Excerpts from Psalm 104
Let all that I am praise the LORD.
O LORD my God, how great you are!
You are robed with honor and majesty. You are dressed in a robe of light.
You stretch out the starry curtain of the heavens;
You lay out the rafters of your home in the rain clouds.
You make the clouds your chariot;
You ride upon the wings of the wind.
The winds are your messengers;
flames of fire are your servants.
You placed the world on its foundation
so it would never be moved.
You made the moon to mark the seasons,
and the sun knows when to set.
O LORD, what a variety of things you have made!
In wisdom you have made them all.
The earth is full of your creatures.
May the glory of the LORD continue forever!
The LORD takes pleasure in all he has made!
The earth trembles at his glance;
the mountains smoke at his touch.
I will sing to the LORD as long as I live.
I will praise my God to my last breath!
May all my thoughts be pleasing to him,
for I rejoice in the LORD.
Respond: We look to you now Lord. These verses speak of such infinite splendor, majesty, power, and dominion. In light of such power, we ask, who are we, that you would be mindful of us? Who are we, that in the midst of such majesty, you actually do hear us when we call to you, answer us in our time of need, comfort us in our pain? We bow, in awe, before you. You stepped down from that splendor, and poured out your life... to rescue us! There is no greater love! We can search…high and low…we could spend every. waking. moment. in continual search for a greater love…. And tragically, so many of us do…but we will never find it! Indeed, what other god would orchestrate a rescue mission that would require him to step off his heavenly throne for a rescue mission in the first place? What other god would choose to be born as one of us... to two young parents – who probably were just as clueless as the rest of us are as first time parents? What other god would choose to grow from infancy! to adulthood in complete obscurity? Think of it! The Creator of the universe... living in human body that no one recognizes is Him, entirely incognito, so that He could literally be our Emmanuel: our God With Us. What other god would do that?? What other god would step in to atone for crimes He didn’t commit, shielding the true criminal... from the just punishment………..The wages of sin is death. It’s your law, you wrote it, and you fulfilled it in your own earthly life. Why did you do it? So that we would know You. Not just know of You, but know You. And that when we know You, we would glorify You. Jesus! Jesus! We are amazed! We are overwhelmed! Jesus... May You... saturate our hearts, capture our passions, direct our ambitions. May we... obey your authority, love the lost, serve each other.
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.