Saturday 14th January
Read Psalm 104:1-4
“Praise the Lord, my soul.
Lord my God, you are very great;
you are clothed with splendour and majesty.
2 The Lord wraps himself in light as with a garment;
he stretches out the heavens like a tent
3 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.
4 He makes winds his messengers,
flames of fire his servants.” (NIVUK)
We have spent many days now pondering the wonder of Genesis 1 and have yet to even touch the sides. Consider Psalm 104 – an ode to Genesis 1. It begins (and ends) with blessing, a verbal outpouring of the worthiness and majesty of God. Genesis 1 also begins (Genesis 1:3) and ends (Genesis 2:3) with blessing – but a blessing bestowed by God upon creation and us.
Psalm 104 then retells the poem, but not in the past tense like Genesis 1, but very much in the present to remind us of the continuing blessing of creation – the upholding of all things for our good. The opening verses then cover the first two days of creation. The sense in Genesis 1 that God is described as the builder and maker of the cosmos is reflected in the psalmists’ choice of verbs to echo Genesis 1. The heavens are like a tent. A solid framed tent at that, with beams laid upon the heavens!
In the same way that Genesis 1 seeks to correct the mythological claims of the surrounding nations’ description of how things came to be and who is in charge, the psalmist picks up the language of the Canaanites next door. Baal was known, extensively, as ‘the god who rides upon the clouds’, (read the Epic of Baal if you are keen!) and in that way was worshipped as one who brought fertility to the earth. Power reflected in the mighty storm. There is little doubt the psalmist knew of these Epic pagan poems and deliberately places Yahweh as the true and only God who ‘rides the clouds’. Does this mean Yahweh actually rides clouds? No, it is a kingly image of the victorious ruler of all creation (hence the chariot) dominating His domain, the ruler in His immense palace!
It is enough today to reflect on the amazing image the psalmist creates of our great and glorious King, wrapping Himself in light as a cloak. As the sun rises let it point you to the King, in glorious array and pavilioned in splendour!
