Today's Reading: Psalm 104

God's Manifold Works

Today, we pause for a moment to consider what a wildly wonderful and extravagant world God has made! The earth overflows with His genius creative works.

The theme of today’s psalm of praise is the wisdom and power of God as seen in nature. The song begins by considering the splendor of the heavens. The light of the sun, the expanse of sky reaching down to meet the earth on the horizon, the movement of clouds blown by the wind, the flashes of lightning - all these things speak of the magnificence of our awe-inspiring God who dwells in, and rules over, the universe.

Land and sea also display the greatness of God. He determined where they should be and how far they should extend. Mountains and rivers show God’s complete control over the powers of nature, so that the land is well watered and able to support life. Because of God’s control, the earth supplies people and animals with food, and with all the other materials necessary for them to live in safety and security. He arranges seasons and weather, night and day, so that the natural world can meet the needs of the various forms of life. The vast seas speak further of God’s greatness. They are full of the most wonderful and strange creatures of every size, shape, and design. Ships sail on the seas for distances farther than the eye can see or the mind imagine.

The word “manifold” in verse 24 means many and various. The Hebrew root word means to increase, be many, be more, multiply. The Psalmist here proclaims, “how many and various are your works!” The uncounted millions of species in the animate creation include not merely the larger units of the creation, but innumerable beings that are almost infinitely small, not merely insects, and the tiniest creatures of the sea and the sub-microscopic beings. All of this great host of creatures both great and small that God made are fitted into an ecological system so great and so complicated that no man has ever, nor ever could understand all of it.

The earth is not suited up merely for one class of inhabitants, but for an almost endless variety; and the wisdom of God is manifested alike in the number and in the variety. No one can estimate the “number” of beings God has made on the earth; no one can comprehend the richness of the variety. No one can comprehend the limitless brilliance of our Creator who masterminded the whole thing.

Take some time today to consider God’s amazing world and His creative acts. Step back from your routines and focus on the amazing capacity of your Heavenly Father as demonstrated by his wildly wonderful world. As you do. like the Psalmist you will be moved to declare “O my soul, bless God!” (Psalm 104:1)