It happened! In that blog break! I found the solid evidence of way over ten thousand biblical reasons to praise the God of the Universe!

I didn’t list and count them, individually (and you’d be bored silly reading such a long list if I put it on here in this post). But they exist. Here’s the proof, so simple, and how I stumbled on it…

It was right in front of me!

September 2, the Lord’s Day.

With some lovely extra time, I sit at the picnic table under the big black maple, shielded from the road by high hedge of green, companionable dog “visitor” serenely lounging in my company (that’s another story for some time later). Sunlight glowing, breeze whispering around me, Bible, journal, and smooth-gliding gel pen waiting on the table before me, my thoughts drifting here and there.

All my green surroundings, that wonder and delight of a black Lab, the beauty of the blue-sky day, all stir thoughts of God as Creator, and I open the Bible to its first pages…

“In the beginning, God created…”

I smile, and turn my journal to its next blank page, begin to write:

Reasons to Praise God

  • Because He created all the green and living things I see around me. (Gen 1)
    • the pines, arborvitae, all the other evergreens,
    • the shade trees: oaks and maples, poplars and sycamores, willows and birches…
    • the fruit trees bearing fruit containing seed after their kinds: apples, pears, peaches, plums, apricots, quinces, cherries (etc.)
    • the fruit bushes and vines: grapes and currants, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and more
    • all the nut trees: hickory, walnut, almond, pecan…
    • all the “woodworking,” trees: those named above plus cedar, acacia, chestnut…
    • every seed-bearing vegetable plant: peas and beans and peppers and tomatoes, onions and garlics and pumpkins and cabbages and broccoli and spinach and squash and on and on…
    • all those things we call weeds that are highly nutritious, like dandelions and lamb’s quarters and purslane and nettle…
    • dye plants like madder and indigo and marigold …
    • landscape plants: vines and grasses and bushes and decorative trees planted just to make lovely surroundings…
  • Because He made all the animals in their manifold varieties, each with its special feature and gifts, like…
    • this dog that “buries” his rawhide bone “for later,” like other dog types, herder and guard and “Seeing-eye”—and so on…
    • domestic farm animals in all their usefulness to man: sheep and goats and cows and pigs
    • birds that sing and spread the seeds and distribute the pollen
  • Because He put wondrous instincts into even insects and worms: like butterflies whose third generation returns to its forebears’ home, though no one showed them the way!

This list of living things could expand and expand, accordion style. I didn’t even mention reptiles or amphibians or fish and other water-critters. How many species are there? Or even genera, or “families”?

A second list could begin and grow, of non-living wonders of creation. Stones and gems and sand and soils, minerals and naturally-occurring chemicals and building materials…

Add in these Genesis 1-3 facts about our own creation:

  • That God placed in mankind…
    • ability to order, to describe and name, to sort and categorize
    • His spirit of creativity and aesthetics
    • everything needed “to tend and dress” a garden
    • the wonder of physical life itself!
  • That He gave us stewardship/dominion over all these works of earth
  • That He provided in creation all our physical lives need
  • That beyond this, He gave us all kinds of beauties that delight our senses, and those senses themselves to experience that delight
So, every flower, every gemstone, every star and planet in the heavens is a reason to praise Him, every experience of our God-given senses a reason to exalt His name.
…
This could conclude my search for Ten Thousand Reasons in the Bible. But pinpointing and pondering new-found reasons produces joy. So I’ll continue counting reasons in coming posts.
And may we all find daily new praises for Him, in our Bibles and our lives.
*****
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8 thoughts on “Found: 10,000 Reasons!”

  1. The more I count the more blessed I REALIZE I am and realization changes me. Realization makes me undeniably joyful. Who wouldn’t be if they really realized that the God of the Universe; the great I Am; YHWH, the Breath of All Life was intimately involved in their life? This counting brings me close to my heavenly Father and it is good.

    I’m so glad you are my counting sister, Dear Sylvia.

  2. Dawn, you say it well. The realizations sometimes leave me breath-less! Counting together with you to infinity!

  3. PS to Dawn: Actually, I’ve been listing thanks reasons since 1980 (at least), written as thanks to God. Just saw the evidence in an old journal from then. In fact, I see I was even *counting* them — up to #56 in that little journal. That practice of gratitude did help lift me out of a very depressing time, when my first marriage came to a dismal end.

  4. Wonderful story! And so true!!!!! Thank you so, so much for counting with me and sharing in this experience. It’s so encouraging to read about everything you’re learning through it!!!!!

  5. And thank you, Mary, for stopping by, especially amid all your busyness — and for setting up the link to connect our counting in the first place.
    God bless!

  8. Bobbi, that very song stirred up these countings toward 10,000 reasons for our hearts to find. I catch myself singing it often, too.
    (Got your email change. Will use it!)
    Good to see you stopping by to visit here again, my dear sister. 🙂

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