Thoughts for the Day

God’s Glory in Creation and the Law

To the leader. A Psalm of David.

The heavens are telling the glory of God;
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours forth speech,
and night to night declares knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words;
their voice is not heard;
 yet their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.

In the heavens he has set a tent for the sun,
 which comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy,
and like a strong man runs its course with joy.
Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
and its circuit to the end of them;
and nothing is hidden from its heat.

The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the decrees of the Lord are sure,
making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is clear,
enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord is pure,
enduring for ever;
the ordinances of the Lord are true
and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey,
and drippings of the honeycomb.

Moreover by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
But who can detect their errors?
Clear me from hidden faults.
Keep back your servant also from the insolent;
do not let them have dominion over me.
Then I shall be blameless,
and innocent of great transgression.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable to you,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

During the three years I lived in Cyprus there were so many things I loved about the island but one thing I didn't enjoy was the way day morphed into night in the blink of an eye without anything of a twilight period. The opposite was reinforced when my two young grandchildren came to live with me from Peru and there was an argument with the youngest about his bedtime since it was still light at 10 pm in August!

Mornings and evenings in the UK can be spectacular, rain or snow can be threatened by the weather forecaster, but the sunrise that same morning can be wonderful. However, skies can also gives us warning of the weather to come ("red sky at night, shepherds delight; red sky in the morning shepherds warning"). In Psalm 19 David imagines the skies as speaking of God's glory, and that their message goes around the world, even though there is no speech as such. From this, he argues, we can see something of the order behind nature (and so the whole of the psalm is included!). Like David we can sense God's guiding hand at work through the beauty of the creation which He designed and ordered, even as we know we are slowly changing the world through our bad management of nature, much to our own detriment.

When our world suffers from floods, fires, or earthquakes it can be difficult to praise God, and we can be tempted to blame Him. Perhaps we can, like David, still thank God for nature's beauty, but refrain from building on flood-plains, keep ditches and drains cleared, burn less fossil fuels, and get rid of plastic waste! This is no small task, but we can each make small changes to our life and then like the individual snowflakes that between them can break a tree branch, changes for the better will occur.

Heavenly Father,
may we not take the beauty of nature for granted,
but continue to praise You for Your work in our world.
Help us to see the natural laws that exist in our world,
and to realise that we ignore them at our peril.
As individuals give us wisdom
to make changes to the way we live
for the good of ourselves and others.
Amen.