O Worship the King- Our Creator!

I came across this song on Youtube. The lyrics are so meaningful! May this be our song of praise!

O Worship the King:

O worship the King, all glorious above

O gratefully sing His wonderful love

Our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of Days

Pavilioned in splendour, and girded with praise

O tell of His might, O sing of His grace

Whose robe is the light and canopy space

His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form

And dark is His path on the wings of the storm

Chorus:

You alone are the matchles King

To You alone be all majesty

Your glories and wonders, what tongue can recite?

You breathe in the air, You shine in the light

O measureless might, ineffable love

While angels delight to worship above

Thy mercies how tender, how firm to the end

Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend

After listening to it, the second stanza sounded familiar. That's because it was probably inspired by Psalms 104:1-4: "Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God, you are very great! You are clothed with splendor and majesty, covering yourself with light as with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a tent. He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters; he makes the clouds his chariot; he rides on the wings of the wind; he makes his messengers winds, his ministers a flaming fire."

The stack of things on my ‘to-do’ list have never been longer since school ended. I guess I planned to accomplish too many things this July because I thought I had the time. But now I feel so strapped for time – so many things to be rushed and each other task is as daunting to complete, aside from Sunday school class preparations (because it’s fun to prepare them).

Listening to this song and reading Psalms 8 and 104 just now reminded me that our God is very, very Great indeed. It reminded me of the calm, laidback lifestyle experienced in the countryside in Australia, it reminded me of the time I felt in awe of God’s creation while overlooking the sunset by the tranquil lake in Western Perth outback. The cattle, the horses, the beautiful creatures He has made to graze the fields and those animals I used to watch on discovery channel documentaries. I thank God for His splendid creation.

Psalm 104 is a pretty long Psalm with 35 verses, but each verse punctuates in celebration of God’s created order and reveals how God’s glory is revealed by providing so abundantly for all living things. It is really beautiful!

“May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works.”(Psalms 104: 31)

“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings, and crowned him with glory and honour. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” (Psalms 8: 3-9)

From above, Psalms 8 reminds me also of how we should be privileged as being part of God’s created order. Sometimes it is a bit hard to believe that the God who is great enough to have made the heavens can take notice of mere man; but he goes beyond taking notice: he is “mindful of man” and cares “for him”. Like David, I was probably also marvelling at the dominion God has given to mankind, that we are placed just below the “heavenly beings” and “crowned with glory and honour”. Indeed, this was reminiscent of what happened during His creation, in the dignity that He gave mankind in (Genesis 1:26-27) before the Fall.

Admist the busyness and the hustle bustle of things we have to go through each day in this ‘Fallen world’, even though we get consumed into the humdrum of activities day-in and day-out, God’s wonderful creation, his 'Created World' was never meant to be forgotten, and this includes the ‘new’ creation He has made in us through Christ, and the responsibility we have as Man in His created order as instruments for restoration in His kingdom on Earth. Perhaps being a prophetic community in this age is also embracing this wondrous created order in the busy societies that we are placed in?

“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”

Psalms 104:

[O Lord My God, You Are Very Great]

[1] Bless the LORD, O my soul!

O LORD my God, you are very great!

You are clothed with splendor and majesty,

[2] covering yourself with light as with a garment,

stretching out the heavens like a tent.

[3] He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters;

he makes the clouds his chariot;

he rides on the wings of the wind;

[4] he makes his messengers winds,

his ministers a flaming fire.

[5] He set the earth on its foundations,

so that it should never be moved.

[6] You covered it with the deep as with a garment;

the waters stood above the mountains.

[7] At your rebuke they fled;

at the sound of your thunder they took to flight.

[8] The mountains rose, the valleys sank down

to the place that you appointed for them.

[9] You set a boundary that they may not pass,

so that they might not again cover the earth.

[10] You make springs gush forth in the valleys;

they flow between the hills;

[11] they give drink to every beast of the field;

the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

[12] Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell;

they sing among the branches.

[13] From your lofty abode you water the mountains;

the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.

[14] You cause the grass to grow for the livestock

and plants for man to cultivate,

that he may bring forth food from the earth

[15] and wine to gladden the heart of man,

oil to make his face shine

and bread to strengthen man's heart.

[16] The trees of the LORD are watered abundantly,

the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.

[17] In them the birds build their nests;

the stork has her home in the fir trees.

[18] The high mountains are for the wild goats;

the rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.

[19] He made the moon to mark the seasons;

the sun knows its time for setting.

[20] You make darkness, and it is night,

when all the beasts of the forest creep about.

[21] The young lions roar for their prey,

seeking their food from God.

[22] When the sun rises, they steal away

and lie down in their dens.

[23] Man goes out to his work

and to his labor until the evening.

[24] O LORD, how manifold are your works!

In wisdom have you made them all;

the earth is full of your creatures.

[25] Here is the sea, great and wide,

which teems with creatures innumerable,

living things both small and great.

[26] There go the ships,

and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it.

[27] These all look to you,

to give them their food in due season.

[28] When you give it to them, they gather it up;

when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.

[29] When you hide your face, they are dismayed;

when you take away their breath, they die

and return to their dust.

[30] When you send forth your Spirit, they are created,

and you renew the face of the ground.

[31] May the glory of the LORD endure forever;

may the LORD rejoice in his works,

[32] who looks on the earth and it trembles,

who touches the mountains and they smoke!

[33] I will sing to the LORD as long as I live;

I will sing praise to my God while I have being.

[34] May my meditation be pleasing to him,

for I rejoice in the LORD.

[35] Let sinners be consumed from the earth,

and let the wicked be no more!

Bless the LORD, O my soul!

Praise the LORD!

Lord, you are indeed really great and awesome! I want to gleefully finish the tasks before me without complaint and rejoice in your creation always! May your name be magnified in this Earth