I rise early in the morning, long before my three wonderful little distractions wake up. I turn on the news, mainly to catch the weather. Usually I have to wait for some headlines to air first.
Crime close to home.
Natural disasters around the world.
The latest events in the world of radical Islam.
Threats of new wars in the Mideast.
Rumors of impending global economic Armageddon.
Sigh. Perhaps knowing the weather forecast isn’t so important. The next time this happens, maybe I’ll remember to return to today’s reading to revel in the sovereignty of the One who ordains every aspect of creation, past, present, and future.
Psalm 104 is a celebration of the sovereign majesty of an infinite God who imagined the finite.
An eternal God who invented time.
A spiritual Being who conceived of matter.
A self-existent God who envisioned angelic servants and human children.
A Being who needs nothing from anyone yet delights in beings who need Him for everything.
The master Inventor with the intelligence to design everything we will ever know of.
Psalm 104
2 The LORD wraps himself in light as with a garment;
he stretches out the heavens like a tent3 and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.
He makes the clouds his chariot
and rides on the wings of the wind.
5 He set the earth on its foundations;
it can never be moved.
7 But at your rebuke the waters fled,
at the sound of your thunder they took to flight;8 they flowed over the mountains,
they went down into the valleys,
to the place you assigned for them.
9 You set a boundary they cannot cross;
never again will they cover the earth.10 He makes springs pour water into the ravines;
it flows between the mountains.
At every level of creation there is beautiful order, whether it be at the level of the galaxy superclusters spread across the universe, the galaxies themselves with the wondrously artistic arrangements of their countless stars, our solar system with each planet, moon, and comet following its defined path, the earth with its amazing variety of delicately complex ecosystems, the organ systems that maintain the physical life of every creature, the perfect cooperation among the stunning variety of molecular machines within every cell composing every body of every living thing, and even the organization of the particles composing each atom in the universe. Beautiful, amazing order where, given any lesser creator god, chaos would abound.
17 There the birds make their nests;
the stork has its home in the junipers.
18 The high mountains belong to the wild goats;
the crags are a refuge for the hyrax.19 He made the moon to mark the seasons,
and the sun knows when to go down.21 The lions roar for their prey
and seek their food from God.24 How many are your works, LORD!
In wisdom you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
25 There is the sea, vast and spacious,
teeming with creatures beyond number—
living things both large and small.
Moon, mountains, seas, goats, lions. They all obey their Creator. They all trust Him for their needs. At every point, every aspect of creation serves its purpose. Every creature has its place.
27 All creatures look to you
to give them their food at the proper time.29 When you hide your face,
they are terrified;
when you take away their breath,
they die and return to the dust.
30 When you send your Spirit,
they are created,
and you renew the face of the ground.
EVERYTHING was conceived within the mind of God in eternity past, was brought forth by the power of His word, and is perfectly governed and sustained according to His wisdom and will.
After contemplating these things, it’s awfully hard to care about the day’s news.
35 …Praise the LORD, O my soul. Praise the LORD.
Michael (mmattix)
Sixty-six books in a year 