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 when our family traveled through Europe when, as an Army officer, my dad 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 deep appreciation for the majesty of His creation wasn’t firmly rooted until my husband and I drove across the United States with our little daughter, stopping along the way to take in the rugged 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, we have all witnessed examples of God’s wonder in our everyday lives as described in Genesis 1: His creation of light that gave us night and day; the creation of the heavens above with planets and stars upon which we can gaze; 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 God, 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.”
As we prepare this week for another Thanksgiving, let us thank Him and count as one of His blessings the wonder of His Creation. In the majestic name of Jesus we pray. 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 Abraham Hunter
