During the summer of 2019, I was reading Psalm 103. That Psalm became an enormous comfort to me during a time in my life that I will never forget. I read that chapter many times over. It's a psalm that focuses on God's numerous benefits (His blessings!) and unchanging character.
Now, two years later, the very next psalm, Psalm 104, has become just as much of a blessing to me as Psalm 103 was.
Psalm 104 begins just like Psalm 103 with the words:
"Bless the Lord, O my soul."
Psalm 104:1 continues with:
"O LORD my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty."
Right away, the psalmist sets the tone for what this psalm or song is all about - the grandeur and greatness of our Creator!
During the month of June, the Lord displayed His majesty and glory to me in ways I've rarely stopped to think about before. I was left in "awe" of the greatness of our God!
For over two weeks in June, my parents and three brothers were away on an annual, summer trip to Michigan. (our home state) I stayed home with my sister Molly while they were away. I was able to water our flowers, watch our pets (we have a cat and a dog), and keep an eye on everything at home. I was also able to do some indoor and outdoor projects during the time my family was away. My sister works, so during that time, I had our house almost completely to myself. Those two weeks were filled with lots of little things, so much so, I kept very busy!
Our temperatures were in the 90's almost every day, and we even saw some 100 degree days. I found that my energy was completely zapped on certain days due to the heat.
Nearly every night, I tossed and turned in bed until sometime after midnight due to the extreme heat. We have central air (AC) in our home, but we only use it during the day and turn it off at night. We have an "attic fan" that we turn on around bedtime, and it draws the cooler, outdoor air in at night. It works well, except when the night air isn't as cool. Those are nights I don't sleep as well.
I distinctly remember one night when I'd finally fallen asleep only to be woken up around 1:30 a.m. by a noise. I cracked open my bedroom door to see our dog (a golden retriever) staring at me in our upstairs hallway with glaring eyes. She knew she wasn't supposed to be there. I dutifully took her by her collar back to my sister's room where she sleeps for the night and quietly closed her door.
I fell back to sleep only to be woken up again around 2:00 a.m. by the sound of our dog barking. She usually never barks at night. With eyes barely open, I opened my bedroom door and saw my sister standing in our upstairs hallway.
"What is going on?" I asked my sister.
"It's Autumn. I don't know what to do with her. She has all this energy!"
Looking and sounding frustrated and helpless, she continued...
"I'm just going to let her run around the house to get it out!"
Feeling too tired to reply, I simply let out a "ugh!" and climbed back into bed.
The next morning, I realized that our dog needed to be walked every day to prevent that from happening every night. My parents usually walk our dog every evening when the weather is nice, and I hadn't thought of doing that since our dog ultimately belongs to my sister. But with my sister working nearly every afternoon and evening, I decided to make that a priority each day.
It worked out well. The dog and I got our daily walk in every evening, usually around or just after sunset when the temperature was a little cooler. (and there weren't as many dogs being walked then for our dog to bark at!)
During those evening walks, God displayed His greatness and grandeur to me on numerous occasions! One night, our evening walk got delayed, and I was walking in our neighborhood with our dog well after sunset. As soon as I stepped outside, I was in awe at the sight of the magnificent clouds in front of me! They were unlike any clouds I think I've seen before. They looked like giant angel wings or a large whirlwind, one you might envision the prophet Elijah being caught up in. I'm sure it was a major storm building, but it took my breath away! The clouds were beyond spectacular that night!
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| Magnificent clouds! |
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| Clouds of splendor! |
Those clouds fit these verses from Psalm 104 quite well:
"Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain:
Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind." Psalm 104:2-3
Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind." Psalm 104:2-3
The picture of the rainbow (below) reminded me of verse two, about God covering Himself with light and stretching out the heavens like a curtain.
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| A recent, double rainbow in misty clouds. |
On another, evening walk with our dog, I marveled at the beauty of a new, crescent moon over the mountains in the western sky. I also marvel at the exact precision of the moon in its cycles and seasons, put there by God when He created the moon.
Another verse in Psalm 104: says it well:
"He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down." Psalm 104:19
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| A new, crescent moon over the mountains. |
The sun always sets in the western sky just like the new crescent moon always appears at sunset in the western sky every 29-30 days. God is amazing!
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| A June sunset from our backyard. |
In April, I planted some vegetable seeds indoors since we don't plant here in Colorado until late May. (due to possible snow and frost) Many of those seeds didn't come up until June! Usually, when trying to grow a garden, my mom would buy small plants from a local greenhouse, but I wanted to try starting them from seed. I should have planted them indoors earlier. While my family was away, I marveled at God's creation as the little seedlings broke forth from their shell and came up! I looked at my precious, little seedlings in awe and wonder, like I was an 8 year old girl instead of a 38 year old woman!
It reminded me of this verse in Psalm 104:
I'm not sure that I'm going to get any food from these seedlings since they've been planted in the ground (I'm praying and trying in our hard, clay soil!), but nonetheless, I marvel at God's design. I marvel in wonder at the life that is inside a tiny seed.
While my parents were away, I did a lot of weeding in our backyard, particularly around some of our rose bushes, daisy plant, and lily plants. I also weeded our small, garden plot before planting my seedlings.
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| Some seeds I planted in April came up in June! |
While my parents were away, I did a lot of weeding in our backyard, particularly around some of our rose bushes, daisy plant, and lily plants. I also weeded our small, garden plot before planting my seedlings.
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| Roses in our backyard. |
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| Daisies in our backyard. |
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| A lily in our backyard. |
While weeding, I happened to notice some very tiny bugs. I can't say I love bugs, but I couldn't help but notice the amazing and colorful designs on some of them, like this one I took a picture of.
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| A tiny bug. |
Not only did God manifest Himself to me on my evening walks in the sky through big things like clouds, and rainbows, and light, and sunsets, and the moon, but He also manifested Himself to me while I was outside weeding or watering plants. He manifested Himself to me in the tiny things He made such as flowers, seedlings, and bugs!
My mind was truly "blown" when I stopped to think that God, who made the sun and moon in their courses, also took time to personally design this bug!
It made my heart swell in worship and agree with the psalmist of Psalm 104 when he wrote:
So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts." Psalm 104:24-25
God has indeed created so many diverse things with so much variety, and He can be seen in what He has created.
The Psalmist concludes this Psalm about the greatness of our God very well by saying:
"I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the LORD." Psalm 104:33-34
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