Let All That I Am Praise The Lord

June 29, 2017

Let All That I Am Praise The Lord

O Lord, what a variety of things you have made!

    In wisdom you have made them all.

    The earth is full of your creatures.

Psalm 104:24

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. As I walk through my neighborhood, I behold God’s lofty mountain grandeur.

The psalmist is going beyond the initial act of creation. The psalmist wants me to consider that God created . . . and is still creating. God created the very first sun rise and He created the magnificent sunset I saw on a recent evening. God not only created all things, God is proactively caring for His creation. God didn’t just create the first tomato; He is creating the tomatoes I’ll be enjoying in my sandwiches this summer, along with the fresh strawberries, peaches and blueberries that adorn my morning cereal.

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 few weeks ago as I stood atop a crest along the Appalachian Trail, and observed the hawks soaring across the valley below, he would have pointed out that God created those hawks. 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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(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.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

Copyright © 2017 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.