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

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

"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 people 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 fodder, timber, 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, Joyce Kilmer, so eloquently put it:

     I think that I shall never see
     A poem lovely as a tree
     A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
     Against the sweet earth's flowing 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.²

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank you for all the beauty and creativity you have given to us in nature. May it ever remind me of your majesty, your awesome power, and your everlasting care and love. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."

1. Psalm 96:11-13 (NIV).
2. Joyce Kilmer 1886-1918.

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