Adoring the God of Creation

Jeremiah 16:6, 13 (tNIV), "No one is like you, LORD; you are great, and your name is mighty in power. Who should not fear you, King of the nations? This is your due. But God made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding. When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he made the clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses."

I praise You, God of heaven and earth! You alone are the Creator. You alone are God. All others who are exalted in our hearts and minds - those other than You that we put our hope and trust in - are mere idols. They are scarecrows in the garden of our hearts - elevated but unable to see, hear, speak, or do any good (Jer. 10:3-4). You alone have power over the heavens, the earth, and my circumstances.
All You do is wise. Your leadership is perfect. Help me to look up today, see the sky, and consider You as its Creator. If You are the God who did Genesis 1, who should not fear You and glorify Your name? Truly no can boast the same.
You are worthy of praise today, God, from my heart overflowing through my lips as well as through every created thing. When the strong winter winds strike and bite my face, remind me where they originated - Your storehouses! I praise You God of the wind. I praise You God of the rain, thunder, lightning, and clouds that cover the earth.
Your glory is revealed by all of creation. I take time to see it and hear its song of praise. Both day and night speak of You and display Your unparalleled knowledge. Who is like You? Surely there is no one! I praise You for placing reminders of Your burning heart all around me - calling out to me, saying, "Worship God! He desires you and is after your heart! Just look around! He did all of this to capture your attention, to get you to look up, to remember that there is One greater than you in the midst of your circumstances. Is the God who made all beauty blind to the intimate details of your life? Is the God who made all creation's sounds deaf to your faintest cries? Is the God who formed Everest, the ocean's deep, and the universe impotent, lacking when it comes to your needs? Worship God! He is an all-consuming fire! This is His due."
So I choose to look up, to look to You today, God of the heavens, Creator of everything that is. I lack;  You are full. I am weak; You have all power. I have limitations; You know none but the ones with which You limit Yourself - man's free will. My vision is myopic; Yours is telescopic seeing the end from the beginning, behind the closed curtain of the horizon. My perspective is narrow; Yours is panoramic.
In this praise I get caught up in the bigness of You. May my feet never touch the ground again!

Monday's "adoration" linkup here:

Abounding Love

Another (almost Monday) word of adoration...

Psalm 86:15, "But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness."
Song of Songs 2:8, "Listen! My Beloved! Look! Here he comes, leaping across the mountains, bounding over the hills."

My cup is empty, Lord, but I come to You whose cup never runs dry. You are the God of miracles, rich supply, and abundance. At the Cana wedding, you turned what would have been an embarrassing lack into extravagant provision. You delight in Your abundance. You're never the God who has just enough. With You there is always more. I praise You for the more.
Twice You multiplied food, and when the miracles were all said and done, the people had eaten just scraps or a small portion, but they were filled full - with plenty of leftovers remaining!
Who are You that Your love is so immense? My love is so small. My heart is not so slow to anger. My compassion wanes when my comforts are thwarted or when time progresses beyond my expectations.
O God of abounding love, come and fill me up! It's Your abundance that this heart, this family, this overly indulgent and materialistic nation need! I praise You for Your never-running-dry love, Your coming-after-me love, Your good-til-the-last-drop-and-there's-never-a-last-drop love! I am so grateful for Your "never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always, and forever love" (a refrain from the Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name)!
While my thoughts are small, Yours are big; while my fears paralyze, Your love abounds and pursues and persists to bound over every obstacle, every fear. I see walls; You leap over them. I see holes; You  fill them.
So abound today, God! Show Yourself again and give me eyes to see abundance that surrounds me. Pour out love. Fill that I might return it again. I praise You now and will eternally give thanks for Your richness and generous plenty.

Grateful to link up here on Mondays with other like-hearted ones:

Adoration

Psalm 145:1, "I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise Your name for ever and ever."

I have never lived in a monarchy, so I don't know the feeling of excitement and euphoria that surround the arrival of a king to your town with all the pomp and circumstance that follow, all the formalities and extravagance. Living in a democracy where our primary leader is elected every four years and can have power no more than eight, I don't know what it is to know only one or two royalties to lead in my lifetime, having the constancy of familiarity, an abiding trust therein.
But even the most stable of earthly governments pales in comparison to You, O God, my King! And if the light were to shine in upon the leaders of this earth, that which has been hidden in the shadows would be exposed - pride, waste, extravagance in the name of building their kingdom (upon the backs of their people).
But who is a God like You, Lord? There is no other king like You! You are worthy of all honor, praise, and glory, yet a lowly, hidden-away manger is where You chose to come forth. You lived in obscurity, embraced misunderstanding, and chose to be unrecognized, veiling your glory, coming in our likeness. Misunderstood in life. Reviled in death. You died among revolutionaries made common thieves and were buried in a borrow tomb.
Oh, but there will be a day when all eyes will see! I long for that day! I praise You for that day! And so I exalt You now. I praise You now. I lift You higher. I make known with my life that You are good and Your way is perfect. In this day of volunteering - while it's still day - I volunteer my praise, my love. One day every knee will bow and every tone will sing Your praise, but I don't wait for that day. Here and now in the incomplete, in the imperfect, in the unfinished I love You and I praise You, God!
I praise You now, and I'll praise You forever. I'll never stop praising You for who You are and what You've done. As You expand my capacity to see and understand, praise will mount up to You.  Truly You are a good and kind God and a generous, just, and humble King. You love righteousness and hate wickedness. There is no other King like You nor anyone who will ever be as happy and joyful as You are!

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