God’s World

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.
                                    —Psalm 24:1

The Houston Museum of Natural Science displays a stunning ten-foot globe, created by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. I was given a handout with a beautiful reproduction of the globe, over the caption Our World.

There’s a sense in which it is our world, for when God created it, he gave our first parents authority to rule over all of it: fish, birds, livestock, seed-bearing plants and trees (Gn 1:26–30). We’re allowed to drink its water, fish its seas, extract its oil, farm its land, and ingest its produce.

But it is really God’s world: “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” (Ps 24:1). We’re only tenants on his land and stewards of his bounty.

Enjoy it. And thank the One who made it and owns it.

You must be special—God chose
to share his world with you.