This Week’s Devotional: A Beautiful Reminder

Week 4 – January 21-27, 2024

This week’s daily reading:

Reading January 21-27, 2024

This Week’s Devotional:

A Beautiful Reminder
by Erica Bethke

Scripture:

They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb.

– Psalm 19:10 (NIV)

Reflection:

The first time I remember hearing Psalm 19 read aloud was while I was working as a teacher during a 4-week outreach to migrant agricultural workers in the Culiacan Valley of Mexico. Two of my young students from Mexico were working on memorizing all 14 verses in English. We began each morning, taking turns to see how much of the passage we could remember. All of us easily recited the first verse after a few days of practice: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” During the day, we did schoolwork together and in the afternoons until bedtime, we visited agricultural camps to share about Jesus in any one of over 300 indigenous languages of Mexico.

Late one afternoon, during the third week of outreach, my students and the rest of our team found ourselves stuck inside our van waiting for a powerful thunderstorm to pass. After the thunder and rain subsided, we were finally able to unload our equipment and begin the nightly outreach. As we exited the van, the incredible sunset behind us caught everyone’s attention. My students began excitedly reciting the first few verses of Psalm 19, as they were witnessing God’s Word come alive in the early evening sky! All around us I heard people in English and Spanish talking about God’s handiwork above us. Without saying an audible word, God had displayed his power, creativity, and glory for all to see.

Although God’s creation is stunning and awe-inspiring, the real treasure lies in what creation is meant to point us toward: God, himself, and his wisdom for all of life! Later in the Psalm, we read: “[speaking of God’s commands to us] they are more precious than gold,than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb.” What a beautiful reminder to me that night that what I was about to share with the workers in the camp was a treasure more precious than gold.

Prayer:

Lord, we thank you for your creativity and power in designing our beautiful home, Earth. May we never forget to praise you as we marvel at your creation. As we behold things in the natural world that surprise, delight, and amaze us, may the emotions stirred in our hearts point us always to you. May we hunger and thirst to know you more deeply: the creator of all that our senses can behold! Amen