The earth is the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
The Earth is the Lord's
Beloved of the Lord......By the grace of God, another year has passed us by and another harvest taken place. "All be safely gathered in, Ere the winter storms begin; God our Maker doth provide, For our wants to be supplied." We certainly have much to be thankful for. This truth was driven home to me this past week, as I watched parts of a PBS documentary about the Dust Bowl of the 1930's. Due to drought conditions year after year, poor farming practices, and high winds, there were incredible dust storms. The winds licked up and carried high the dust off the farmlands. No matter how hard the farmers worked and planted and tried to grow their crops, it was all to no avail. Countless farms failed and went bankrupt. Families fell apart or were separated and there was terrible suffering. This was the time of the Great Depression.
It is a sad part of our human nature, but we usually see what we don't have rather than what we do. We pray to God and ask for more without remembering to thank God for all He has given. For many farmers there was drought this year, but it was no Dust Bowl. Likewise we have been in a continual recession, but it is not yet the Great Depression. Thanks be to God tomorrow is in God's hands, and what can we say about today? Once again the Lord will set before us a table filled with meats and drinks, and all kinds of sweet things. These blessings will make our heart glad, but let us not forget to truly thank the Lord. Psalm 34:8 says, "O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him." While
it has not in any way been a banner year of wealth and happiness for
any of us, God in His mercy continues to give us each day our daily
bread. Let's be sure to take the time and thank Him, not just today, but every day sincerely from the heart. Psalm 68 says, "Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation." Psalm 103 says, "Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's."
Today we see in David's psalm this earth is the Lord's, namely all we see here is His possession. Since Jehovah is the Creator of all things, this creation belongs to Him alone. Haggai 2:8 says, "The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts." In Psalm 50 the Lord says, "every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine."
We
need to be reminded that the earth is the Lord's and the fullness
therefore, because since man's fall into sin, our natural understanding
of possessions and ownership is wrong. We tend to think our possessions are ours because we've earned them. While
that is true in the sense that God upholds property rights when He says
"Thou shalt not steal", in the bigger picture we do not earn our
possessions, but rather they come to us from God's mercy. For example, Psalm 119:64 says, "The earth, O Lord, is full of Thy mercy." Because of our sins, we don't really deserve anything good, but we deserve only punishment. Because of sinful lust, do we deserve the blessing of marriage? Because of our pride, do we deserve the gift of children? Because of the darkness of our heart, do we deserve the light of the Scriptures? Because of the coldness of our devotion, do we deserve the warmth of God's love? Whatever blessing then we might be able to think of, such comes only from the mercy of God's own heart. For example, we don't deserve the present harvest in our barns, but we deserve a dust bowl. We don't deserve the present peace in our land, but we deserve war. Likewise
we don't deserve the dirt below our feet nor the oxygen we breathe in
the air, nor even the light of the sun which feeds and supports all
creation. Still, because God is good and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy, God gives us each day our daily bread. "Having
food and raiment let us be therewith content…..for we brought nothing
into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out."
Consider how year to year there is a harvest which fills all the barns and storage units in this world. This
"fullness" of the earth belongs to the Lord, yet He in His mercy by it
feeds the entire population of the earth, around SIX BILLION people. Moreover, if the food we waste every year could be piled high, there would be mountains of waste scattered everywhere. Whenever
we then see starving children on TV, though our hearts should pity them
and perhaps we can help, their hunger is never God's fault, but such is
the fruit of man's greed. First John 3:17 says, "Whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?"
We are told this world's poverty and starvation can be solved by population control. The
United Nations wants to control this world's population by Agenda 21,
which is mandatory birth control, as well as abortion, and
sterilization. They want to educate our girls and
"empower" women, which is code for teaching them to use birth control
and not have many children. Such wickedness however will never solve this world's poverty. We know this because Jesus said, "The poor you will always have with you, but Me ye have not always." Even
when Jesus visibly lived among men, miraculously feeding thousands, He
did not by miracles end this world's poverty, though He easily could
have. Jesus had a higher calling, a higher purpose. Jesus came to end our spiritual poverty, the bankruptcy of sin. The
debt to God we owed, which we could never repay, became His debt to pay
"not with gold or silver, but with His holy precious blood". Paying our impossible price of sin with His own blood, Jesus made us rich in forgiveness. "For
ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich,
yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be
rich." If then you feel yourself poor this
Thanksgiving with little food or little money, believe only in Christ
and you will find yourself rich beyond your wildest dreams. For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life everlasting.
Jesus
then did not come to make a paradise for us here on earth, but by His
blood He came to deliver us from all this evil, and bring us to a far
better placed called heaven. That is why it is so foolish, when men on earth try to earn their way to heaven by offering man-made sacrifices. What can man offer to God that God doesn't already possess? Hear God speak in Psalm 50. "Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am God, even thy God. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High."
In
these verses God is seeking from us no sacrifice at all, rather all He
desires from us is our praise and thanksgiving for all He has done! Hebrews ten says, "But this Man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." Faith then, and faith alone, is really the only proper way we can thank God for all His blessings. The best thing we can do then, so to speak, is believe Christ has done all. This is how faith alone saves, for "if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work." And
just then as Christ is God's free gift to you for your salvation, so
see around you all other free gifts which come bountifully from God's
mercy: the food we daily eat, the milk we drink, the clothing upon our
backs, the roof over our head, our relatives and family that care for
us, our beloved wife and children, the dirt below our feet, the air we
breathe above, the sun, moon, and stars, the sleep we enjoy at night,
the smile of a child or the embrace of our spouse……who can number it
all?
Consider also your spiritual blessings. Your faith is a gift, not a work. You are not saved because you received Christ, rather Christ in His mercy received you and that's why you believe. Likewise your baptism….. you didn't wash yourself clean, but Christ by the Word washed you clean. Your
faith today likewise continues not by your own strength, but His grace,
and His grace will help you to triumph over sin, death, and the devil
time and time again. You also have God's promise that He will keep and preserve you in the one true faith until life everlasting. The preservation of your faith is yet another spiritual gift. Likewise think of heaven. If
the treasure of your heart is this world and the things of this world,
God may grant this nation another Dust Bowl, so all our wealth suddenly
flies away, gone with the wind. Yet if Christ is your greatest treasure (thanks be to God!) "I'm but a stranger here, heaven is my home". To
those who believe in Him Jesus promises, "I am the resurrection, and
the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he
live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." "Let not your heart be troubled…. In my Father's house are many mansions." Knowing
all this, take the time daily to thank God and pray, for "He that
spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he
not with him also freely give us all things?" "
Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the
Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." "Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me."
Finally,
beloved, the Bible says not only is this earth the Lord's and the
fullness thereof, but also "the world, and they that dwell therein." This means the people in this world around you, even your enemies, are in God's powerful hands. They are not outside the scope of His power, but well under His control. Likewise, as God's hands were once nailed to the cross for you, these powerful hands can never fail you. Do not then worry nor fret about the enemies of the Church who persecute you. They are in God's hands and you will daily endure under the shadow of God's wings. Daily by faith then put yourself in God's hands, and do not fear what men can do to you, knowing Christ has done all. "As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him." 2 Sam. 22:31 "He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler." "O give thanks unto the Lord for He is good, for His mercies endure forever." Ps. 91:4 Amen.
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