Care for Creation (Easter Bible Study #10)

Dear DJAN Friends,

Today’s reading is an excerpt from the greatest celebration of nature, and God's role as its Creator, in all of scripture: Psalm 104.

You make springs gush forth in the valleys; 

they flow between the hills, giving drink to every wild animal;

the wild asses quench their thirst.

By the streams the birds of the air have their habitation;

they sing among the branches.

From your lofty abode you water the mountains;

the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.

You cause the grass to grow for the cattle,

and plants for people to use, to bring forth food from the earth,

and wine to gladden the human heart, oil to make the face shine,

and bread to strengthen the human heart. . . .

You have made the moon to mark the seasons;

the sun knows its time for setting. . . .

O Lord, how manifold are your works!

In wisdom you have made them all;

the earth is full of your creatures

(Psalm 104: 9-15, 19, 24).

Psalms 103 (the third reading in this series) and 104 are a pair, both of them beginning and ending with the jubilant refrain, "Bless the Lord, O my soul!". But where Psalm 103 celebrates God's presence in history, Psalm 104 is focused on God's presence in creation. This wonderful hymn/poem (which was probably written prior to the opening of Genesis) follows an order of creation with which we are familiar from the Bible's first chapter: heavens, earth and sea, animals, plants, humans. The psalm, however, suggests that creation is not a one-time event, but an ongoing process. This is not a biology lesson, it is joyful praise. We humans, says the Psalmist, are part of a natural order that, while it can at times be terrifying (including viruses), can also delight us–if we treat it with the care worthy of a gift from God.

May God grant us understanding and commitment.

—Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon