Roaring God

I've just spent a wonderful holiday week-end enjoying one of God's geological masterpieces - Ontario's Muskoka.

Let this serve as prelude to my continuing comments (see last Friday's post) on Psalm 104.

Enjoy!





The first glimpse of Earth-maker in Psalm 104 is a Home-builder, radiating sunlight. Then, a tender mother swaddling her new creation with a blanket of Ocean.
Then dramatically . . . a Commander snapping fingers, ordering Ocean to retreat allowing Land to rise.

Continents lift like blue whales breaching, rising out of the ocean depths. Sea-water falls away; streams flow down mountains – as water always does, seeking out the lowest places on the planet.

Photo credit: "Irish Cliffs of Moher" Pauline Watson, Lethbridge, Alberta



This psalm was ancient Israel’s hymn celebrating Creation (see sidebar text) – and there’s nothing tame about its vision. God roars a rebuke and Nature obeys in a powerful tectonic drama. These are not impersonal geological mechanisms, but Nature responding to its creator’s command, like an orchestra following the conductor’s baton.

Geology is a fascinating record of this process of earth-formation – the interaction of rock, heat, water and time. The Hebrew vision captures the energy and drama of these processes, but it also identifies the maker as an Artist with life-creating, life-protecting purpose and determination.

Notice how God uses creative power for constructive life-supporting purposes. God’s rebuke is not timid, nor haughty or defensive as human rebukes often are. Rather, it is empowering and developmental. Oceans and rivers exult in God’s initiative and ingenuity; they sustain life on our planet and enable living things to flourish.

I wonder … what we can learn from watching how God works – because I'm convinced that our part in creation is not just to be admiring spectators.
I wonder … how might God’s rebuke might sound in response to the Gulf Oil spill and other ecological travesties ?
I wonder … what I can do today to help Earth-maker’s purpose to flourish?

Psalm 104 - Part Two

“What a Wonderful World!”

Centuries before Louis Armstrong painted “skies of blue and clouds of white” with his gravelly voice, artists and poets, children, lovers and scientists have stood speechless at the beauty of our elegant world.

Psalm 104 is a majestic ancient song, a melodic re-telling of the Genesis creation story. (For the text, see "Today's Water Word" sidebar.) This psalm describes God as Earth-maker, robed in sunlight, setting up tent in the blue sky with clouds-chariots and wind-couriers at the ready. Ocean depths below reflect the grandeur of Sky above. The physical world mirrors the glory of its Creator.

God wraps the planet with an ocean robe, the way a mother enfolds a newborn. Then as Earth emerges from infancy, vibrant mountain springs spill out of the ground and course down through streams and rivers, lakes and wetlands. The song describes animals of every kind nesting by these waters and bird-songs whistling from the trees. It sings about forests, grain-fields and vineyards nourished and nourishing because of the rains that fall from the sky.

Psalm 104 celebrates the beauty and fruitfulness of the earth, and attributes it all to God. It prays that this glory will endure for all time and that God will find as much pleasure and joy in it as we do –

The glory of GOD—let it last forever!
Let GOD enjoy his creation!
(v.31 The Message)

Wonder . . . Reflect for a moment on the stunning visual beauty of our world and the dynamic power of nature – either around you right now or depicted in this song.
Pause and be restful; sense the joy throbbing in creation – and an ache behind the joy - and thank God for the immense privilege of being part of it.

Psalm 104 – Part One

Don't You Just Wonder?

The Wonder of Water – its beauty and power can beggar words - hurricanes and rainbows, the thunder of Niagara, the mystique of a rainforest, the spectacle of the Serengeti.
Morning mist on a river can take your breath away with its majesty. Beyond the science, we stand in wonder and awe.

Another side of Wonder is our curious desire to know - what makes ice float, how can ice-bergs sink a Titanic? We wonder how to control the rain, how to harvest monsoons for India’s famers, manage cod stocks and provide adequate sanitation for Gaza. The need to know leads to serious focused enquiry, research, initiative and discovery.

Human spirituality involves both responses – joy and curiosity, gratitude and responsibility. Humility and vision flourish in wondering minds. Faith and courage lead to action as well as wonder. Faith without courage is hypocrisy and pretense.

The Bible talks a lot about Water in hundreds of references to rivers, clouds, springs and wells, thirst, dew, rain, ice and snow, floods, drought, oceans, storms, water for washing, baptism, agriculture and drinking, Jesus walking on water, turning water into wine and calling himself ‘living water’ – the list goes on and on. It’s a ‘wonder-full’ book.

This blog probes both sides of wonder, looking at the marvels of water and pondering some of the complex issues of living in a water-dependent world. We explore connections between Water and God, the inter-face between an ancient Story and the demands of planet Earth in the 21st century.

I've written a book called The Wonder of Water as a series of reflections on 130 of these Biblical texts. Until it is ready for publication I plan to post these reflections three times a week.
If you like what you see, you can subscribe to receive each post automatically via e-mail. Even if you don’t like what you see, I’d love to hear your comments and suggestions.

I hope readers from other traditions will provide additional insights that complement or critique my musings. And when the book is ready, I’ll let you know so you can get a copy for your friends.

David Knight