How Manifold Are His Works – Psalm 104

There is a beautiful choral piece that I love listening to. It’s called “I thank You God for most this amazing day”. The text is taken from a poem by the late American author and poet, E.E. Cummings. The first few lines read as follows:

“I thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes…”

If you have the time, I would encourage you to read the rest of the poem as it is available online, but, for the sake of length, I have only shared the opening lines here.

Thousands of years before Cummings wrote his poem, the psalmist similarly described God’s majesty and how it is reflected in His beautiful creation. This is seen gloriously in Psalm 104.

“Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, you are very great!  You are clothed with splendor and majesty…He set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be moved” (Psalm 104:1, 5 ESV).  Our great God is the Creator of the universe. This is old news to most of you, but do you comprehend the scale of this? When was the last time you gazed upon the night sky and saw the infinite number of stars and galaxies? Much more than we would ever be able to count. Trillions of suns and planets and star systems. Our God created that. But it does not stop there. Our God is intimately involved in our universe, all the time.

“You make springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills; they give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell; they sing among the branches. From your lofty abode you water the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work. You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen man’s heart” (Psalm 104:10-15). Our God provides for His creation; from the tiniest hummingbird to the large African bush elephant. All that we eat or drink to nourish our bodies are given to us by our great God.

“O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures” (Psalm 104:24). How manifold indeed!

It is very easy nowadays to get caught up with overpowering negative thoughts, hopelessness and continuous complaining, be it from the global pandemic, homicide and crime rates or even corruption in our government. It is of course natural and right to be saddened by our fallen world, but we should not be sad without hope. After all, how can we be light and salt to the world if we are stuck in a tunnel-vision?

We still have a sovereign God, who hasn’t and never will surrender His authority. If we look carefully we will see His fingerprints all over the world every day – in the song of a robin; in the wings of a butterfly; in the colours of a sunrise or sunset; in the delicate beauty of a flower; in the running water from a tap; the roof over your head; the warm meal that you eat; the comforting message from a friend arriving at just the right time. Have you thanked God for these things recently? And these things God gives to us in our fallen world. Can you imagine the glorious beauty and abundance that will await us in God’s New Creation? So, let’s not be as those who are without hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13).

*If you enjoy choir music, you can listen to the piece of music that I mentioned at the beginning by clicking on this link: I thank you God *

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