DATE WRITTEN: Thursday, 2021-05-06
WRITTEN AT: Okeechobee, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: Psalm 104:7-12 (TLB)

SCRIPTURE TEXT: ^7-8 You spoke, and at the sound of your shout the water collected into its vast ocean beds, and mountains rose and valleys sank to the levels you decreed. ⁹ And then you set a boundary for the seas so that they would never again cover the earth. ¹⁰ He placed springs in the valleys and streams that gush from the mountains. ¹¹ They give water for all the animals to drink. There the wild donkeys quench their thirst, ¹² and the birds nest beside the streams and sing among the branches of the trees.

APPLICATION: I sometimes wonder if we truly ever slow down enough to reflect on the ways that God blesses us each and every day. For I believe that if we did, there would not be enough hours in the day for us to sing out praises and thanksgiving our Creator for all He does for us. You think about your typical day and I will share a few things that immediately comes to my mind about my typical day: 
-> I am able to rise from my warm bed each day – compared to some who sleep in the cold, on a piece of cardboard under a bridge, with or without a blanket;
-> I was blessed with air to breathe on my own;
-> I was blessed with strength and mobility to actually get out of bed;
-> I had an inside bathroom to use and didn’t have to go to an outhouse or a nearby tree!
-> I was able to put on a different set of clothes than I’ve been wearing all week, and they have been washed and prepared;
->I have a wonderful wife who prepares my meals. Yes, there was food to prepare;
-> I have been blessed with a great place to work and retire from, as opposed to those who wait on long lines at the unemployment agency;
-> I am blessed to have transportation, and not have to walk, wait for a bus service, or wait by the roadside for a ride with a friend;
-> I am thankful for the wisdom God gave to His children to make automobiles and other conveniences that we tend to take for granted;
Friends, don’t you see that we can go on and on praising teh Lord for His blessings on us? I could easily have gone on to speak about the wild life, animals and trees that I enjoy seeing every day, and the beautiful landscapes God designed and created for our benefit. Yep, He did all of this for us, plus a whole lot more, and I believe that we would have done this if we were the only ones that He wanted to bless! In our Scripture today, imagine God creating the beautiful oceans, then creating land in such a way that those waters would not rise up over it and destroy life! Only God can perform such wonders! Praise God from whom all blessings flow! Our God is an awesome God! How Great Thou Art! How Great is our God! These are just a quick reminder of songs of praise we can offer up to God, and yes, He loves your singing voice just the way it is, for He never made any junk! Take time to look around and then look to God from a heart filled with thanksgiving and praise.

PRAYER: Thank You Lord for Your mercies on me! Lord, You are so good and so merciful to me, and I’m sure that as my readers meditate on this devotional today, they too will realize that even when things appear to be going sideways for them, yet they can still find so many ways that You are blessing them. Please help us to keep our minds so fixed on You and the many wonderful blessings that You bestow on us that the minor issues that we face each day would seem immaterial. Lord I know that You bless us, please help us to recognize those blessings more vividly each day, and pour out our thanksgiving to You. AMEN!

FOOTNOTE: There are two more pages on my blog that will provide you with additional information, one of them being ‘To Know Jesus’. If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please click on the above page, or speak with a local Bible Teaching Pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. Please allow someone to pray with you and give you help and/or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Words underlined in my blog might indicate a link to a song that came to mind as I wrote the devotional. Feel free to click on the link and listen as you continue to read or pray. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to Nuggets From God’s Word and read more, or you may freely subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. You may also visit me on Spotify and listen to Nuggets while you’re out and about. I would encourage you to find a church home near by your home, and attend as frequently as you could. Get to know God, and allow His people to encourage and strengthen you in your Christian walk, while making every effort to be a blessing to them. God is at work among His people! Please consider growing in your faith, as you worship with fellow believers!