“The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life” (Job 33:4).

One of the most sacred times I have ever experienced was when my precious grandmother passed away. She was eighty-six years old and had been an invalid for nearly ten years. Her daughters, including my mother, had cared for her during that time. I do not remember the situation that brought Grandmother to the hospital, but Mom called and said I had better get there if I wanted to see her before she died. I arrived and gathered with my family around this saintly woman who had mothered us all so well. She was unconscious and breathing shallowly. Her breaths became slower and slower until we realized that she had breathed her final breath, and she passed from this life into her eternal dwelling place with her Father in Heaven.

Every breath of her life, from her first in 1906 to her last in 1992 had been ordained by God.

I recalled this memory during worship service this past week as we sang the great worship song, “Great Are You Lord.”

It’s Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise
We pour out our praise
It’s Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise to You only.

I have long been intrigued by how God uses such ordinary functions in such extraordinary ways. He spoke Creation into existence. He breathed life into our bodies. Breathing is essential to life. Breathing is an autonomous function, meaning that you do not have to make a conscious effort to do it. You must think about eating and drinking, but breathing is automatic. We can only control our breathing to a degree. I used to be able to hold my breath long enough to swim a lap in a regular-sized pool. But at some point, our body will take over and force us to breathe (even if we are underwater).

We are alive because God breathed life into us. Only The Creator can give life:

• “Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7).
• “This is what God the Lord says— the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out, who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it” (Isaiah 42:5).
• “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.” (Acts 17:24).

God ordains the very duration of our lives:

• “When you hide your face, they are terrified; when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust” (Psalm 104:29).

God’s power is displayed by his breath:

• “I will pour out my wrath on you and breathe out my fiery anger against you; I will deliver you into the hands of brutal men, men skilled in destruction” (Ezekiel 21:31).
• “This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life” (Ezekiel 37:5).
• “And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming” (2 Thessalonians 2:8).

When Jesus appeared to his disciples after his resurrection, with His breath he gave them the Holy Spirit:

• “Again Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’ And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven’” (John 20:21-23).

The Bible is God’s Word to us, written by people who were inspired by God’s very breath:

• “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16).

Foundational to our faith is knowing God and His attributes and understanding how we are related to Him. Just as our bodies belong to God, so does our very breath. He owns it all. And even more amazingly, He has given us the choice of how to use our breath. Just as God’s breath is powerful, so can our breath be powerful when we use it the right way. Let us not take breathing for granted. Let us give thanks to God and pray to commit our very breath to glorify our Father in heaven and His purposes here on earth.

“Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord” (Psalm 150:6).

In Christ,

Judy