“Amazing…” An Inadequate Expression

“Bless the Lord, O my soul!  You are clothed with splendor and majesty, covering yourself with light as with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a tent…Man goes out to 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 creatures…May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in His works, Who looks on the earth and it trembles, Who touches the  mountains and they smoke!  I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.”  Psalm 104: 1-2, 23-24, 31-33 (ESV).

We often hear the term “amazing” used to describe the Lord God.  “How amazing is our God!”  And of the salvation he offers we sing, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound!”  Although “amazing”—meaning “astonishing, incredulous, awesome, overwhelming, remarkable, miraculous” and more, the word is still an inadequate adjective to express God’s greatness and majesty.  Psalm 104, one of the great psalms of praise, conveys this sense of awe as God’s attributes are recounted in its 35 verses that begin and end with the exclamation “Bless the Lord, O my soul!” (Ps. 104:1, 35)  This phrase indicates that the Psalm will catalog reasons for God’s glory and how the amazing qualities of His power and order are revealed in how He provides for His creation.  The Psalmist considers  the creation story and its order and provision a gift from the amazing God who made the world and all that is in it. 

In considering the amazing creation (and there I use that adjective again, although inadequate to describe what the creation reveals to the Psalmist about the nature of God), he proceeds in a poetic manner to recount the greatness of Almighty God and His remarkable creation.  Outlined, the aspects of this psalm can be seen as follows:        

•  The Lord is clothed in splendor and majesty; He is very great. (1-4).
•  The Lord sets bounds for the land and sea (5-9).
•  The Lord provides water for creatures of the land (10-13).
•  The Lord provides food and homes for the land creatures. (14-18).
•  The Lord governs the rhythm of day and night and marks the seasons (19-24).
•  The Lord delights in the sea creatures (25-26).
•  The Lord makes provision for all creatures everywhere who depend on Him (27-30).
•  God’s glory endures forever; therefore, may I rejoice in His works and praise Him forever (31-35).

Prayer.  O Lord, our Lord, reading a psalm of praise like 104 reminds us of Your power and majesty over the created order.  Help us in recognition and wonder declare with the psalmist: “May my meditation be pleasing…for I rejoice in the Lord.  Bless the Lord, O my soul!” (34-35).  Amen.