From Your Bounty

(Verses 7-14)
When you, God, went out before your people,
when you marched through the wilderness,
the earth shook, the heavens poured down rain,
before God, the One of Sinai,
before God, the God of Israel.
You gave abundant showers, O God;
you refreshed your weary inheritance.
Your people settled in it,
and from your bounty, God, you provided for the poor.
The Lord announces the word,
and the women who proclaim it are a mighty throng:
“Kings and armies flee in haste;
the women at home divide the plunder.
Even while you sleep among the sheep pens,
the wings of my dove are sheathed with silver,
its feathers with shining gold.”
When the Almighty scattered the kings in the land,
it was like snow fallen on Mount Zalmon (NIV).

Reflection
Are you about to start some grand enterprise? Are you embarking on a great journey? Are you beginning a new endeavour? Maybe you are doing none of these things. Perhaps for you it’s just a regular day. There’s nothing special or grand about it at all.

December Sunrise — photo by David Kitz

But just for a moment, let’s suppose you were setting out on a magnificent, but somewhat risky adventure. What are the conditions you would like to see in place before you step out of your comfort zone and take on the very real challenges and obstacles that lie ahead?

This portion of Psalm 68 gives us a biblical answer to that question. If you are taking on the world and all it can throw at you, it’s best to have God on your side. It’s best to have the LORD going before you. He is the One who prepares the way for victory and success.

In a dry and thirst place God is our faithful provider. You gave abundant showers, O God; you refreshed your weary inheritance. Your people settled in it, and from your bounty, God, you provided for the poor.

When we step out in His will, God is at work. He has gone before us even as we sleep. He sets our enemies to flight. “Even while you sleep among the sheep pens, the wings of my dove are sheathed with silver, its feathers with shining gold.”

The dove so beautifully described here is the Holy Spirit. He circles over His people preparing the way.

Response: LORD God, as I go about my day, please go before me. Today help me to see you at work. I walk in confidence and faith because your Holy Spirit is at work even as I sleep. Thank you, Lord. Amen.

Your Turn: Can you recall times when it was apparent that God had gone before you?

Overflowing Abundance

01 Friday Dec 2017

Posted by davidkitz in Bible, Devotionals, Psalm 65, Psalms

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

abundance, Adam and Eve, bounty, cornucopia, crops, fertile soil, garden, grain, Saskatchewan, the LORD, vocation, work

Reading: Psalm 65

(Verses 9-13)
You care for the land and water it;
you enrich it abundantly.
The streams of God are filled with water
to provide the people with grain,
for so you have ordained it.
You drench its furrows and level its ridges;
you soften it with showers and bless its crops.
You crown the year with your bounty,
and your carts overflow with abundance.
The grasslands of the wilderness overflow;
the hills are clothed with gladness.
The meadows are covered with flocks
and the valleys are mantled with grain;
they shout for joy and sing (NIV).

Reflection
I can’t read this psalm without picturing an overflowing cornucopia. This is the psalmist’s horn of plenty. Speaking of the LORD, David declares, “You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance.”

Purple stars bring backyard joy — photo by David Kitz

My farm boy’s heart delights in this psalm. I delight in the land and the soil. Being on the land and cultivating the rich earth nurtures my soul. I am invigorated by it. The soil where I grew up in Saskatchewan was black and fertile. It’s the best kind of soil for crops. In the summer the fields were mantled with grain—a vast sea of wheat billowing in the breeze.

But I’m not alone in my love for the earth. David assures us that God has that same affection for the soil. You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly. You drench its furrows and level its ridges; you soften it with showers and bless its crops.

Now in practical terms my love for the soil is confined to a small backyard suburban garden. I tend my vegetable garden with care and God above does His part. He softens the earth with showers and blesses its crops. This morning, my wife and I rooted out a grape vine in preparation for spring planting. It was a pleasure to work with her and my heavenly partner, the LORD God Almighty.

Before the snow flies in the fall we will pull out the last of the carrots and parsnips. To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven (Ecclesiastes 3:1 NKJV).

In our toil we are not alone. There is something sacred about work. God ordained it. He planted a Garden for Adam and Eve to tend. Whether we are rooting out weeds, extracting teeth or rooting out unproductive habits, God is present in our work. Welcome Him as your partner.

Response: LORD God, I am thankful for my calling and the work you have set before me. You are my partner in it and my provider. I give myself to you to your service today. Amen.

Your Turn: Do you see yourself as God’s partner in your vocation?

A Psalm of Thanksgiving

12 Monday Oct 2015

Posted by davidkitz in Devotionals, Psalm 100, Psalms

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Aichi-ken, bounty, David Kitz, food, gratitude, pumpkin pie, thanksgiving, turkey

Reading: Psalm 100

A psalm. For giving grateful praise.

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.

Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations (NIV).

Reflection

When you grow up on a prairie farm, as I did, you appreciate the traditional aspects of Thanksgiving all the more. You are reminded each day that the food on your table does not simply come from a store. You are actively engaged in producing the nourishment that sustains your own life.

Aichi-ken, Japan — David Kitz

As a youngster I sat down to many a Thanksgiving feast, and almost all the food found on that groaning table was home-grown. I watched those vegetables growing in our garden in the hot summer sun. I even pulled the weeds from around those peas. And those mashed potatoes, I helped my mother hill those tubers in the spring and then dug them up after the frost hit in the fall.

My brother loved growing pumpkins, and mom would turn his favorite into the best pumpkin pie east of the Rockies. And how can you eat pumpkin pie without a mound of whipped cream on top? Well let me tell you, it tastes even better, when just that morning you milked the cows that produced that sweet rich cream. Oh, and that huge turkey—we’ll miss that pompous strutting gobbler out by the henhouse. But I’m sure we’ll get over it, somehow. For now, let’s just dig in.

Let’s all dig in, and give thanks to the God, who made all this possible. This sumptuous feast has been brought to you by Him. Now that’s Thanksgiving!

The great God in heaven has been kind to us. He has answered our prayers. He brought the warmth of spring and the rain of heaven. He caused his face to shine upon us. The rich earth responded to his touch. It brought forth its bounty, and now around this table we have gathered together as a family to celebrate God’s great goodness to us.

As the psalmist declares, “It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.” So today with joy-filled hearts we enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. We give thanks to him and praise his name.

Response: Heavenly Father, thank you for all your kindness. You have been so good to us! Help us to maintain an attitude of gratitude all year long and not only on Thanksgiving Day. Amen.

Your Turn: What blessings from God’s hand are you most grateful for?

I love the Psalms

~ Connecting daily with God through the Psalms

Tag Archives: bounty

From Your Bounty

I will praise the LORD!

(Psalm 68:7-10, NIV)*

* New International Version, Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica

You Crown the Year with Your Bounty

I will praise the LORD!

(Psalm 65:9-13, NIV)*

* New International Version, Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica

God on Your Side

Overflowing Abundance

A Psalm of Thanksgiving