Year 2, Day 235: Psalm 104

Psalm 104

I’ve got something to confess.  After cleaning my old house and driving till nearly midnight, I had some really serious confusion about which psalm to blog about.  I was certain that I was ready to blog about Psalm 104.  But then I read those first words: Bless the Lord, oh my soul.  So I checked the reading schedule.  It was the right psalm.  So then I thought maybe I did the wrong one yesterday.  But I hadn’t.  Instead, God saw fit to have two psalms in a row beginning with “Bless the Lord, oh my soul.”

There is a bit of a reason why I went through all of that explanation.  Yesterday I made the point that this line is a reminder from the psalmist to himself.  The psalmist is telling his soul to remember to bless the Lord.  It does us good to recognize that other people – even authors of the Bible – have to remind themselves to bless the Lord!

Today was a rough day.  I wanted nothing more than to come into the hotel and absolutely crash into the bed and not wake up until the sun was in the sky again.  I wanted to put this day behind me.  But I have committed to studying God’s Word, so I cracked open the Bible.  {Okay, technically I powered up my computer and started Logos.  But that just doesn’t have the same meaning as “cracked open my Bible.”}  I read that opening line of the psalm again.  Bless the Lord oh my soul.

My mind went back to this day I’d really like to forget.  God was with me (us). 

• My wife didn’t sleep much at all last night, yet we arrived safely into our new hometown without any affects from tiredness. 
• In spite of the stress of moving and the short fuse that Cara and I have had with each other for the last week or two … we had a wonderful dinner together at a Wendy’s Restaurant and had a really deep spiritual conversation about how we need to do a better job communicating and supporting each other in the weeks to come.  We gave audible praise to God for taking a time in our life that could have easily become a wedge of division and instead making it into a learning experience that ultimately draws us closer to God and closer to each other in our marriage.
• I was almost creamed pulling out of the Wendy’s by a woman in a car who was taking a shortcut and turning into the exit instead of using the entrance.  Her car screeched to a halt and she stopped short of hitting my car. What could have been a horrible memory of Greenville, SC, turned into a near miss with absolutely no harm done.
• In spite of getting on the wrong road as I drove through Atlanta, I arrived safe and sound in the motel without anything lost but a little bit of gasoline and a few minutes of time.
• I was alone in the car with both a cat and a dog.  What could have been a very nerve-wrecking trip was actually a trip where our girl dog slept most of the day away and our cat likewise slept (after having an accident, but that got dealt with).

God was with me (us).  I have every reason to bless the Lord.  I needed this opening line today.  I needed to remember to take my focus off of the things in my day that did (or almost did) go wrong.  I needed a time to stop and remember to bless the Lord.  It was a tough day, but it is a day that the Lord redeemed and brought good out of it.  Bless the Lord!

Okay, my little foray down the “Bless the Lord” trail aside – let’s spend a bit of time on the actual psalm today.  Look at the claims that are made about God.  He is clothed by light.  He stretches out the heavens.  Stop for a second.  Ever think about how massively expansive the heavens happen to be?  God dwells in the whole of the heavens!  They are but a tent to Him!

God made the hills and the valleys.  He made the mountains rise up out of the earth.  God clothed the low spots of the earth in a garment made from the oceans.  God causes the grass to grow for the livestock.  God brings forth rain to water the earth.  The great Leviathon – a sea beast feared by all people – is simply a play thing in God’s world.

This brings me back to where I began in my blog.  This God who spans the vast scope of the universe likewise touched my day. He touched your day.  This God who looks at and holds the universe in the palm of His hand likewise cares about the intricacies of our life.  No wonder the psalmist says that when He looks away we are dismayed.  This is a God that deserves to be praised!

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