Psalm 96:11-13a Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice! Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise! Let the fields and their crops burst out with joy! Let the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord, for he is coming!
Romans 1:20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not know God.
Each year, during the week of Easter, I do an awful lot of looking up. We live in south Mississippi, and pine trees speckle the landscape. As a matter of fact, we have quite a few acres that are covered in pine trees. The trees stand tall and proud, and once a year, those trees do something miraculous. For you see, beginning one to two weeks before Easter, the pine trees begin making little yellow shoots, and as Easter Sunday approaches, the tallest shoot will branch off and form a cross. Yes, it forms a cross, y’all! The big, beautiful pine trees that surround us begin singing praises and announcing the cross only days before Easter. The scientist will explain this away with coincidence, but I like to believe that it is natural reminder straight from our good God for us to look up and remember what Easter is all about.
Easter will be celebrated this Sunday, but we can’t forget about the events of Friday. On Friday, our Lord and Savior was crucified on a cross. He suffered a gruesome death. He was buried, but He wasn’t forgotten. On that third day, the tomb was empty. Death couldn’t hold Him. He arose, and He is preparing a place for us. We rejoice as we celebrate this fact. Easter is coming, and even the trees are singing with joy!
Isn’t it remarkable how God makes His presence known. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not know God. We have no excuse not to see Him. We have no excuse not to know Him. And we definitely have no excuse not to praise Him.
Today, I encourage you to look up. Look for the pine trees, especially Loblolly pine trees, and look up. Look for the crosses. Look and see how the trees sing with joy to celebrate our risen Savior. They are announcing that He is coming. Let us not forget what we are celebrating this week. May we all sing with joy before the Lord because He is coming!
Inspirations from the Funny Farm 