For the Beauty of the Earth – Psalm 19:1

For the Beauty of the Earth (Psalm 19:1) – Worship With Gratitude Week 3

The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Psalm 19:1

I don’t know about you, but I love this time of year. The transition of fall, where the sky can shine incredibly blue against the bright reds and oranges of the leaves one day and then chill with a wintry gray the next.

God created a beautiful world for us to live in. The complexity of it’s design shouts of the existence of our Creator God.

As I reflect on the gorgeous world, I love to sing our hymn for this week –

For the Beauty of the Earth

Verse 1: For the beauty of the earth,
For the glory of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies.
Lord of all to Thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise.

I will lift up praise and gratitude to the Lord in response to the earth’s beauty. In response to the glorious skies above my head.

The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Psalm 19:1

I can see God’s love for me in the beauty of the Creation in which He placed me.

He is the Lord of all and above all! I will choose to praise Him!

Creation Drives Us to Praise

Verse 2: For the wonder of each hour,
Of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale, and tree and flower,
Sun and moon, and stars of light.
Lord of all to Thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise.

Each and every hour, God even made those. When He established the sun and moon in the sky, He started the clock of time, days and nights.

And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness.
Genesis 1:16-18

That first week of Creation, He also carved out hills and valleys, planted trees and flowers – all the glorious loveliness we see around us.

It should be a catalyst to our songs of praise and thankfulness!

For our Family and Friends

Verse 3: For the joy of human love,
Brother, sister, parent, child,
Friends on earth and friends above,
For all gentle thoughts and mild.
Lord of all to Thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise.

Love of family and friends is at the heart of our holiday joy at Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7

This love between people is not just cozy and wonderful; it should inspire us to thank God for our family and friends. To love deeper this year. To raise a song of praise!

The Church

Verse 4: For the church, that evermore
Lifteth holy hands above,
Offering up on every shore
Her pure sacrifice of love.
Lord of all to Thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise.

God’s people are God’s church. We are the church. God has designed us to do His will on earth by working together.

We each have a job to do as we work together.

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
Romans 12:4-5

We can be thankful to God for the other believers He has put in our lives and praise Him for them.

For Jesus

Verse 5: For Thyself, best Gift Divine.
To our race so freely given,
For that great, great love of Thine,
Peace on earth and joy in Heaven.
Lord of all to Thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise.

The best gift we have ever received is Jesus.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
John 3:16-17

Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!
2 Corinthians 9:15

That precious gift of God’s Son is the product of a great Love Divine! I will praise God for His mercy and love!

Action Step:

This song is five verses! Let’s take a verse a day and pray about that verse, thanking God because of it!

Monday – Verse 1: The Beauty that God surrounds us in His Creation because of His great love for us.

Tuesday – Verse 2: Specifics of Creation, like the stars, sun, and moon; time; hills and valleys; trees and flowers; etc.

Wednesday – Verse 3: Family members and Friends

Thursday – Verse 4: Church body, pastors, fellow believers

Friday – Verse 5: Salvation through Jesus, the salvation of unbelievers

Prayer:

Dear God, You are Creator God, and You have created incredible, intricate beauty all around us! Thank you for Your Creation, for people we love, for Your design of a local church, for the gift of salvation through Jesus! We have so much to be grateful for! We will praise you all of our days! In Jesus’ name, amen.

Don’t forget to keep writing down those blessings like we talked about here in Count Your Blessings!

For the November Worship with Gratitude Series page, CLICK HERE!