All good gifts around us
Are sent from heav’n above,
Then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord
For all his love. Matthias Claudius

Another year, another harvest. Despite the regularity, if anything, because of the regularity, God deserves all thanks and praise for providing us with everything we need.

Our very position in the universe, with the extraordinary conditions suitable for life. The configuration of the sun, the earth’s position in orbit, the earth’s atmospheric composition, the list is endless.

God didn’t create the universe and leave it running like a clockwork toy though. God the Son sustains it moment by moment graciously providing us with everything we need. This in itself would seem amazing until we realise we have disobeyed God’s laws which are for our good. This disobedience would justify God’s withdrawal of his grace leaving us only with his wrath, yet he continues to sustain us for a season.

More amazingly, just as God provided a sacrifice for Abraham, he provides a saviour who can deal with our sin. God the Son became a man to die on a cross, to take on the sins of his people, of all who believe in him. The creator and sustainer became our saviour, our substitute, that we might be put right with God.

Belshazzar took no heed of God though. If anything, unlike Nebuchadnezzar, he mocked God by using the ceremonial goblets from the Temple. That night, the writing was on the wall, as God pronounced Belshazzar’s fate and that night Babylon fell to the Medes and Persians.

It doesn’t matter who we are, God created and sustains us all and deserves all praise and thanks from us. Our chief end in life is to glorify God, for through that we can find our chief enjoyment. We can only glorify God if we are right with God and our sins are dealt with by the only person who can deal with them.