Psalm 98 Lessons I’m still learning…
I have stood at the edge of the ocean and marveled at the handiwork of God. I have stood on the bank of a creek and listened to birds chirping and water babble and been amazed at God’s creation. I have traveled to Israel seeking a deeper understanding of who God is. I have known the tragic sting of death and the triumphant victories of life but until today I have never seen nor heard nature truly sing.
On my back porch I sit with my bible reading Psalm 98 and I notice the sudden stillness all around me as if God himself has entered my home and quietly invited me to accompany Him to a very personal and private concert. There is a single note in the air that suggests I am in the presence of heavenly royalty requiring my utmost regard as the curtain opens.
The wind gently taps the podium, the turtles swimming by stretch their necks like the long extension of the violins bow and a squirrel pauses on a limb of the tree above as if being seated in the balcony. I have felt the peace of God in mighty ways; but until now, I never thought of all the sounds and movement of nature as “PRAISE” being offered to the Lord.
As I studied Psalm 98 this morning the skeptic in me asked the obvious question of how it could be possible for ALL the earth to praise the Lord? Surely there is an exception for the solid, stillness of rocks or lifeless tree bark as it sits in a pile at the base of a tree. There must be a pass for that tree stump or the milled boards across my deck?
I’ve been in church my whole life, so I know that we are called to worship and our Creator made us for the purpose of praise. Suddenly I am acutely aware that the sea and everything that lives in it, the rivers teaming with life and the mountains who house wildlife too numerous to name individually, ALL praise the Lord. In this one moment, all the world of praise was gloriously opened to me and I began to see and hear it everywhere I looked. I felt it in my heart as awareness gushes over me in tidal waves and the sound of it reverberates in my soul.
As I sit meditating this new revelation on my back porch, I notice a wind come shifting along the bayou with a low, almost imperceptible whistle. As it dances from the bend in the bayou towards me, it begins lifting the limbs of the trees on the bank. As it meets each tree, its leaves and limbs give honor to our Lord by gently responding to the wind with their own praise; as if taking a deep breath and then exhaling their own song of praise. The wind travels along the bayou then up my property line touching each tree as The Conductors baton rises and falls giving way to nature’s greatest aria. Each note speaks to me and compels me to join in natures song. My heart and soul are touched at God’s display of beauty and grace just for me, and I am in awe of the sound of praise as led by the wind and joined in harmony by the tress and water.
Looking beyond the scope of my back porch I note that the bayou responds to the wind by singing with it’s own ripple and splash in perfect cadence. Every fish beneath the surface sings praise the Lord in graceful movement. Each grain of sand yields to the movement of the water and glistens in the light reflecting its own praise the Lord.
I cant help but to raise my own hands and turn my face to the sun in response to the praise happening all around me. How have I lived my whole life with this glorious display of melodious gratitude to God happening all around me and yet being deaf to its ballad?
Individually, every example of nature unfolds its truest purpose for life before me. Even the snail on my sidewalk leaves a shiny trail behind her that spells out praise the Lord in its own meandering language. The palm outside my bedroom window stretches towards the sun, face forward and radiating its green healthy glow in praise to the Lord. The birds sing in their highest pitch, the toads remind me of the base notes so necessary for contrast. Even the tiny ants are busy marching around their own Jericho with their giant trombones too big to carry.
The hard stone face of my porch seems stoic and unmoving but as the clouds part and the SON shines down and the stones are warmed, I see the heat radiating off the masonry in praise to the Lord. Each ripple extols its own song of surrender. The void between each stone tells a story of God’s goodness with its shifting shadows and points of light as the sun filters through the clouds. God sees that I am suddenly aware of the joy all around me and blesses me with a tiny insect taking pause in the crevice of the stacked stone in a pose of praise.
As I glace beyond the porch I see a tree limb decaying in the neighbor’s yard and the image of a man, humbly on his knees, bows low in praise came to mind. Just beyond the decaying tree, I see the iron pickets of my neighbor’s fence standing in a row across the lawn and I could imagine a row of soldiers at attention paying salute to our great and mighty King with their own song of victory.
We are all living in a world surrounded by the joyous praise of all creation singing out in perpetuity to our great and mighty God. How fortunate we are to be allowed admittance into Gods most prestigious venue; nature.
I have never been one at a loss for words but today my great and mighty God has blessed me to reveal all of creation bursting forth in great worship. I am speechless as it surrounds me and gives me the assurance of knowing that as our praise ascends this earth and meets with God where He is, He in turn, blesses me with His comfort amid life’s challenges and victories.
I hope that you too, will see the praise radiating from nature today and everyday and it will draw you into a closer, more intimate, personal relationship with God.
Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. All the Earth, praise the Lord.
Lori Diman-Considine
Psalm 98
1 Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.
2 The Lord has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations.
3 He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
4 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music;
5 make music to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, shout for joy before the Lord, the King.
6 with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn— shout for joy before the Lord, the King.
7 Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.
8 Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy;
9 let them sing before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity.