Gushing Love and Joy

Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – August 15, 2017

By Shana Schutte

Oh give thanks to the LORD, call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples. 1 Chronicles 16:8

There are certain places where my heart feels at home: my mother’s kitchen table, my favorite chair, and on the walking trail behind our house. But there is nowhere on earth my heart feels more at home—and alive—than in the mountains. The trees! (Oh, those gorgeous pines!) The wildlife! (Beautiful elk, deer, mountain goats, big horn sheep, little squirrels and who can forget those cute chipmunks?!). Oh, and the refreshing smells! Water. Pine. Wild flowers. Cool air.

My husband and I recently spent a week in breathtaking Banff, Alberta, one of Canada’s famous national parks. While there, we hiked to two small lakes located high above a nearby mountain town where blues and greens mingled while sparkling jewels danced on the water. We rode scooters over hills and on narrow roads canopied by lodge pole pines. We sang songs while on several drives, stopped to take pictures of bighorn sheep—which were just a few feet from our car, canoed on Lake Louise, ATV’d on dusty dirt roads to the top of a mountain and (one of my favorites) made friends with a family of ground squirrels in a park surrounded by majestic peaks. And the whole time, I kept saying, “I just love the mountains!” “Oh, I just love the mountains!” “Honey, I love the mountains so much.”

After repeating my affection dozens of times over the first few days of our trip, I realized I probably sounded like a broken record. I apologized to my husband, but I just couldn’t help it. My mouth had to speak what my heart felt. My mouth was gushing love and joy. Then I thought about the winged creatures in Revelation 4:8 who say day and night without stopping. . .

“Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.”

I have to admit that when I have read this in the past I have always thought it somewhat odd. I mean, why would these creatures keep saying the same thing over and over and over again? I’m not a theologian but other than God creating them this way, I wonder now after my experience in the mountains if it’s simply because they are compelled to praise God and declare His holiness. He is so awesome and amazing and beyond words that they have to keep saying what they feel. They gush God’s praise just like I gushed about the mountains.

When I consider this, I realize how my love for Jesus is often lacking. So this morning I prayed, “Lord, I want my mouth to be bursting with love for you out of a full heart. Please deepen my love for you.” I confess that I sometimes allow the affections of the world to pull me away from the only One who is truly worthy of all my praise.

Oh, Lord! Thank you so much for making those gorgeous mountains! Because you created something so beautiful, I can only imagine how beautiful you are!

“For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God” (Psalm 86:10).

Prayer

Application

Related Reading

Post/Tweet today

Worship Resource