Give and Take

August 25

(Psalm 104:24-35 NIV) “How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. {25} There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number-- living things both large and small. {26} There the ships go to and fro, and the leviathan, which you formed to frolic there. {27} These all look to you to give them their food at the proper time. {28} When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things. {29} When you hide your face, they are terrified; when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust. {30} When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth. {31} May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in his works-- {32} he who looks at the earth, and it trembles, who touches the mountains, and they smoke. {33} I will sing to the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. {34} May my meditation be pleasing to him, as I rejoice in the Lord. {35} But may sinners vanish from the earth and the wicked be no more. Praise the Lord, O my soul. Praise the Lord.”

(Job 1:21-22 NIV) “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised." {22} In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.”

Most Christians embrace God as the giver of life. It’s much more difficult for us to picture Him as a “taker” of life. But if He is the Lord of all things, then He is the Lord of both life and death. Everything living here on Earth receives its breath from the Lord. When God takes that breath away, we die and return to the dust from which we were created. Our times really are in His hands. The Lord gives, the Lord takes away, and then the Lord gives again. When God sends His Spirit, life returns to our soul. We are renewed, reborn, and resurrected. Death is overcome. We need no longer fear our coming appointment with it. As God’s glory endures forever, so our spirit will endure forever in a place where there is no sin or wickedness. Rejoice in this! Sing to the Lord! Praise His name with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength! -- Friar Tuck’s Word of the Day