God of Beauty and Creation,
Thank you for beautiful sunsets, bright full moons, and the beauty of empty, harvested fields. Thank you for creating the Earth and everything in it and calling it “good.” Help us to be careful stewards of the Earth’s resources. Help us to use the resources you have given us to care for ourselves and each other, but to not be wasteful or harmful in that use. May we as individuals, communities, and a nation be wise stewards of our lands, waters, and air. Help us to elect officials who will make wise resource decisions in such a way that the economy and the people are not harmed. Remind us not to worship Earth, but to worship the Creator of Earth.
In Jesus’s name we pray, Amen.
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (Proverbs 1:7 NIV)
“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters.” (Ps. 24:1, 2 NIV)
God blessed [Adam and Eve] and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” (Gen. 1:28 NIV)
“When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.” (2 Chronicles 7:13-16 NIV)