Breath (Daniel 5:23)

Every breath you take

Do you know how many breaths you took yesterday? That will be around 28,800 and around 201,600 in the past week. The bible says the reason we were able to take each one of them is that God gave them to us. He not only created us, but he also sustains us through every breath of our life. 

How often do you acknowledged that? 

The prophet Daniel once stood before king Belshazzar and reminded him that each breath the king took was in God’s hand. Daniel did this to warn the prideful king that despite him knowing that is was God who gives sovereignty, greatness, glory and splendour the king failed to acknowledge the Most High God (Daniel 5:18-21). Belshazzar took his last breath later that same evening (Daniel 5:30), God numbered his days and brought them to an end, that very night. 

When was the last time you sincerely acknowledged God?

In His hands

Since you began reading this post, amazing functions were taking place in your body: the circulatory, digestive, endocrine, integumentary, immune, lymphatic, muscular, nervous, renal, skeletal, hematopoietic and respiratory systems were all doing their job in keeping you alive. God created your inmost being (Psalm 139:13), he orchestrates these wonderful (Psalm 139:14), mysterious, intricate and ingenious system that keeps you alive. The god fearing man Job noted that the life and breath of every creature and mankind are in God’s hand (Job 12:10). Think about it, God doesn’t need you, if he let you die right now, life would go on, and God would still be loving, wise, just, and holy.

Acknowledge Him

We rarely… actually, pretty much never, think of acknowledging God’s hand in keeping us alive! But it is the Lord who gives and sustains life. This is a statement of the truth that we know as a fact but don’t feel in our hearts enough to acknowledge God for. We are alive today because God sustains us, he sustains every breath we take, and he does this because he loves us. He crowns us with his loving kindness and the wealth of his mercies. Take a moment to acknowledge God for his gift of life and also for all his mercies, faithfulness, compassion and kindness that accompany life. Let’s thank him for the very breath we take.