A generous earth

Butchart Gardens - Victoria, BC, Canada

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Psalm 67:1-7

TO CHEW ON: “Let the peoples praise You, O God;
Let all the peoples praise You.
Then the earth shall yield her increase
God, our own God, shall bless us.” Psalm 67:6,7

Is there a connection between our right relationship with God (“Let all the peoples praise You”) and the blessing of natural fruitfulness (“Then the earth shall yield her increase”)?

Here are some Bible examples of God giving increase in the natural world:

• Isaac reaps 100-fold after he repents of the lie he told to Abimelech about Rebekah being his sister (fearful that this Philistine king would kill him to get at his beautiful wife) -  Genesis 26:12.

• God promises the specific blessing of good growing conditions, abundant harvests and safety from man and beast if the Israelites will eschew idol worship, keep Sabbath, reverence the sanctuary and live according to His commands  - Leviticus 26:1-40.

• Isaiah issues an invitation to the abundant life in chapter 55. Though many of God’s promises there are for spiritual prosperity, His largesse spills into the natural realm: “The mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the fields shall clap their hands" - Isaiah 55:12.

• God speaks through Hosea in picturesque language about Israel’s harlot ways. They evoke a response in the natural realm: “Therefore I will return and take away my grain in its time and my new wine in its season ...” - Hosea 2:9. But when Israel repents, “The earth shall answer with grain, with new wine and with oil” - Hosea 2:22.

• And we can’t leave out the promise of Malachi 3, about how bringing the tithe into the storehouse will open the windows of heaven - Malachi 3:9-10.

Of course we don’t give give God our lives and obey Him as a bargaining ploy for success and stuff. It doesn’t work that way. But the Bible does link our loyalty and obedience with fruitfulness and increase in the natural world so often, I can’t help but believe there is a real connection.

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to follow, obey, and love You out of sincere motives. Thank for the power of Your ways to ensure I have enough and more than enough. Amen.

MORE: God’s ways in the modern marketplace.

Things have changed from a few years ago in the writing and publishing world. The rise of self-publishing,  e-books and digital distribution makes for a new landscape where writers are commonly tasked with promoting and selling their own books—a job that used to be done by publishers. Can God make the earth “yield her increase” there too?

Mary DeMuth assures us He can and does in "The Tension of Marketing for the Christian".

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The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. - Used with permission.