wisdom of the Almighty One. We get to ponder life on the land and we get to ponder life in and on the seas. Ships and the great Leviathan play in the oceans. We even have tours through wild safari parks and whale watching ships to look with wonder upon all the LORD has made. There is a reason kids love going to zoos and aquariums. They invoke the wonder of the LORD’s great wisdom in creating them all.



Verses 27 and 28 make up the Church’s mealtime blessing. We and all creatures look to God the LORD to give us our food at the proper time. He opens His hands to us and we take the food He has given us. We are satisfied with all good things. Oh that we recognized this all the more when we partake our food or take a drink! Would not our anxiety about what we eat and what we drink and what we wear be removed from us. Jesus reminds us in His Sermon on the Mount if the Father takes care of birds, how much more will He take care of you, you whom the LORD became one of to redeem. He took on human flesh to make atonement for our sins. He shared in all our griefs and shame. He took all our infirmities upon Himself and suffered all because of His great love for us. Won’t He take care of our daily bread? Will we not recognize this and give Him thanks and praise?



Merciful Father, You sent Your Son into our human flesh to take care of our greatest need. Give us faith to believe You will also give to us daily bread even as You care for the beasts, the birds, and everything that lives on the earth. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

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#DailyDevotion The Real Problem With People Today

Psalm 53 A fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”



Why is the atheist at heart a fool? Because the evidence of God stares at him right in the face every day and night. Paul writes in Romans 1, “19What can be known about God is clear to them because God has made it clear to them. 20Ever since He made the world, they have seen the unseen things of God — from the things He made they can tell He has everlasting power and is God. Then they have no excuse.” Psalm 19 says, “The heavens are telling how wonderful God is, and the sky announces what His hands have made.” The fact that the vast majority of peoples and nations in the world worship something as God to whom they are accountable to demonstrates this even if it is a false god or creation itself. However, even with this outward worship of something, in their hearts do they believe there is a God they are answerable to?



They do corrupt and detestable things. No one does anything good. 2God looks at the world from heaven to see if there is anyone wise, who comes to God for help. 3They have all turned away together and become corrupt. Not one does right, not a single one.



If we really believed in our hearts there was a God we were answerable to, would we do corrupt and detestable things? This psalm teaches us the very nature of original sin. There is no one who does good, no not one. Not good as God defines good. We are conceived this way and born this way. We lack faith in God. Not just not believing He exists, but we don’t trust Him. So Paul says, “everything apart from faith is sin,” and Hebrews writes, “without faith it is impossible to please God.”



So before we are born of God through the Word of faith, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we are not wise for we do not come to God for help expecting help from Him. The wise person turns to God for help regularly, for everything. He recognizes his dependence on God. We can only do this through faith in Jesus Christ. But before we had faith in Jesus we had all turned away and became corrupt. As it is written in Genesis 8:21, “man’s thoughts are evil from his youth.”



4Don’t these who do wrong know, don’t these who devour my people know that if anyone eats the bread God gives 5without calling on Him, panic will overtake them? Certainly there will be panic when God scatters the bones of those who besiege you. They will be put to shame because God will reject them. 6If only Someone would come from Zion to save Israel! When God restores His people, Jacob will be delighted and Israel will be glad.



As we eat our daily bread, do we give thanks to God for it? If not, David says panic will overtake us. Giving thanks shows the state of our heart. It shows we recognize our Creator for the gift of all good things. Those who don’t recognize this indeed are panic-stricken when their Maker calls on them to give an account of their lives. They will be put to shame and be rejected by God on the Last Day.



Jesus Christ is the someone who comes from Zion to save Israel. Not only Israel, but all the peoples of the world He came to save by His death on the cross. Those who believe and trust Jesus’ work for them He joins to His people Israel. Now on the day of the revelation of our salvation, we will be delighted and we will be glad for we trusted in God. We trusted in His Son, Jesus Christ. Panic will not overcome us on that day because Jesus’ righteousness covers all our sins and wrongdoing. His blood washed away our guilt and shame. We will stand holy, righteous, blameless and without fault on that day.



Heavenly Father, grant that through the Word of Faith, we may trust Your Son, Jesus Christ, so all our corruption will be put away on the day of His revelation. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

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