From Psalm 104

Bless the Lord, O my soul!
O Lord my God, You are very great: 

You are clothed with honor and majesty...

Who makes His angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire.  

You who laid the foundations of the earth...

He sends the springs into the valleys; 

They flow among the hills. 

They give drink to every beast of the field;

The wild donkeys...

 birds...

He waters the hills from His upper chambers;

The earth is satisfied with the fruit of Your works.  

He causes the grass to grow for the cattle,

And vegetation for the service of man,

That he may bring forth food from the earth, 

And wine that makes glad the heart of man,

Oil to make his face shine,

And bread which strengthens man's heart.

...birds

...the stork

...the wild goats

...the rock badgers

...the young lions 

seek their food from God.  

...man...

O Lord, how manifold are Your works!

In wisdom You have made them all.

The earth is full of Your possessions —   

This great and wide sea,

....innumerable teeming things,

Living things both small and great...

These all wait for You,

That You may give them their food in due season.  

What You give them they gather in;

You open Your hand, they are filled with good. 

You hide Your face, they are troubled;

You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. 

You send forth Your Spirit, they are created;

And You renew the face of the earth.  

May the glory of the Lord endure forever;

May the Lord rejoice in His works...

I was reading this Psalm tonight and the whole thing reminded me of Acts 17:28 which tells us that it is "in Him we live and move and have our being."

I've had a number of positive comments about the story that I shared in my post Power Thought # 1.  I'm so glad.  As you might recall, the conversation that followed the command to jump up and touch the ceiling went like this:
me: Honey, did you obey?
daughter:  yes, Mama
me:  Could you do it alone?
daughter: no
me:  Honey, we can always obey God, but we always need the strength He gives us.  We can't do it alone.

It is SO true that we can only obey through Christ who strengthens us.  BUT, do we "get" that it is ALWAYS true.  Some of us might be tempted to think that we only need to rely on God for the "big stuff" or when we're called upon to do "hard" for Jesus.  So for people like me who in practical every day living have fallen repeatedly into the temptation of thinking I can do a whole lot "on my own," there is another exercise I'd like to add.

I'll call it "bend down and touch the floor."  If that was the command and you obeyed it, how would you answer the question "Could you do that alone?"

Is there really any strength that we have that isn't given to us by God?  We live and move and have our being in Him.  If He takes away our breath, we die.  Every heartbeat is a gift.  Every functioning nerve and muscle and joint and tendon and the blood flow and everything else that is needed for us to bend over and touch the floor is a gift.  May we grow in thankfulness to Him for the strength He supplies for EVERYTHING we do!

No wonder the Psalmist ends his consideration of God's wonderful works with these words...let's join him.

I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;

I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.  

May my meditation be sweet to Him;

I will be glad in the Lord. 

May sinners be consumed from the earth, And the wicked be no more.
Bless the Lord, O my soul!

Praise the Lord!