Psalm 104

As I read Psalm 104 one of my favorite praise songs came to mind. Starry Host, inspired by Isaiah 40:26, praises the wonder of God’s creation.    

                

To whom will you compare Me?

Or who is My equal? say the Holy One,

Lift your eyes and look to the heavens

Who created all these?

He who brings out the starry host,

One by one, and calls them each by name

Because of His great power

And mighty strength

Not one of them is missing

Starry Host recorded by Silers Bald

Copyright: 1998 Silers Bald Music

Down through the ages people have stood in awe of nature. John Muir was one of those people. He explored what is now Yosemite National Park, and urged that the area be preserved as a national treasure because it was such a magnificent display of the beauty of God’s creation. Psalm 104 calls us to take time in life to observe the wonder of God’s creation. That is pretty easy for me. I gaze out of my window as I write this meditation and behold God’s lofty mountain grandeur. (Excuse me for a minute – the sun rising over the mountains this morning is stunning.)

However, the psalmist is going beyond the initial act of creation. The psalmist wants me to consider that God created . . . and is still creating. God not only created, God is proactively caring for His creation. God didn’t just create the first tomato; He is creating the tomatoes hanging from the plants in my yard this morning.

The Apostle Paul reached this same conclusion when he wrote of the supremacy of Christ, “He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together” (Colossians 1:17, emphasis mine). What happens when Christ stops holding all creation together? The psalmist answers that in verses 29-30 (NRSV):

“When you hide your face, they are dismayed;

   when you take away their breath, they die

   and return to their dust.

When you send forth your spirit, they are created;

   and you renew the face of the ground..”

If the psalmist had been with me a week ago as I stood atop of God’s lofty mountain grandeur, Chimney Rock, and observed the eagles soaring across the valley below, he would have pointed out that God created those eagles. God also created the air currents that were keeping them aloft; and God created the trees where they nest; and because “the Lord takes pleasure in all he has made” (v. 31b), the Lord is smiling as he watches over His creations playing in the air; and He is smiling as He watches me standing in awe.

“I will sing to the Lord as long as I live.

    I will praise my God to my last breath!

May all my thoughts be pleasing to him,

    for I rejoice in the Lord.

Let all that I am praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord!”

Psalm 104:33-34, 35b

Sē’lah

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What word or phrase in today’s reading of the Psalms

 attracts your attention?

Reflect on that word or phrase.

What insights come to you?

How does this passage touch your life today?

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

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Reading for August 14, 2012      Psalm 105