Read
(A psalm by David for the music leader.)
The Wonderful Name
1Our Lord and Ruler,
your name is wonderful
everywhere on earth!
You let your glory be seen
in the heavens above.
2 With praises from children
and from tiny infants,
you have built a fortress.
It makes your enemies silent,
and all who turn against you
are left speechless.
3I often think of the heavens
your hands have made,
and of the moon and stars
you put in place.
4 Then I ask, “Why do you care
about us humans?
Why are you concerned
for us weaklings?”
5 You made us a little lower
than you yourself,
and you have crowned us
with glory and honor.
6 You let us rule everything
your hands have made.
And you put all of it
under our power—
7the sheep and the cattle,
and every wild animal,
8the birds in the sky,
the fish in the sea,
and all ocean creatures.
9Our Lord and Ruler,
your name is wonderful
everywhere on earth!
Reflect
This is a big psalm! Big, bold, beautiful! Needs a wall-sized canvas, a broad brush and buckets of primary colors.
As a youth camp counselor some years back, I wondered how the teenagers in my cabin could be captured by the glory and majesty of our created world – but more importantly be captured by God who created such splendor. My plan: go lie on our backs in the middle of the sports field at 11:00 pm and just look. At the stars and the sky. The swaying trees in the night breeze. The sounds of silence.
I was taken completely by surprise when my cabin of teenagers burst into spontaneous applause. How appropriate is that!
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
In this psalm, the writer has turned awe and applause into words for us, connecting divine majesty to the wonder of creation. A wonder expressed in the churgles of babies breast-feeding, in head-thrown-back-in-laughter play of children. A wonder that silences arguments against the existence of God.
And in the middle of all this, the psalmist is overwhelmed that God who has created such vast mysteries is intimately involved in all that he has created – especially with the human creature. How is it possible, muses the psalmist, that God would even bother with us humans? Or imprint us with his personal god-image? Or who can understand why God would invite humans to care for his magnificent creation of earth?
Perhaps it is time to think once again, and to take seriously, our divine job description to care for domestic and wild animals, the birds, the fish, the whales – and one another. And to live up to our divine calling as God-appointed earth care-givers.
Perhaps it’s time to lie outside on our backs at midnight and catch a glimpse of glory once again.
Respond
God of Majesty – I cannot say more than what the psalmist has said. Accept my silence as an offering of wonder and awe. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Elaine Pountney
Integration: a key word in Elaine’s life. Integrating a Science Degree into Counselling; integrating healing and wholeness into effective team building in an international business context (e.g. Sony Canada, Ontario Hydro, Schonbek LIghting); integrating counselling concepts with a Biblical understanding of what builds healthy communities and relationships with groups in the Caucasus, Africa, Brazil and the Arctic. Is it any wonder that she now works with leaders across Canada ‘bringing the pieces together’ toward Spiritual Integration? Publications: Reclaiming the Wonder of Sexuality. Trafford Pub: BC, Canada. 2008; “Reclaiming the wonder of sexuality: toward a Biblical understanding of male & female” teaching manual.