Morning Meditation: "And God said, 'Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.' So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, 'Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.' And there was evening, and there was morning - the fifth day." - Genesis 1:20-23.

On the fourth day of creation the eternal clock of heaven was set. God's bejeweled time-piece in the sky sparkles agelessly with the magnificent announcement of that future nuptial day. The hands of time were set in motion as the sun and moon took their governing positions, with the whole sky supporting them as one intricate mechanism functioning together in perfect order. "The moon marks off the seasons, and the sun knows when to go down" (Psalm 104:19). With the official date now firmly established, the Creator could turn His attention to the most important part of the Marriage Covenant. On the fifth day, He went to work outlining the provision for His Bride and all His sacred responsibilities in caring for and protecting His wife. The Creator of the Covenant penned His promises to the minutest detail as He illustrated His intention by filling the sea with "every living and moving thing" and the sky "with every winged bird according to its kind."

On this fifth day of creation, the Possessor of the whole world opened up His vast storehouse in an extravagant display of His love and goodness toward His Bride. There was to be no question that she was to have access to everything He owned as He poured out His riches into the ocean depths and the great expanse of the sky - and even they could not contain the immenseness of His wealth as the heavenly storehouses continued to brim with an infinite, endless, inexhaustible supply.  

"May the LORD bless this land with the precious dew from heaven above

and with the deep waters that lie below;

with the best the sun brings forth and the finest the moon can yield;

with the choicest gifts of the ancient mountains

and the fruitfulness of the everlasting hills;

with the best gifts of the earth and its fullness

and the favor of Him who dwelt in the burning bush"

(Deuteronomy 33:13-16a)

The Creator filled every corner of the sky, and the deepest depths of the ocean, to assure His Bride that there was nothing He couldn't provide her. This morning as we consider all the wondrous works of our Creators' hands, let us praise Him for His greatness, as we have seen in His handiwork in the sky, but also for His goodness, which He has poured out upon us as our provision in an abundant, endless supply. "From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another" (John 1:16).

"Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!

How unsearchable His judgments, and His paths beyond tracing out!

'Who has known the mind of the LORD?

Or who has been His counselor?'

'Who has ever given to God that God should repay Him?'

From Him and through Him and to Him are all things.

To Him be the glory forever! Amen."

(Romans 11:33-36)

Afternoon Devotion "I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of the fullness of God"