(A personal psalm)
Oh, Lord God of creation,
I praise you for the glowing hues of your sunsets, the heavenly aroma of your lilacs, and the lyrical bird choruses you orchestrate in springtime.
I praise you for endowing us with physical senses to experience these splendors and countless more.
John Calvin once described the world of nature as your glorious theater. How appropriate. Night and day you present a dramatic performance!
You bring out the starry host one by one, and call them each by name (Isaiah 40:26).
Astronomers can only estimate their number – perhaps up to 3,000 million billion. That’s a three followed by sixteen zeroes! And you know them all by name?!
Oh, Lord, your creative ability knows no bounds of size or number.
Men get excited about creating multi-story skyscrapers, each one a bit taller than the last.
You create galaxies.
In addition to the heavens, you have made everything on the earth and in the seas – from minuscule microbes to mighty mountains, from single-cell protozoa to humpback whales. You give life to everything (Nehemiah 9:6).
And yet, your creative power, as well as your wisdom and engineering in preserving your work, are mere finger-play for you (Psalm 8:3a).
My heart swells with awe.
When I take note of your wonders, I realize that you love:
- Variety – as seen in the myriad kinds of plants and animals around the globe
- Organization – recognized in the sustainable food chains, predictable tides, and purposeful cycle of seasons
- Pattern – revealed in the stripes of a zebra, the hexagons of a honeycomb, and the spiraled petals of a rose
- Color – artistically displayed on butterflies, birds, and even in the galaxies
- Beauty – exhibited in majestic trees, aquamarine waters, and snow-topped mountains
- Intricacy – demonstrated with lacy frost, coral reefs, and the DNA double helix found in almost all organisms
But why, Lord? What is the purpose of all this craftsmanship, all the attention to detail, all the grandeur?
Surely you chose to display your glory outside of heaven so that we might come to revere you (Psalm 33:6-9).
And one day we will join with the throng of heaven and proclaim you worthy to receive glory and honor and power, because you created all things (Revelation 4:11).
But there’s really no need to wait, is there? Even if there is just one voice, you listen with parental joy and appreciation.
So I lift my one voice to praise you:
Lord of the universe, my mind cannot fathom that out of nothing you fashioned all the beauty, majesty, and complexity of the world.
With the mountains and hills I burst into song before you, with the trees of the field I clap my hands, because you are mighty in power, glorious in splendor, and loving toward all that you have made.
(Nehemiah 9:6; Isaiah 55:12; Psalm 147:5; Psalm 145:12, 17)
Photo credits: michiganradio.org; http://www.stylespinner.com; http://www.animalians.wikispaces.com; http://www.etsy.com, http://www.pinterest.com.
From the Inside Out 