Psalm 95: He’s got this!
Psalm 95
Oh come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
3 For the Lord is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
7 For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.
Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
9 when your fathers put me to the test
and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
10 For forty years I loathed that generation
and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart,
and they have not known my ways.”
11 Therefore I swore in my wrath,
“They shall not enter my rest.”
Two Trees Leaning In | Tomball, Texas | February 2023
There ain’t no mountain high enoughAin’t no valley low enough, ain’t no river wide enoughTo keep me from getting to you
There’s no shadow You won’t light upMountain You won’t climb upComing after meThere’s no wall You won’t kick downLie You won’t tear downComing after me
The first is a love song, sung by Marvin Gaye. The second is a Christian contemporary song by Cory Asbury. The first proclaims the relentless pursuit of a man for his woman. The second expresses the relentless pursuit of God, the far-reaching efforts he will go to in order to bring us to himself. The first may be a song I’d sing to my wife. The second is a song I’d sing rejoicing in God’s love. Both are good. The second, however, is far and away more consequential.
This psalm celebrates the fullness of God’s reach, care, sustaining, and ownership of all of creation. This psalm celebrates God’s ownership of all things. The sea is his, he made us. He formed the dry land. He has it all in hand. He is the great King above all gods. The depths of the earth and the heights of the mountains are his. It’s all under his purview. He’s got this.
I believe there is such a thing as climate change. And I believe we should be good stewards of God’s creation (cf. Genesis 1:28). I also believe that God has this all in hand. He has set the times and seasons and places of our habitation.
And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for
“‘In him we live and move and have our being’;
as even some of your own poets have said,
“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ – Acts 17:26-28
This is no excuse to abuse our planet, nor any basis for a fatalistic view of life and death. These words are meant to acknowledge the dominion of God over all things. It’s a reminder to us that we are not our own. It puts things into proper perspective. God is over all things.
That includes our troubles, trials, and tribulations. That includes the places of disappointment and discouragement. It also includes the dark places, lies, and walls we have hidden behind. God knows them all. They’re all in his purview. He has them all well in hand. O come, let us sing unto him!
David Bahn - Reflections 