Earth Takes a Sabbath

09 Oct

Earth Takes a Sabbath

As the earth begins to wind down for winter, it is a good time to, once again, remember the Creator and rejoice in the work of His hands. We see the amazing colors that precede the Sabbath rest of creation – the gold, scarlet, orange, and brown leaves preparing to fall, bequeathed to the ground to nourish next year’s growth, and the trees primed for cold slumber. COVID-19 cannot change the beauty or timing of this or of any other season. After the flood, God promised “While the earth remains seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Gen. 8:22).

Psalm 104 is a great place to start our worship of our Creator. The Psalmist worships God with a recitation of what God has created and maintained, interspersed with declarations of praise. Near the end he cries out his desire for restoration to the pure, pre-sin, condition of Creation, but returns to unhampered adoration. If you’ve been a Christian for a number of years, you will recognize the source of some of the songs we have frequently sung together as brothers and sisters in the Lord:

“Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, You are very great. You are clothed with honor and majesty, [You] who covers Himself with light as with a garment, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, who lays the beams of his chambers in the waters, who makes the clouds his chariot, who walks upon the wings of the wind, who makes His angels spirits and His ministers a flaming fire, who laid the foundations of the earth that it should not be removed forever.

You covered it with the deep as with a garment. The waters stood above the mountains. At Your rebuke they fled, at the voice of Your thunder they hasted away. They go up by the mountains, they go down by the valleys unto the place which You have founded for them. You have set a bound that they may not pass over, that they turn not again to cover the earth.

He sends the springs into the valleys which run among the hills. They give drink to every beast of the field, the wild donkeys quench their thirst. By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches.

He waters the hills from His chambers (The earth is satisfied with the fruit of Your works). He causes the grass to grow for the cattle and plants for the service of man that he may bring forth food out of the earth, and wine that makes glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengthens man’s heart.

The trees of the LORD are full of sap, the cedars of Lebanon, which He has planted, where the birds make their nests. As for the stork, the fir trees are her house.

The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats and the rocks for the conies. He appointed the moon for seasons and the sun knows his going down. You make darkness, and it is night wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth. The young lions roar after their prey and seek their meat from God. The sun arises. They gather themselves together and lay them down in their dens.

Man goes forth unto his work and to his labor until the evening.

O LORD, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom have You made them all. The earth is full of Your riches.

So is this great and wide sea wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. There go the ships. There is that leviathan whom You have made to play therein. These wait all upon thee, that You may give them their meat in due season. What You give them they gather.

You open Your hand and they are filled with good. You hide Your face and they are troubled. You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. You send forth Your Spirit, they are created and You renew the face of the earth.

The glory of the LORD shall endure forever. The LORD shall rejoice in His works. He looks on the earth and it trembles. He touches the hills and they smoke.

I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live, I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. My meditation of Him shall be sweet. I will be glad in the LORD (Oh that the sinners be consumed out of the earth and let the wicked be no more).

Bless thou the LORD, O my soul. Praise ye the LORD!”