Psalm 104
May 19, 2024
Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of the natural world around us and how it reveals something of who you are. You are powerful, wise, creative, ingenious, good, generous, Lord over life and death, praiseworthy, just, and joyful. We rejoice in your rejoicing over your wonderful works.
May our joy in you increase. May our praise of you increase. May our eyes be open to see, and our hearts tender to embrace, this amazing display of your glory.
Father, this psalm reminds us that the beauty of your natural creation is marred by human sin and wickedness. We praise you for your commitment to remove that horrible blot. We anticipate your future judgment and your removal of all that besmirches your beauty. Thank you for the gift of Jesus’ life and death and resurrection—his atoning for our sin so that we might not be consumed by your judgment, but rather enjoy the beauty of the new heavens and the new earth, and your beauty up close, in the age to come. In the meantime, Lord, keep rooting out of us the ongoing expressions of our indwelling sin. Keep building into our lives a beauty to match the beauty of your creation. Continue to beautify your bride, the church. May our individual lives and our life together as a congregation contribute to that attractiveness.
We pray for those around us, both near and far, who do not yet know you through Jesus Christ. May they be drawn by your Spirit, through reflecting on your creation, to the revelation of Jesus in the good news of the Bible. May they join in to the ongoing chorus of praise such as we see in this psalm.
To that end, Lord, on this Church Multiplication Sunday in our EFCA family of churches, we give you thanks for the new churches starting up near and far. We pray for Grafted Church in Edina, Five Oaks Church in Woodbury, Northside Neighborhood Church in Minneapolis, Anchor Point Church in Two Harbors, The Bridge Church in Hancock, and other outreach ventures. Prosper the work of church planting in our hearts, our plans, and our labors, so that unbelievers might make this their new song: “Bless the Lord, O my soul.”
We pray in the name of Jesus Christ our risen Lord. And all God’s people said, “Amen!”