Nature’s exaggeration of color and loveliness and transparency and vastness, was too great even for the normal gaze of man.”
–Zane Grey (Robbers’ Roost)
“Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, The power and the glory, The victory and the majesty; For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, And You are exalted as head over all.”
–1 Chronicles 29:11 (NKJV)
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I like the way Steven Lawson introduces Psalm 104, “It is against this black backdrop of the world’s prevailing darkness that Psalm 104 shines so brightly.” When the humanists and evolutionists cry out aloud, here is the answer to their arrogance. Nature amazes me, the handiwork of God is magnificent. He has created “with stunning genius, precise detail, and brilliant order.” (Lawson) God did not have to think about what and how to create, He simply spoke it into existence.
1 — Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God, You are very great: You are clothed with honor and majesty,
2 — Who cover Yourself with light as with a garment, who stretch out the heavens like a curtain.
3 — He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters, who makes the clouds His chariot, who walks on the wings of the wind,
4 — Who makes His angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire.
5 — You who laid the foundations of the earth, so that it should not be moved forever,
6 — You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.
7 — At Your rebuke they fled; at the voice of Your thunder they hastened away.
8 — They went up over the mountains; they went down into the valleys, to the place which You founded for them.
9 — You have set a boundary that they may not pass over, that they may not return to cover the earth.
10 — He sends the springs into the valleys; they flow among the hills.
11 — They give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12 — By them the birds of the heavens have their home; they sing among the branches. (NKJV)
Do not take creation for granted. Keep your focus on the things of the Lord. The New Living Translation puts verse 1 this way, “Praise the LORD, I tell myself…” If we are not careful we start to go through this life not recognizing the hand of God in creation. Look at this Psalm and then try to imagine the majesty of God’s creation. How can a person actually believe it all just happened? Poof, there it was in complete working order–the cycles of nature, gravity, all the laws of physics–they all just happened by pure chance. It takes a fool or a person with extreme faith to believe that. Read these verses again and wonder in awe of the mighty works of God.
Take time to contemplate each verse this morning and see the glory of God in it. If your heart ever becomes dull with life. If the everyday things of life begin to get you down, or if you seem in constant pain of one sort or another go back–focus on the majesty of God’s creation. Maybe you have to remind yourself to praise the Lord for His mighty works of creation. “If He does such wonders in hanging universes and worlds in place–will He not also perform His creative work in living flesh like yours?” (George O. Wood)
He clothes Himself in a garment of light, but He has also made sure that the whole cosmos is appropriately attired as well. He cares for the flowers that bloom and knows when the sparrow falls. He set this mighty universe in motion by His word that His children–humankind–may enjoy it. And as He clothed the universe He is also preparing a garment for those who believe in Him–the garment of righteousness of Jesus which we will wear at His table in heaven.
“O tell of his might, O sing of his grace,
Whose robe in the light, whose canopy space.
His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form,
And dark is his path on the wings of the storm.”
–Robert Grant
———————————
I like the way Steven Lawson introduces Psalm 104, “It is against this black backdrop of the world’s prevailing darkness that Psalm 104 shines so brightly.” When the humanists and evolutionists cry out aloud, here is the answer to their arrogance. Nature amazes me, the handiwork of God is magnificent. He has created “with stunning genius, precise detail, and brilliant order.” (Lawson) God did not have to think about what and how to create, He simply spoke it into existence.
1 — Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God, You are very great: You are clothed with honor and majesty,
2 — Who cover Yourself with light as with a garment, who stretch out the heavens like a curtain.
3 — He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters, who makes the clouds His chariot, who walks on the wings of the wind,
4 — Who makes His angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire.
5 — You who laid the foundations of the earth, so that it should not be moved forever,
6 — You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.
7 — At Your rebuke they fled; at the voice of Your thunder they hastened away.
8 — They went up over the mountains; they went down into the valleys, to the place which You founded for them.
9 — You have set a boundary that they may not pass over, that they may not return to cover the earth.
10 — He sends the springs into the valleys; they flow among the hills.
11 — They give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12 — By them the birds of the heavens have their home; they sing among the branches. (NKJV)
Do not take creation for granted. Keep your focus on the things of the Lord. The New Living Translation puts verse 1 this way, “Praise the LORD, I tell myself…” If we are not careful we start to go through this life not recognizing the hand of God in creation. Look at this Psalm and then try to imagine the majesty of God’s creation. How can a person actually believe it all just happened? Poof, there it was in complete working order–the cycles of nature, gravity, all the laws of physics–they all just happened by pure chance. It takes a fool or a person with extreme faith to believe that. Read these verses again and wonder in awe of the mighty works of God.
Take time to contemplate each verse this morning and see the glory of God in it. If your heart ever becomes dull with life. If the everyday things of life begin to get you down, or if you seem in constant pain of one sort or another go back–focus on the majesty of God’s creation. Maybe you have to remind yourself to praise the Lord for His mighty works of creation. “If He does such wonders in hanging universes and worlds in place–will He not also perform His creative work in living flesh like yours?” (George O. Wood)
He clothes Himself in a garment of light, but He has also made sure that the whole cosmos is appropriately attired as well. He cares for the flowers that bloom and knows when the sparrow falls. He set this mighty universe in motion by His word that His children–humankind–may enjoy it. And as He clothed the universe He is also preparing a garment for those who believe in Him–the garment of righteousness of Jesus which we will wear at His table in heaven.
“O tell of his might, O sing of his grace,
Whose robe in the light, whose canopy space.
His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form,
And dark is his path on the wings of the storm.”
–Robert Grant