✝ Daily Encouragement (2/22/24) "How Great Thou Art!"

Published: Thu, 02/22/24

A daily, Bible-based perspective of hope, encouragement and exhortation. The online Bible teaching ministry of Stephen & Brooksyne Weber.

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Thursday, February 22, 2024

Brooksyne on nature trail at Carver Monument

"When through the woods and forest glades I wander

And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees"

(A look back at Brooksyne walking along a nature trail during a visit to the
George Washington Carver National Monument in Southwest Missouri.)

"How Great Thou Art!"

Message summary: Hide this truth deep in your heart. We may struggle at times, but God's eternal Word declares that what really matters has already been taken care of. "We are more than conquerors!" Is Jesus Christ your Savior and Lord today? Ultimately this is the only thing that matters in winning the one thing in life that really does matter.

Listen to our message on your audio player.

“Great are the works of the Lord; they are studied by all who delight in them.” “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments; His praise endures forever” (Psalm 111:2,10).

O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds thy hands have made,
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed:

A favorite historical character most of us learned about in Elementary School is George Washington Carver. I suppose in part because my grandfather also had the same first and middle names, both named after our first president! One of my most memorable childhood trips was to the National Monument where he is honored in Southwestern Missouri. Brooksyne, Ester and I have also stopped by several times over the years.

Carver was born into slavery, orphaned as an infant, and traded for a broken-down racehorse. He had all kinds of excuses to fail and be bitter.

Yet he grew up with a faith and love for God and an appreciation of nature that would sustain him throughout his entire life. He wisely wrote: “How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these.”

His forte was the peanut. Testifying before the Senate Agriculture Committee, he said that he got his knowledge of peanuts from the Bible. Asked what the Bible said about peanuts he replied, "The Bible does not teach anything regarding the peanut. But it told me about God, and God told me about the peanut".

We can all observe God’s creation, otherwise referred to as nature. You can see the works of the Lord all around you regardless of where you live, although I must admit living in the country it seems the observance of His works is even more abundant and evident.

Psalm 48:1 declares, "Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised". Absolutely, God is great in His divine nature, but in our passage today we focus on the greatness of His works. The Psalmist proclaims, "Great are the works of the Lord". It’s truly amazing what the Lord has done in creation from the micro to the macro.

"They (His works) are studied by all who delight in them". George Washington Carver wrote, “I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station through which God speaks to us every hour if we will only tune in.” As a devout Christian, Carver considered his laboratory, "God’s Little Workshop".

Part of delighting in God is studying His works which should lead us to delighting in them. Another version uses this phrase “they are pondered”. We are called Scripturally to study these marvelous gifts from God. Study means to reflectively examine and investigate.

When through the woods and forest glades I wander
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees,
When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur,
And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze:

What a great Creator God we serve! One of the theological “proofs” for the existence of God is known as the teleological, which asserts that the very design shows a Designer behind it. I see God’s handiwork and design everywhere I look.

But there’s a part of this Scripture portion that I find especially insightful: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments”. Worded another way; Fearing the Lord and obeying His commandments result in gaining wisdom and good understanding. Or to word this concept negatively; choosing not to fear the Lord or obey His commands leads to foolishness.

Of course we see in our age a massive departure from fearing the Lord and keeping His commands. The verse comes to mind “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:20-22).

We make this declaration today through another Psalm of David, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork” (Psalm 19:1).

“How Great Thou Art” continues in the third verse with an extolling of God’s work in the redemption of His people.

And when I think that God, His Son not sparing,
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in,
That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died, to take away my sin.

Indeed, “His praise endures forever". Amen!

Be encouraged today, Hebrews 3:13

Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

Daily prayer: Father, Your works surround us and add such depth and beauty to our daily experiences in life. You not only tend to our daily needs but through Your great works You delight our senses by that which we see, touch, hear, and feel as we applaud Your handiwork. Help us to pause in our busy schedules to listen to the rippling brook, to enjoy the birds singing as we awaken in the morning, to smell the tree blossoms, observe the mountain grandeur and recognize Your creative artistry in the variety of ornamentals that we have the privilege of planting, growing and tending over the warm months each year. Your great works are observed in the Scriptures and admired in our daily lives. How wonderfully extravagant are Your works that we enjoy each day, for it is truly the heavens declaring Your glory and the firmament showing Your handiwork. For them we are deeply grateful. Amen.

Having shared most of the hymn in the body of our message today we really should share the last and most anticipatory event described in the last verse!

When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!
Then I shall bow in humble adoration,
And there proclaim, “My God, how great thou art!”

Refrain
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee:
How great thou art! How great thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee:
How great thou art! How great thou art!

Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources

"How Great Thou Art (Until That Day)" Watch on YouTube Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin, Hillary Scott, TAYA & Friends

Finally today:

Here's more info about George Washington Carver. Scrolling down for a description of his Christian commitment we read:

Carver believed he could have faith both in God and science and integrated them into his life. He testified on many occasions that his faith in Jesus was the only mechanism by which he could effectively pursue and perform the art of science. Carver became a Christian when he was still a young boy, as he wrote in connection to his conversion in 1931:

I was just a mere boy when converted, hardly ten years old. There isn't much of a story to it. God just came into my heart one afternoon while I was alone in the 'loft' of our big barn while I was shelling corn to carry to the mill to be ground into meal.

A dear little white boy, one of our neighbors, about my age came by one Saturday morning, and in talking and playing he told me he was going to Sunday school tomorrow morning. I was eager to know what a Sunday school was. He said they sang hymns and prayed. I asked him what prayer was and what they said. I do not remember what he said; only remember that as soon as he left I climbed up into the 'loft,' knelt down by the barrel of corn and prayed as best I could. I do not remember what I said. I only recall that I felt so good that I prayed several times before I quit.

My brother and myself were the only colored children in that neighborhood and of course, we could not go to church or Sunday school, or school of any kind.

That was my simple conversion, and I have tried to keep the faith.

    — G. W. Carver; Letter to Isabelle Coleman; July 24, 1931

He was not expected to live past his twenty-first birthday due to failing health. He lived well past the age of 21, and his belief deepened as a result. Throughout his career, he always found friendship with other Christians. He relied on them especially when criticized by the scientific community and media regarding his research methodology.

Carver viewed faith in Jesus Christ as a means of destroying both barriers of racial disharmony and social stratification. He was as concerned with his students' character development as he was with their intellectual development. He compiled a list of eight cardinal virtues for his students to strive toward:

    Be clean both inside and out.
    Neither look up to the rich nor down on the poor.
    Lose, if need be, without squealing.
    Win without bragging.
    Always be considerate of women, children, and older people.
    Be too brave to lie.
    Be too generous to cheat.
    Take your share of the world and let others take theirs.

Beginning in 1906 at Tuskegee, Carver led a Bible class on Sundays for several students at their request. He regularly portrayed stories by acting them out. He responded to critics with this: "When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world."

Photo at the George Washington Carver National Monument

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Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. and the King James Version.

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