Let heaven and earth praise him,
the seas and all that move in them,” Psalm 69:34
Shark Week – Psalm 69:34
This week is one of our family’s favorite weeks of the year – Shark Week on Discovery Channel! A week of learning about sharks and seeing some incredible footage of them in the ocean. As my husband and I are watching the first night of Shark Week, the scientists are experimenting with the sounds sharks make as they breach. They mention that they are seeing sharks breach when there is no prey to eat. The marine biologists wonder why the sharks would expend the energy to breach when there is no promise of the reward of food.
As I was sitting on the couch sketching, I sketched out a shark starting to breach with an open mouth. Then, I started thinking about a verse in Psalm 69.
Let heaven and earth praise him,
the seas and all that move in them,” Psalm 69:34
Jump up and shout
No, I’m sure that God designed great white sharks to breach without a food source present for some reason that scientists just haven’t discovered yet. However, it is fun to think of them expending the energy it takes to breach for no other reason but to jump up and shout out praise for their Creator. This thought led to another, more challenging, one: How often do I avoid expending the energy to praise my Creator because I don’t see an immediate reward for myself? How often do I think I am too tired or overwhelmed to praise Him?
Stir ourselves up
There are a couple of verses in 2 Timothy that challenge me:
“Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:6-7
God has given us incredible gifts that are to be used for His glory. The gift of His salvation that spurs us on to praise Him and tell others. The gift of the Holy Spirit that empowers us in daily life. The gift of His love that surrounds us and fills, healing us from the inside out. No matter what is going on in the world around us or our personal lives, God is worthy of our praise. Sometimes we have to stir ourselves up, bringing to our remembrance all that God has done.
I will
The Psalms are filled with instances of choosing to praise during extremely difficult times. In those times when it is hard to praise, the author exerts his will over his feelings and states over and over again, “I will praise the Lord” or “My lips will glorify God”. One of the most obvious instances of this is in Psalm 103:
“Praise the Lord, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the Lord, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion” Psalm 103:1-4
David is stirring up his own soul to praise the Lord, not because he feels like it, but because God is still worthy. There are days in our lives when we feel like we are down in the darkness. The weight of an ocean pressing down on us. It takes energy to look up, to rise up.
Like a great white shark diving to the depths of the ocean in preparation to breach, we can choose to look at the place where we feel we are as preparation to rise up in praise. To stir ourselves up, exerting the energy to point our eyes up toward the Light, toward our Creator. To will our souls to rise up and praise the Lord. Then, we don’t stay in the darkness, we swim up as fast and hard as we can into the presence of the One who brings Light to the world, breaching out of the pressures of life and into His arms. Jump and shout praise! Sing to the Lord!
Break free
In those moments of sheer exertion of our will, our souls break free of earthly chains and begin to soar. We praise Him because He is worthy and it lifts our souls as well. As we shift our focus from our problems to the One who has all the answers, we can again feel the Holy Spirit empowering us to live our daily lives.
Shark Week Action Step:
Today, right now, give Him praise! Exert your will like David did in the Psalms and choose to praise in spite of the circumstances. Let’s stir ourselves up to remember what God has done and what He says He will do. Our stories are not over. We don’t have to stay in the darkness of the depths of an ocean on pressure and stress and pain. We can breach up into His presence.
If you are watching shark week this week, let the incredible footage of great white sharks breaching remind you to jump and shout and praise the Lord even when you don’t feel like it.
Prayer:
Dear God, thank you for your creation that illustrates spiritual truths and reminds of your awesome gifts to us. Help us to choose to exert our will in the difficult times and praise You. Give us strength to praise You for You are worthy of all our praise. In Jesus’ name, amen.
For Free Printables:
Head on over to the Devotion in Action Free Resource Library for your free printable of a shark breaching with an open mouth! (I haven’t journaled this one yet, but I may get it done this week and send out a video!)
If you don’t have access yet to the Resource Library, find out how to get free access HERE!
