A Marvelous Creation

 Isaiah 15-30; Psalms 103-104; Titus 1-3; Philemon; Hebrews 1

Now and then, in the midst of the hectic worlds in which we live, it’s nice to read something restful and peaceful. That’s what I thought, at least, when I bumped into Psalm 104 in our readings for this week. This is a Psalm of praise to the Lord God, who is “very great,” who is “clothed with honor and majesty” (vs. 1-2). The rest of the Psalm explains how God in his greatness has established a lovely, well-ordered place for his creatures to dwell.

You can almost see the Psalmist gazing at the world and noticing how orderly everything is: God has stretched the heavens across the sky, with clouds, winds, and lightning passing along at his beckoning (3-4). God has set the earth on immovable foundations, with the seas reaching to the borders God has allotted them (5-9). God has provided springs of water to quench the thirst of animals and to cause birds to sing with joy (10-13). Further, God has made the grass, plants, wine, oil, and bread that sustain human life (14-15), not to mention the moon and the sun, which proceed day by day in an orderly manner (19-23).

The Psalmist moves back and forth through a whole variety of such images. He pictures an idyllic world, one that is neat and tidy, where everything works together for peace and harmony.

When I read these words, two thoughts occur to me. First, this world doesn’t really exist, does it? Think of the result of his picture of darkness, when “the animals of the forest come creeping out” and “young lions roar for their prey” (20-21). When those lions find their nourishment, other animals will have just become food. On one side is stalking and the chase; on the other is fear and flight. Truth be told, this neat and orderly world is really rather brutal and chaotic.We may think the same when our own lives run up against illness and disease, or injustice and favoritism.

God’s greatness and majesty have clearly not made life easy for any of his creatures. Nevertheless – and here’s my second thought – the Psalmist is right, isn’t he? He’s not actually denying the suffering, the disorder, the outright tragedy that so often mars life. Rather, he is pointing out that there is a beautiful symmetry to the whole. God has given us a glorious world in which to live. It is more complex and marvelous than we can ever understand, and it would be wise for us to sit back now and then and just take it all in. If we do that, we’ll end where the Psalmist does, finding that we “will sing to the Lord as long as we live” (33).