Creation's Joy

Psalm 19:1-4

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.

Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”

What a wonderful season we just celebrated with the climax of the Resurrection on Easter.

We worship and honor Jesus, that He came down from the glory of heaven to this shadowland of sin and shame, to stand in our place of condemnation, and take away the sting of death so that we can be with Him in glory for eternity!

I believe it was December last year that pastor Joel answered one of the kid’s questions about heaven. For many of us who have loved ones enjoying this glory right now, it is something we cannot hear enough about. Pastor Joel pointed out that heaven’s colors are more colorful, the smells will be “smellier”, the beauty of it we cannot compare to anything on earth. As I was pondering that, I realized again that the Son of God left all that glory. I cannot even begin to understand what that transformation must have been like for Him, that He came down into this, so to speak, dungeon of darkness, in full obedience to His Father because of such amazing grace and love for us sinners. I marvel at it because such love is hard to put into words.

A couple of years ago a close friend suggested that I seek God in prayer at the end of each year to specifically ask Him to put a verse, a word of scripture, as a deposit in my heart to learn from and hold on to in the coming year. Last year God taught me a lot about His Glory, and He put these verses of Psalm 19:1-2 on my heart. I like to sit each morning facing the east and see the sunrise, as I open the Bible and pray. Every time again I am in awe of the beauty God displays as the skies proclaim the works of His hands. As the sun rises, and its rays shine like His face shining on us, it displays His marvelous grace and glory.

What I noticed a few times was that the mornings often were very calm, quiet, serene, and the leaves on the trees in my backyard totally still. But then... as the sun began to rise and the rays were appearing over the mountains, it was like the leaves were starting to stir, as if the trees were telling me: just wait, wait, it’s coming... and as the light got brighter and brighter the leaves started coming alive and started moving more and more and honestly it looked like the little leaves were clapping, glorifying God in all His splendor!

To see, and in our limited way understand, the glory of God fills our hearts with awe and has the power to drive out fear of the things we face on earth because we remember how great God is! God holds our future, He has placed you and me here, right now, in this place for His purpose. God in His infinite wisdom will work through every detail of what the future will bring for us. We can face each change, each season in confidence that He who began a good work in us will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

“You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace;

The mountains and hills will burst into song before you,

And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.” (Isaiah 55:12)

Together with the heavens and all creation: Let’s serve our King with joy!