If we close our eyes for moment and open our minds to imagine, we can see the writer of this chorus of psalm 104, sitting on a hillside, walking through the mountains, looking all around him while observing the lives of all the creatures God has created to be and do what He created them to be and do! The Psalmist keeps adding words to his chorus with nothing but praise for our great, amazing God of all creation!  We can also feel the loving devotion with unbridled emotion of love that is flowing from a grateful heart.  The psalmist, created in the image of God himself and realizing it, is singing to God with thanksgiving for all He has made and all He has done, is doing, and will do on earth as it is in heaven.

Psalm 104, The Message

O my soul, bless God!

God, my God, how great you are!
    beautifully, gloriously robed,
Dressed up in sunshine,
    and all heaven stretched out for your tent.
You built your palace on the ocean deeps,
    made a chariot out of clouds and took off on wind-wings.
You commandeered winds as messengers,
    appointed fire and flame as ambassadors.
You set earth on a firm foundation
    so that nothing can shake it, ever.
You blanketed earth with ocean,
    covered the mountains with deep waters;
Then you roared and the water ran away—
    your thunder crash put it to flight.
Mountains pushed up, valleys spread out
    in the places you assigned them.

You set boundaries between earth and sea;
    never again will earth be flooded.
You started the springs and rivers,
    sent them flowing among the hills.
All the wild animals now drink their fill,
    wild donkeys quench their thirst.
Along the riverbanks the birds build nests,
    ravens make their voices heard.
You water the mountains from your heavenly reservoirs;
    earth is supplied with plenty of water.
You make grass grow for the livestock,
    hay for the animals that plow the ground.

^14-23 Oh yes, God brings grain from the land,
    wine to make people happy,
Their faces glowing with health,
    a people well-fed and hearty.
God’s trees are well-watered—
    the Lebanon cedars he planted.
Birds build their nests in those trees;
    look—the stork at home in the treetop.
Mountain goats climb about the cliffs;
    badgers burrow among the rocks.

The moon keeps track of the seasons,
    the sun is in charge of each day.
When it’s dark and night takes over,
    all the forest creatures come out.
The young lions roar for their prey,
    clamoring to God for their supper.
When the sun comes up, they vanish,
    lazily stretched out in their dens.
Meanwhile, men and women go out to work,
    busy at their jobs until evening.

^24-30 What a wildly wonderful world, God!
    You made it all, with Wisdom at your side,
    made earth overflow with your wonderful creations.
Oh, look—the deep, wide sea,
    brimming with fish past counting,
    sardines and sharks and salmon.
Ships plow those waters,
    and Leviathan, your pet dragon, romps in them.
All the creatures look expectantly to you
    to give them their meals on time.
You come, and they gather around;
    you open your hand and they eat from it.
If you turned your back,
    they’d die in a minute—
Take back your Spirit and they die,
    revert to original mud;
Send out your Spirit and they spring to life—
    the whole countryside in bloom and blossom.

^31-32 The glory of God—let it last forever!
    Let God enjoy his creation!
He takes one look at earth and triggers an earthquake,
    points a finger at the mountains, and volcanoes erupt.

^33-35 Oh, let me sing to God all my life long,
    sing hymns to my God as long as I live!
Oh, let my song please him;
    I’m so pleased to be singing to God.
But clear the ground of sinners—
    no more godless men and women!

O my soul, bless God!

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

“Bless the Lord, O my soul” should be the cry of our hearts each morning as we wake to a new day that the Lord has made and given to us to enjoy, work, create, serve, rest, while being in communion with God with a desire to be more like Him in every way!  Others who do not know God will drawn to we who do know Him and praise Him with all that is within us.  I have seen it with my own eyes and heard it with my own ears.  God is great and greatly to be praised! There is no one like our God!  Only God is Good because God is the definition of Good.  God is God. We are not.  To God be the all glory, honor, and praise with grateful hearts!

I love You, Lord
For Your mercy never fails me
All my days
I’ve been held in Your hands
From the moment that I wake up
Until I lay my head
Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God

All my life You have been faithful
All my life You have been so, so good
With every breath that I am able
I will sing of the goodness of God…

Lord,

May Your Word bless others as it has blessed me this morning!  I pray for all who are reading this right now to remember that You are great and greatly to be praised. There is always something that I can thank you and praise you for each morning.  And once I get started with thanks, I cannot stop listing a million other things to thank you for.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for being our God who is so, so, Good.

In Jesus Name, Amen