The Great Inventor
"We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn
from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and
sea and everything in them. Acts 24:15b Has not my hand made all these
things?" (Acts 7:50)
When you were a child, did you ever wonder how the ocean didn’t slide off
the earth? How all the water didn’t spill out and eventually there would be
no more water in the oceans? What a great invention! Sometimes even now I
think of how amazing is our God about soo many things. Like how the ocean
doesn’t.
Psalm 104 majestically tells of God, the great inventor. Who but God could
design oceans teeming with unimaginable sea creatures from microscopic algae
to gigantic whales and countless colorful marine life in between? Plus
grasses and coral and sand and, well the list is infinitesimal.
Years ago, our family did a little snorkeling and some diving. Under the sea
it was eerily silent, a whole other world. ‘Beautiful’ doesn’t even come
close to describing it.
The fabulous worship song by Nicole C. Mullen (Redeemer) proposes these
questions: Who taught the sun where to stand in the morning, Who told the
ocean you an only come this far? Who showed the moon where to hide 'til
evening, Whose words alone can catch a falling star? And the lyrics answer
perfectly: Well I know my Redeemer lives, I know my Redeemer lives; All of
creation testify, This life within me cries, I know my Redeemer lives.
The Great Inventor and our Redeemer, one. One God. That is good news.
"Praise the Lord , O my soul. O Lord my God, you are very great; you are
clothed with splendor and majesty. He wraps himself in light as with a
garment; he stretches out the heavens like a tent and lays the beams of his
upper chambers on their waters. He makes the clouds his chariot and rides on
the wings of the wind. He makes winds his messengers, flames of fire his
servants. He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved. You
covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the
mountains. But at your rebuke the waters fled, at the sound of your thunder
they took to flight; they flowed over the mountains, they went down into the
valleys, to the place you assigned for them. You set a boundary they cannot
cross; never again will they cover the earth. He makes springs pour water
into the ravines; it flows between the mountains. They give water to all the
beasts of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. The birds of the
air nest by the waters; they sing among the branches. He waters the
mountains from his upper chambers; the earth is satisfied by the fruit of
his work. He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for man to
cultivate- bringing forth food from the earth: wine that gladdens the heart
of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread that sustains his heart. The
trees of the Lord are well watered, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
There the birds make their nests; the stork has its home in the pine trees.
The high mountains belong to the wild goats; the crags are a refuge for the
coneys. The moon marks off the seasons, and the sun knows when to go down.
You bring darkness, it becomes night, and all the beasts of the forest
prowl. The lions roar for their prey and seek their food from God. The sun
rises, and they steal away; they return and lie down in their dens. Then man
goes out to his work, to his labor until evening. How many are your works, O
Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number-
living things both large and small." (Psalm 104)
Sally Ireland Kennedy
© 2009 Irish Thursdays Weekly Devotionals, http://www.sallyikennedy.com