Psalm 75:1
“We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks! For Your wondrous works declare that Your name is near…”
As a young girl, my first experience in witnessing God’s amazing creation was as our family traveled through Europe while my dad, an Army Officer, was assigned to S.H.A.P.E. Headquarters in Paris. We journeyed from one country to another in our ’53 Chevy, taking in the wonders of God’s handiwork, including spectacular mountains with rolling hills, crystal clear lakes and green valleys below. A deeper appreciation for the majesty of His creation became firmly rooted when my husband and I drove across the United States with our little daughter, stopping along the way to take in the ragged hills of the Badlands, the “waves of grain” and acres upon acres of sunflowers in the Midwest, the mystery of the geyser, “Old Faithful,” in Yellowstone, and the grandeur of the Grand Teton mountains in Wyoming. When we finally arrived at our destination, Washington State’s Mt. Rainier greeted us with its awesome majesty. I couldn’t wait to proclaim to our family and friends on the East coast that they must experience all of those wonders for themselves!
As is written in Psalm 98:8, even “the rivers clap their hands and the mountains sing together for joy” at the wonder of God’s creation! Isaiah 55:12 proclaims, “…the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.” All of God’s creation—the Alps, Big Sur, the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, the Redwood Forest, Alaska’s Glaciers, the white chalk Cliffs of Dover, the Fjords of Norway, just to name a few— sing praises to their Creator. Even if you haven’t seen first-hand any of these remarkable examples of God’s handiwork, each of us has witnessed examples of God’s creation wonders in our everyday lives as described in Genesis 1:
• light giving us night and day
• the heavens above with the planets and stars
• an expanse of water and dry land to grow plants
• the beauty of the changing seasons
• living creatures on land and in the sea
Creation was not only ordered by God but approved by Him, for it is written that at the end of each day He stood back and took stock, “And God saw that it was good.” And when all was finished, after He had created man and woman, He declared, “And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good.” From creation to this present day, God is writing a story of rescue and redemption.
Lord, as we enter into Thanksgiving week and gather today in our places of worship to praise You in songs, hymns, prayers and a message from Your Word, may we also thank You and count as one of Your blessings the wonder of Your creation. And we thank you, God, for Your story of redemption. Reveal Yourself to us. In Your holy name. Amen.
“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” —G. K. Chesterton
~painting by Thomas Kinkade
