Daily Encounter: A Week-day Devotional by a staff of ACTS International.

Monday, April 22, 2013

"Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy, they will sing before the Lord, for he comes … to judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his truth."¹

Imagine, if you can, living in a world without trees. How desolate such a place would be. But trees are not just a thing of beauty. They have a very strategic role to play in our world. They convert light into energy and "breathe" the carbon dioxide exhaled by man and animals. They use this gas to help manufacture food and in its place give off oxygen which man again breathes. They help clean the air of dust particles, stop erosion and restore deserts. They provide food, drink, lumber, and innumerable other products. Just how they lift enormous amounts of water to their highest branches and manufacture food is still a mystery.

As the poet so eloquently put it:

    I think that I shall never see
      a poem lovely as a tree.
    A tree whose thirsty mouth is pressed
      against the earth's sweet flowering breast;
    A tree that looks at God all day,
      and lifts her leafy arms to pray;
    A tree that may in summer wear
      a nest of robins in her hair;
    Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
      who intimately lives with rain.
    Poems are made by fools like me,
      but only God can make a tree.
                                       â€" Joyce Kilmer

Suggested prayer: "Thank you God for all the beauty and functionality you have created in nature. May these ever remind us of your majesty, your awesome power, and your everlasting love. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."

1. Psalm 96:11-13 (NIV).

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