City Life Starter

Written by Stefan Johnsson

The Word

The heavens declare the glory of God,
    and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
The heavens declare the glory of God,
    and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours out speech,
    and night to night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words,
    whose voice is not heard.
4 Their voice goes out through all the earth,
    and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the sun,
5     which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,
    and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
    and its circuit to the end of them,
    and there is nothing hidden from its heat. [Psalm 19:1-6 (ESV)]

20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,[g] in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. [Romans 1:20]

Reflection

When Paul spent time in prison, I believe he would recite the psalms from memory. You can see throughout his letters of how frequently that he would pull scripture from the Psalms in order to make a point regarding God’s attributes or character. It shows how beautiful and powerful these songs and poems are and why we should meditate on them as well.

It was only recently that I meditated on Psalm 19. It is rich with allegory and pictures to describe what God has accomplished. Just think on what David writes when he says that the skies themselves proclaim God’s handiwork. There were no telescopes to understand the stars, but only eyes to see and imagine how vast creation may be. What would David say now? Would he look at the images from the James Webb Space Telescope and say, “I told you so!”?

I think he would.

Then David says that each day pours out speech and each night reveals knowledge of God’s handiwork. There are human words that they speak, but their voice still carries to the ends of the earth. Even the sun that brings warmth is so powerful that it cries out to tell us of a creator. The imagery is intense. And this is why Paul speaks regarding creation in Romans 1 as a direct connection to Psalm 19. How can anyone reasonably look at everything and not think that there is a loving creator behind it all? Truly we are living in a world that should make us go “WOW!” with everything we see each and every day.

How amazing is our God?

Take a few minutes to watch this video which explains how finely tuned our University is to allow for life to exist.

Application

You can look at the University and believe that chance and natural selection could somehow bring order from chaos and spontaneously came from nothing, or you can look at creation and believe that there is a cause for our existence and that there is a Creator. Either way, the choice you make is an eternal one. I would rather listen to the voice of creation which speaks to me by saying that God is real and that He revealed Himself to us through the Bible and His Son Jesus.

Prayer

Father in heaven, how amazing is Your creation! I cannot stop but marvel at what You have created. I’m in awe of it all. Thank You for allowing me to see the intricate details of how Your creation works more than what David could ever dream of doing. I praise Your name and let me sing of Your goodness in tandem with creation. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.