Today’s Lectio Divina: Excerpts from Psalm 111. (MsgB)
He (God) manufactures truth and justice;
All His products are guaranteed to last—
Never out-of-date, never obsolete, rust-proof.
All that He makes and does is honest and true.
Back in the day, the label “Made in Japan” meant buyer-beware. Over the last couple of decades, with the advent of Honda and Hyundai, U.S. automakers have had to scramble to make sure the nameplates of Chevy, Ford, and Chrysler weren’t associated with junk made in Detroit.
To be blunt, human beings have an uncanny ability to make quality products, but rarely do we utilize that talent. Planned obsolescence is the term we’ve come up with to describe a policy of planning or designing a product with a limited useful life, so it will become obsolete, unfashionable, or no longer functional after a certain period of time. For an industry, planned obsolescence stimulates demand by encouraging purchasers to buy sooner if they still want a functioning product.
As a result, even the best products produced by man have a limited shelf life. In truth, even when we make something that’s built to last forever, it rarely does! That’s why the pyramids in Egypt or Stonehenge in England cause such a big stir. Most things that humans make eventually break down, grow outdated, or are washed away by the sands of time.
But then there’s God.
As I see it, the Almighty has yet to produce a product made by His hands that has lost power, run out of steam, or fallen out of popularity. Take the sun and the planets we call our solar system, for example. Scientists are unsure on the actual age of this amazing creation, nor are they certain how it actually came into existence. But one thing’s in stone. The sun keeps ticking across the sky. The planets, including our own blue marble, keeps humming around that intense ball of fire, and you and I set both our watches and our calendars to the rhythms found within its’ accuracy. Oh yeah, and that leap year thing keeps us all aware that even a well-tuned watch like our universe still lives and breathes on its own God-directed schedule, regardless of how we might try to measure it down here on planet earth!
So much for the cosmos. Now how about the inner workings of our minute world as well? The DNA that makes up our physical bodies is so uniquely created, scientists are still unlocking the secrets of this science. When God breathed life into man, with it came an amazing array of inward miracles we humans will spend eternity trying to map out and fully understand. The Psalmist says our bodies are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139) and to this very day, doctors and scientists are yet to fully understand the amazing miracle called the human existence. Body, mind, spirit, soul. All crafted together by the hand of God and packaged in a little bundle that rolls out a mother’s womb, ready to be fed and watered, nurtured and loved into a fully-developed, fully-blessed human being!
Indeed. God don’t make no junk.
And how different our world could be if we human beings began to fully honor and respect all the beautiful created gifts God has placed on our planet. In fact, the Book of Genesis (see our blog on Psalm 110) in chapter 1 states clearly that God has placed you and me as stewards or caretakers over all these wonderful gifts God places here in our midst.
The list of God-created items needing stewardship is nearly endless. His planet. His land. His oceans. His lakes. His rivers. His trees. His birds. His fish. His animals. His people. His children. His life.
Our Bibles are full of commands that remind us to honor and respect everything and everyone He has made. Why? Because God makes no junk. No throw-aways. No planned obsolescence. No plastic veneer. No garbage. No ‘Made in Human Factories’ tags. Just a wondrous world that looks to us to be an aging, decaying globe, but according to God’s Word, a cosmos that will never really end. To us, a problem-filled planet filled with people who suffer and die, but according to God’s plan, a place where all its inhabitants will live on forever. An entire universe, created by the Master, which will eventually be completely re-birthed and restored in full glory by the Spirit of God!
Think of it for a moment. Here we are. Just plain everyday folks like you and me, living on a small blue marble spinning like a top around a fiery globe we call the Sun. People who seem to be nothing out of the ordinary, but in truth, we are all cherished sons and daughters of a creative God who makes no junk.
Amazing stuff. Stuff great stories are made of! For God’s glory alone.
My prayer: Father, forgive me when I forget to appreciate the great value You place on everything and everyone You make. All creation, Lord, has unending value. Spirit, empower me to live a life in greater agreement with that value you place on me and everything and everyone around me. For Your name’s sake. Amen.
My questions to ponder: Where have I lost the wonder of God’s creation? How have I settled for lesser, human-made products to replace the timeless, ageless beauty found in everything that comes out of the hands of God? How might I better respect the great value of my life and the life of others around me, believing without question that God don’t make no junk?
So what is God speaking to you today as you ponder the Psalms?
Over a 50-week period, you and I will take a deeper look at The Psalms: God’s Songbook of Prayers. In order to keep all the blog sessions organized, we suggest you bookmark our Contemplating the Psalms home page for ease of use. Keep in mind that one of the best ways to explore the on-going applications of this blog series is to walk alongside a biblically-based, Christ-centered spiritual director who is familiar with how to make material like this part of your overall spiritual formation in God. Many of our directors in our Contemplative Activist network are available to companion you in your journey with Jesus. Click here for more info.
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