“Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.” – Psalm 150:6
In a popular movie franchise, a group of crusty pirates are revealed as sinister skeletons that become human-like in the daylight. When exposed to the sun, skin and muscle appear over the bones, and the skeletons amazingly become pirates set on doing their dastardly deeds. These skeletons come to life due to computerized special effects, and it is clearly fictional. However, there was a time in history when real bones did come together to form human beings.
In the Bible, the prophet Ezekiel records that he observed God create a living army from a valley of dry bones. In chapter 37:1-10, God demonstrates His power to Ezekiel by commanding a bunch of old bones to assemble themselves together and be covered with sinew and flesh. The passage goes on to say that although they are standing, they are not yet living. Life does not come to the restored skeletons until God commands the wind to give them breath. From that moment on, the skeletons are a living army!
We are no different than the skeletons in Ezekiel 37. It is solely the breath of God that gives life to us all. In Genesis 2:7, the Bible states, “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” There is no amount of medical science that can create life on its own; it may be able to sustain life artificially, but never has medical science been able to create life. It is only God who gives and preserves life.
There is a young man in my church who often begins his public prayer by thanking God for the breath in us. The first time I heard this, I really pondered the implications. Thank God for my breathing? Then I realized how appropriate that was. Without God’s intervention, I would never wake in the mornings, never utter a single word, nor sing one note of a song. Job 33:4 states, “The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.” It is by His will and for His purpose that I am able to awake each day and live my life.
Additionally, the prophet Daniel was also well aware that God was the One who held life in His hand when he told Nebuchadnezzar, “But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified:”
Without God commanding my body to function as He designed it to do, I would not be able to draw one breath! Luke, the physician, wrote in Acts 17, “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.”
In addition to all for which I thank God, every breath I take is now part of my gratitude list. And with that breath, I will surely praise the Lord!
Breathe on me, Breath of God,
Till I am wholly Thine,
Until this earthly part of me
Glows with Thy fire divine.
Breathe on me, Breath of God,
Till I am wholly Thine,
Until this earthly part of me
Glows with Thy fire divine.
(from “Breath on Me, Breath of God” by Edwin Hatch)
“Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:” – Isaiah 42:5
**********
What’s on your gratitude list today?