Let all that I am praise the Lord.
O Lord my God, how great you are!
….You are robed with honor and majesty.
….You are dressed in a robe of light.
You stretch out the starry curtain of the heavens… Psalm 104:1-2 NLT
Sometimes when I am weary or feel like I am getting too repetitive in my opening prayer, or maybe it’s not been an overly great day for some reason, I start off with a Psalm of praise. It’s been one of those days but as I sit to write, these verses, caught my attention.
How often do we think too highly of ourselves? Some of us would never think that we do, but we might be surprised at how frequently we place ourselves above others. We might do it consciously, or we may not even know we’re doing it.
On the way home from Columbus tonight, we were on a six-lane interstate. Part of the way home, in an attempt to get around a couple of semis, I pulled into the fast lane. I admit on this stretch, it is 70 MPH, so I set my cruise at 75. As a got over I got behind someone who was going 70.
There was a knot of traffic and I figured they’d pull into the middle lane once we were past the semis…but they didn’t. I finally pulled into the middle lane myself and moved past them. I never got behind them again, but they stayed in that lane, slowing down other drivers.
Now I’m sure my pride factored into the equation, but I think that the driver of that car was on a bit of a power trip. Numerous vehicles got behind him, I’m sure expecting him to let them pass, but they never did. They were probably thinking a little too highly of themselves in their own little way.
It may be one of humanity’s tendencies but reading these first verses of Psalm 104 quickly puts things in perspective. The second and third lines remind me of hymns we might sing on a Sunday morning in church.
O Lord my God, how great you are!
….You are robed with honor and majesty
But look at the next line. The Amplified Bible says,
[You are the One] who covers Yourself with light as with a garment…
That one made me stop and think. First of all, how would He do that? The New Living Translation puts it like this,
You are dressed in a robe of light.
I really don’t think that involves any bulbs or batteries or extension cords. He who declared in Genesis 1:3, “’Let there be light,’ and there was light” literally enshrouds Himself with Light! How awesome is that!
The last line, at the end of verse 2, simply states,
You stretch out the starry curtain of the heavens
After my shower today, I pulled the shower curtain back into place – easy-peasy! There’s not much effort there but stretching out the starry curtain of the heavens?
And it’s just stated like, eh, easy-peasy, it’s just a thing God does…every day…for all the days of time.
Want to hold up traffic by driving slow in the fast lane? Ooooo…how impressive. NOT! See the “little” things God does and stand back in humility and awe!
