Psalm 136:7-9

Psalm 136:7-9

All about the lights

The exploration of God’s creative works continues and here we have a summary of Genesis 1:14-19. “And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.  God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.”

Notice that God’s first act in creation was to give light, light that is symbolic of life and blessing and that stamped His ownership and authority on all that would follow. The lights that were created in the passage from Genesis above had a different purpose to the light of life. The lights in the vault of the sky were to dispel physical darkness, to allow vegetation to flourish, to control cold, heat, seasons and a million other factors that make this planet habitable. Think about it, the power of the sun, its seemingly endless supply of energy, its carefully calculated distance from the earth and its government of all that happens in the natural world is NOT an accident or a coincidence. The planning and detail that went into the placement and structure of that great ball of fire is incredible and beyond comprehension. What fool could ever look at it all and call it a freak of nature!

This Psalm, in a few simple sentences is reminding us again and again of the magnificence and power of our God, and we should constantly take note that every statement about Him that promotes His glory and His excellence ends with the phrase, “His love endures forever.” We have to be constantly reminded that this God who is beyond explanation in all that He does, is also tender, gentle and compassionate, He loves us! He loves us with an enduring and overwhelming love that can never be surpassed. He is not remote and cut off from us all, He longs to draw close and to continue to astonish us with the complexity and the beauty of the planet that He designed for us. Hallelujah! 

 

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