Psalm 104:24-34 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 104:24-34 on biblegateway.com
Verse 24O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
Verse 25Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there, living things both small and great.
Verse 26There go the ships, and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.
Verse 27These all look to you to give them their food in due season;
Verse 28when you give to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
Verse 29When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.
Verse 30When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground.
Verse 31May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in his works-
Verse 32who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke.
Verse 33I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
Verse 34May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the Lord.
Devotion
“When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the earth.” Psalm 104:30
St. Philip’s has a weekly food distribution event as part of their Help Yourself Food Pantry. Every Thursday anywhere from 35-50 families line up in their cars to have a box filled with canned goods, fresh produce, milk, meat, and personal care items brought to them. Nearly every week there are new families who find themselves in the line-up of cars.
I can’t help but think about how this weekly distribution of food boxes is a life-line, bringing sustenance to those in need, renewing them, not just with food, but with hope. The Spirit is surely at work; not only in getting the food ready to be distributed, but in the very act of receiving, the Spirit is renewing all of us in giving and in receiving. Thanks be to God!
Prayer
Bread of Life, you sustain all that you have created. Thank you for generously providing for us, not only in receiving but in giving, knowing that your Spirit is at work in and through us. Amen.