Our Awesome God
“Bless the Lord, O my soul!
O Lord my God, you are very great!
You are clothed with splendor and majesty,
2 covering yourself with light as with a garment,
stretching out the heavens like a tent.
3 He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters;
he makes the clouds his chariot;
he rides on the wings of the wind;
4 he makes his messengers winds,
his ministers a flaming fire.
5 He set the earth on its foundations,
so that it should never be moved.
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 sound of your thunder they took to flight.
8 The mountains rose, the valleys sank down
to the place that you appointed for them.
9 You set a boundary that they may not pass,
so that they might not again cover the earth.
10 You make springs gush forth in the valleys;
they flow between the hills;
11 they give drink to every beast of the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12 Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell;
they sing among the branches.
13 From your lofty abode you water the mountains;
the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.
14 You cause the grass to grow for the livestock
and plants for man to cultivate,
that he may bring forth food from the earth
15 and wine to gladden the heart of man,
oil to make his face shine
and bread to strengthen man’s heart.
16 The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
17 In them the birds build their nests;
the stork has her home in the fir trees.
18 The high mountains are for the wild goats;
the rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.
19 He made the moon to mark the seasons;[a]
the sun knows its time for setting.
20 You make darkness, and it is night,
when all the beasts of the forest creep about.
21 The young lions roar for their prey,
seeking their food from God.
22 When the sun rises, they steal away
and lie down in their dens.
23 Man goes out to his work
and to his labor until the evening.
24 O Lord, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom have you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
25 Here is the sea, great and wide,
which teems with creatures innumerable,
living things both small and great.
26 There go the ships,
and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it.[b]
27 These all look to you,
to give them their food in due season.
28 When you give it to them, they gather it up;
when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
29 When you hide your face, they are dismayed;
when you take away their breath, they die
and return to their dust.
30 When you send forth your Spirit,[c] they are created,
and you renew the face of the ground.
31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
may the Lord rejoice in his works,
32 who looks on the earth and it trembles,
who touches the mountains and they smoke!
33 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him,
for I rejoice in the Lord.
35 Let sinners be consumed from the earth,
and let the wicked be no more!
Bless the Lord, O my soul!
Praise the Lord!”
We recently visited the Answers in Genesis Creation Museum and the actual-size Ark Encounter in Northern Kentucky. These are two amazing opportunities for believers and non-believers alike who wish to experience or investigate the truth of the Bible in tangible form. During our visit (this is our second time) I continued to be amazed at the great effort they put into the resources and presentations developed to defend the authenticity and truth of Scripture. Much of it obviously centered on the truth of the beginning of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, which describes how all things were created by our God. In some sense, the Genesis focus seems rightful because if you can’t believe the beginning of Scripture, how can you believe the rest? Anyway, that is a topic for another day.
My hope for you today is to point to the awesome, creative, and sustaining nature of God. I have been slowly working my way through the Psalms. Before the trip to Kentucky, I read Psalm 104, and as someone who loves the intricacy, delicacy, awesomeness of creation, and especially the mountains, I was stuck on the chapter for a while and read it repeatedly. In doing so, it stirred up my affections for the Creator and triggered various thoughts in my head that further enhanced my amazement in God’s mighty creative and sustaining nature. The trip to Kentucky was perfectly timed for me in that it allowed me to further contemplate the thoughts I had running through my mind from this chapter.
Some of my thoughts are as follows, and hopefully, you too can spend some time reflecting on the above passage along with the things I mention, to further enhance your reflective contemplation of the awesomeness of God. This is especially important because we live in a day and age in which the busyness of life and our dependence on technology relentlessly distracts us from the reality of the created world around us.
When we look at the world around us, how often do we take the time to recognize that all living things are in some way descendants of all things created at the beginning? Obviously, animals, plants, insects, etc. don’t pop out of thin air. They all had a beginning and the way they are today is the result of generation after generation of reproduction. Even though considerable time has passed since God created all things, this reality is a reminder that God sustains all things over time as He sees fit, and today we continue to see the work of His hand on full display.
As we read Psalm 104, we are reminded that God brings the rain and establishes the boundaries of the water. God provides the air we breathe and the sun to bring light, heat, and growth. He causes the plants to produce food according to their kind for all creatures to be sustained. He gives the animals and people the means to multiply. He shaped the valleys and lifted the mountains. Every distinct contour of the earth’s landscape and shape of the continents is by the direction of His command and by His design. I personally believe that much of it today still reveals evidence of the flood of Noah’s day.
We can observe the existence of life all around us and know that God’s good, loving, and caring nature takes care of it all in great detail. He causes the plants to grow and knows where every blade of grass, leaf, and root lies throughout the earth. He feeds all living things on the earth by His provision. We can look at the sun, moon, and stars and know that Adam, Eve, and other people from Scripture all looked at the same ones. Scripture reveals that all of creation is held in perfect harmony and is intricately balanced by God’s hand. Nothing is out of place, and nothing would continue to exist apart from His watchful eye and sustaining power.
I could ramble on, but I would encourage you to read and re-read the 104th chapter of Psalms, allowing the Spirit of God Himself to trigger your own thoughts of wonder which will stir up your affections for the Creator, our Lord! May you be drawn closer to Him in doing so.
Prayer
Colossians 1:15-17
15 He [Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
