Psalm 104:24,27-28
How many are
your works, O Lord!
In wisdom you
made them all;
the earth is
full of your creatures.
These all look
to you
to give them
their food at the proper time.
When you give
it to them,
they gather it
up;
when you open
your hand,
they are
satisfied with good things.
We
have experienced a deluge of sorts recently. It has not been a deluge of rain
but of acorns. I have never experienced anything like it. For several weeks it
has literally been raining acorns. They cover my driveway and my deck. The
other day I swept the deck clean of acorns and an hour later it was covered
again. Yesterday I swept up four pails full of acorns from my driveway. When I
take our dog outside at night, I can hear acorns hitting the deck and the nearby
bushes. It is like being constantly under attack. The street in front of our
house is plastered with crushed acorns. I have never experienced anything like
it before.
The
Farmer’s Almanac is predicting that we are going to have a harsh winter. I
cannot help but think that our acorn storm is somehow related. I have watched
the squirrels in our back yard frantically gathering up the acorns to store
away. I dumped my pails of acorns under some trees in our backyard where I hope
the squirrels will be able to find them. They are better there than crushed
under the tires of my car.
We
read an article the other day that stated that the abundance of acorns has
nothing to do with the coming winter. Scientists, it said, have found no correlation
between the production of acorns and the weather. But I have to wonder. People
for centuries have watched the signs in nature to predict, with some accuracy,
what the weather would be in the near future. Even the Farmer’s Almanac points
us to the woolly bear caterpillar as a harbinger of things to come. If the
caterpillar is an indication of a bad winter, why not the acorns?
The
Psalmist suggests that there is a force at work that scientists cannot explain
or even understand. That force is the hand of God. As the creator of this
amazing world, God is actively involved in sustaining it. The Psalmist reminds
us that God provides food for the creatures that He has created. Acorns are
just one example of that truth. They are durable, abundant, and nutritious. Many
animals will seek out these small projectiles to sustain them during the winter
to come. Could it be that God is providing an abundance of acorns this year for
this very purpose?
As
human beings we have forgotten how dependent we are upon God’s provision. We
have come to believe that we are in control and that we can provide for
ourselves. God has allowed us to be productive, and so we have all that we need
in abundance. But God can cut off that abundance at any time.
Moses
warned the people of Israel, before they entered the Promised land, not to
become over confident in their own abilities. You may say to yourself,
"My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for
me." But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the
ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your
forefathers, as it is today. (Deut. 8:17-18)
In
many ways we have fallen into the trap that Moses warned about. We have come to
believe that it is by our own strength that we have accomplished all that we
have. We have forgotten that God is still on the throne and that He still is in
control. In humility we need to confess our arrogance and give thanks to God
for the abundance of His grace toward us.
God
has blessed us with abundance, not so we can boast in what we have, but that we
might bring honor and glory to Him. All that we have has come from His hand. He
wants us to use it for our good and His glory. The rain of acorns is a tangible
reminder of God’s extravagant love and grace toward us.
2 Corinthians 9:8
And God is able
to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all
that you need, you will abound in every good work.
No comments:
Post a Comment