You Hold Everything Together...

Currently Hearing: Psalm 3 by David
Currently Feeling: Out of Shape After a Short Run by the Ever-So-Humbling Treadmill

So, I started a plan to read through the Bible in a year...
I had been going through on my own from beginning to end, but I found a great plan on the website of Bethlehem Baptist Church that actually is composed of 4 short readings each day so that you read a portion of the Gospels, a part of the remainder of the New Testament (beginning in Acts), a Psalm/passage from Proverbs, and the Old Testament (starting in Genesis, minus Psalms and/or Proverbs). You can find the reading plan here. It is really great because, as the plan indicates, it allows the reader to better grasp the unity of the Scriptures (and I strongly believe that the Bible should be seen and read as a whole) and is built to not be overwhelming, but enjoyable.

So, I was reading Psalm 3, and I came across this in verse 5:
"I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me" (NIV).
All I can say is, "Wow..."
How often do we take for granted that the only reason we are able to open our weary eyes in the morning is because of the hand of the Almighty Lord sustaining our very existence...
Incredible, absolutely incredible...

Reading this awe-inspiring verse reminded me of Colossians 1:15-17:
"[Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together" (NIV).

The author of Hebrews states, when speaking of Christ:
"but in these last days [God] has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir af all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word..." (Heb 1:1-3a NIV).

Christ, our Lord, is prophesied about by David, Jesus' very ancestor, when the man after God's own heart makes the bold, yet God-glorifying claim that the very reason that we can rise in the morning with breath in our lungs is due to the Supreme Christ, Maker of all things in heaven and on earth...
Paul and the author of Hebrews go on in the New Testament to note the glory of Christ by asserting that he sustains all things in the universe - that means us! How often do we neglect the immense power of the crucified Lord and his role presently in creation? Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, holding all things in creation in their proper place. Judging from these passages, I can do nothing but argue that God is much more than a mere influence over His creation. Rather, he is the very giver of life and order in the universe through the power of his word.

It is my prayer that we would begin to fully recognize the power and glory of God and His control over all creation and praise a God that is fully in control of all things in heaven and on earth.

May the Name of Christ Be Made Great