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All Creation Speaks

In the event that reading about the creation events in Genesis or just looking at the world around you doesn't inspire you to praise, take a little time to read Psalm 104. This poem, by an unknown author, describes in poetic detail what is documented in the first chapters of Genesis.

I love the opening of this psalm. I can only imagine the psalmist struggling for words to ascribe the appropriate attributes to God. Before he even starts recounting the creation story, he is beside himself with praise. "O Lord my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendor and majesty." v1. Again, I think the translation understates the sentiment and I think the sentence should end with an exclamation point! Many earthly kings are great by human standards and clothed majestically, but the psalmist goes on to tell us that God is clothed in light, the heavens are His tent, the clouds are His chariots and He rides on the wings of the wind. That is some serious splendor and majesty.

My son and his family have started a tradition. It started out with one saying "I love you" and the other saying "I love you more". They kept trying to one up each other in the love department until they finally settled on the ultimate. Now when one of them says "I love you" the other will respond "I love you one plus anything you say". You can't get any more love than that! The description of God's splendor and majesty should be "He has splendor and majesty one plus anything you say...to infinity and beyond!" Or as Ephesians 3:20 would tell us, "more than we can ask or imagine". That should either drive us to our knees or to our feet in praise right there.

But the psalmist isn't done. He begins to describe how God created in v.5 and I have to stop at the very first sentence. "He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved." This really is a statement of God's sovereignty. Even though, the earth will eventually be destroyed and even now seems out of control. It is in His hands until the end. Praise the Lord!

For the next 18 verses our psalmist describes creation. Then, in verse 24, he marvels at the vastness and diversity of creation. He says that God was wise when He made all of it. Now, you may look at the person who sits next to you at work (or maybe at home) and wonder where the wisdom was in that. We need to put on God colored glasses (instead of rose colored) and look at people through His lens. We have to remember that Christ died for every individual on this planet and that God loves them as He loves us. Every creature is unique whether they have special talents or special needs, abilities or disabilities...God created each in His wisdom. Praise the Lord!

The last thing this psalmist does is to describe God's watchcare over His creation. He provides, protects, sustains. "For in Him we live and move and have our being." Acts 17:28. He is our very breath. Praise the Lord!

After all of his poetry and descriptions, the psalmist returns to his attitude of praise. He vows to sing praise to God for as long as he lives. He prays that his thoughts will be pleasing to God.

When we look at the creation we are surrounded with and contemplate God's sovereignty, how can we do less?

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