Tuesday 17th January
Read Psalm 104:24-30
“How many are your works, Lord!
In wisdom you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
25 There is the sea, vast and spacious,
teeming with creatures beyond number –
living things both large and small.
26 There the ships go to and fro,
and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.
27 All creatures look to you
to give them their food at the proper time.
28 When you give it to them,
they gather it up;
when you open your hand,
they are satisfied with good things.
29 When you hide your face,
they are terrified;
when you take away their breath,
they die and return to the dust.
30 When you send your Spirit,
they are created,
and you renew the face of the ground.” (NIVUK)
Creation viewed from below, by those Yahweh makes and sustains, looks rather different when compared with the nations surrounding Israel. The seas that were ordered by Yahweh, a source of chaos and fear, are now places where ships go to and fro and whales frolic and play. Completely subdued by man and God.
Yet all ultimately depends on the gracious hand of Yahweh. When it is open towards you you are satisfied and blessed, but when His face turns away (or the blessing is removed) then terror and death await. A return to the chaos and disorder that reigned whilst the Spirit hovered over the waters. All creatures wait upon that self-same Spirit, to be remade, recreated and redeemed.
Paul recalls these themes in his encouragement to the Roman church. The intimate relationship between God’s Spirit, humanity and creation drawn together in hope!
“For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.” (Romans 8:20-23) (NIVUK)
May our every breath, granted by His Spirit, declare His praise forever!
