Pages

Friday, January 28, 2011

Psalm 104 Notes: Trust, Faith, Creation and Suffering

O Lord, how manifold are your works. In wisdom you have made them all. The earth is full of your creatures

Psalm 104:24

The whole Psalm 104 talks about the things that we normally see happen around us. But one thing I cannot deny as I was pondering on this Psalm is how everything just works together like a perfectly planned blueprint of creation. Everything, working together.

One thing that I have picked up from this is seeing and being confident in trusting the Lord’s wisdom.
I look all around and there, everywhere, I see the Lord’s wisdom through his creation.


The suns presence to give heat, nurture everything that needs it. Animals and plants working together in perfect harmony like ebony and ivory and then later on acting as provision to us for our nutrition.
Food to eat and taste buds to enjoy it. Such grand design and things working together. Minds that would create things that would eventually give us things to work on and things that we’d need.

Everything working together for one to benefit another.

These are good things, we can’t deny that sometimes we just look at these things and think of God. How about the other things that really happens. What about storms, floods, earthquakes and to a much more personal level heartbreaks and sufferings. What about them? Could we include God’s grand design on working things together amongst these things?

Should we break? Should we worry when things don’t go about the way we want it to go? Should we doubt? Or this is where our faith should stand firm in knowing that God is God.
Where should our faith lie?

I could speak out of my own experience as I have walked. One thing that I have always wanted was things of my own. I may have induced the idea of God and mixed it amongst my own desires. A career to hold, a love that I could call my own, provisions, riches and prosperity that would eventually make my life tolerable here on earth. Do I deserve them? Am I supposed to have them? And if I don’t get Him should I call God unfair and not loving and not kind? Is this where faith should lie? In the things that we know that we should get? Should faith lie here? or…

Should faith be infinite trust in Jesus that whatever happens in our lives is something that we should accept and believe that is good for us.

I read this Psalm and see the grand design of creation and I look outside my window and through my browser window, you’ll then see news of wars and destruction from time to time.

Has God made a mistake to cause these sufferings? Or even in these things, should we remain still and know that He is our Sovereign God that works everything together for good for those who fear and love Him and who walks in His purpose (Rom 8:28).

James 1:2-4 says that we should count it all for joy! For in these things we will find our faith towards the one who holds everything together and who is most sovereign and in control stronger! We should count it all joy because in these things it would make us depend more on His faithfulness and in return cause to create steadfastness so that we may be perfect and complete lacking in nothing.

Lacking in nothing, here I would say not of material things but in prosperous faith and belief to our Maker.
Matthew 6:25 onwards tells us not to be anxious about what will happen tomorrow. Jesus then presents the fact that His Father has provided so much for the birds and the creatures around, how about us that He has called His own?

Consider who’s in control. Consider who has created and consider the grand design that we see outside. Consider the fact that we’re placed in earth where every supernova or gamma ray explosion is far from us, in a way that will never cause us any harm (I just saw that in Nat Geo). Have faith that you indeed fear God for it is in this fact that we know that we trust in Him.

For the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom.

Let us not lean on our own understanding and pause to see creation around and His wisdom and sovereignty that holds these things together.

Consider these.

Praise be to Him who has ways above ours.

No comments: