Nature's Chorus

Daily Gratitude Year 4- Day 248: Today, I am grateful to wake to a chorus of heaven and nature singing.

This morning as I brewed my coffee, I was struck by the wonder of nature's chorus. Birds, crickets, sounds around the pond and more of nature's notes filled the daybreak.

Earworm...the one who sings the songs stuck in our heads... mine just woke up and is bellowing "Joy To The World". Good grief, Earworm! He is a little loud this morning.

It's not Christmas...but Christmas is on the way. Truthfully, that song should be sung more often, as it declares and celebrates much more than Christ's arrival. It sings of God's continuing love story with us. He allows us glimpses of his beauty in nature. Snapshots of His power and and glory are ours to behold. And, this morning, I can't help but do some beholding.

"The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof,  the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?  And who shall stand in his holy place?" -Psalm 24:1-3

This Psalm of David was possibly written as he remembered God's faithfulness to his ancestors and Moses when they in bondage. The Pharaoh would not release the Israelite people from their slavery in Egypt, despite God's clear instructions. One plague after the other poured out on the land. The boils from plague number six were still raw when God sent the hail. Not just the peas sized stuff ... but big, heavy hail that rained... and a little fire, too. God did not want Pharaoh to think for even one minute it was a natural coincidence.

When God speaks...he doesn't stutter. Moses struggled with clear speech... but not when God spoke through him. God spoke. Moses raised is staff. And, the terror of a hailstorm like none they had ever seen began to fall. Stubborn Pharaoh!

Pharoah says to Moses:

"Plead with the Lord, for there has been enough of God's thunder and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.” Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will stretch out my hands to the Lord. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the Lord's. 30 But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the Lord God.”-Exodus 9:28-30

God was finished with the Pharaoh's mistreatment of his people, Pharaoh's arrogance and his defiance. These are things God will not tolerate forever. Our human powers of choice set us up to be unique among all of creation. There is always a day of reckoning.

We can still, like Pharaoh, choose him or refuse him. God made us more than nature driven. We can act outside of our nature. I find that seriously cool...and seriously sobering! We must choose or reject His love and His truth. When we humans couldn't get it right... he didn't give up and start over, but chose to come and be with us. he became one of us. He was born, learned to walk and lived the human experience.

Love made a way. Heaven and nature continued to sing... and it still does.

When Jesus made his king like entry into Jerusalem... just days before he would choose to be the lamb slain for all, once and for all... the Pharisees were having conniption fits over the people's response to Jesus. They sensed his power and his destiny to be an agent of change. They were scared...terrified. Fear led to anger...as it often does... and the plot to get rid of Jesus became more urgent in their eyes.

"As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” -Luke 19:37-40

Hate couldn't stop love...then or now. Love always wins Love makes us sing.

We are to sing his praises. We are declare his power and awesome ways. If we do not, the rocks will cry out! Heaven and nature cannot help but offer praise and worship to the Lord of Creation. This morning, there is a symphony outside my door.

Today, I am grateful to wake to a chorus of heaven and nature singing... and His glory outside my door.