Bread From Heaven

Psalm 104

Praise the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendor and majesty.

He wraps himself in light as with a garment; he stretches out the heavens like a tent 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. He makes winds his messengers, flames of fire his servants. He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved.

You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. But at your rebuke the waters fled, at the sound of your thunder they took to flight; they flowed over the mountains, they went down into the valleys, to the place you assigned for them. You set a boundary they cannot cross; never again will they cover the earth.

He makes springs pour water into the ravines; it flows between the mountains. They give water to all the beasts of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. The birds of the air nest by the waters; they sing among the branches.

He waters the mountains from his upper chambers; the earth is satisfied by the fruit of his work. He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for man to cultivate— bringing forth food from the earth: wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread that sustains his heart.

The trees of the LORD are well watered, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted. There the birds make their nests; the stork has its home in the pine trees. The high mountains belong to the wild goats; the crags are a refuge for the coneys. The moon marks off the seasons, and the sun knows when to go down.

You bring darkness, it becomes night, and all the beasts of the forest prowl. The lions roar for their prey and seek their food from God. The sun rises, and they steal away; they return and lie down in their dens. Then man goes out to his work, to his labor until evening.

How many are your works, O LORD! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number— living things both large and small. There the ships go to and fro, and the leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.

These all look to you to give them their food at the proper time. When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things. When you hide your face, they are terrified; when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust. When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth.

May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works- he who looks at the earth, and it trembles, who touches the mountains, and they smoke.

I will sing to the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. May my meditation be pleasing to him, as I rejoice in the LORD. But may sinners vanish from the earth and the wicked be no more. Praise the LORD, O my soul. Praise the LORD.

Everywhere you look you see evidence of God’s role as the Author of Creation. From the mountains and the skies that shout it to the plants and flowers that sing it to the birds and bees that whisper it. No amount of random selection could have resulted in such intricacy, such attention to the smallest detail. If you could hold a hummingbird in your hand and inspect it carefully, you’d be overwhelmed at the beauty of its construction. And how about a bumblebee? Aerodynamically unsuited for flight, its wings are too small to hold its body aloft. And yet they do, because God ordained it.

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. (Psalm 19:1-3) All of creation cooperates to bring us the message of Grand Design, and there can be nothing more confirming of this than a walk along a beach or through a field of wild flowers or over a mountain trail. It reminds us once again of the power and majesty of the One to whom we pay homage, teaching us that surely He’s capable of managing our little lives.

This is why whenever our problems threaten to overwhelm us, we gain such comfort from “communing with nature.” It allows the self-evident truth of our Creator-God’s existence to permeate our souls, whether we consciously admit it or not, putting our circumstances into perspective. Often solutions pop suddenly into our minds as our spirit re-connects with God’s and our own creativity is stimulated.

We often say that stepping back from our immediate situation gives us the perspective we need to think things through, or see them more clearly, but I’m convinced that removing ourselves from the static that routinely fills our heads allows us to hear the Voice that was there all along, giving us the answer we were too pre-occupied to hear.

So why wait for a crisis to take yourself somewhere quiet so you can hear the Voice of God? Why not make it a routine part of your life? You’ll be happier and more productive, your life will be more peaceful, and you’ll become even more certain that the Bible’s creation account had to have been written by the only eye-witness, explaining exactly how He did it. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. (Romans 1:20)

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