All Nature Sings

The Bible is filled with references to nature. Regarding trees alone, there are over three hundred references! Here are ten references in the Psalms that speak of trees and forests:

Psalm 1:3

They are like trees planted along the riverbank,

bearing fruit each season without fail.

Psalm 29:5

The voice of the LORD splits the mighty cedars;

the LORD shatters the cedars of Lebanon.

Psalm 29:9

The voice of the LORD twists mighty oaks

and strips the forests bare.

In his Temple everyone shouts, “Glory!”

Psalm 52:8

But I am like an olive tree,

thriving in the house of God.

Psalm 80:10

The mountains were covered with our shade;

the mighty cedars were covered with our branches.

Psalm 92:12

But the godly will flourish like palm trees

and grow strong like the cedars of Lebanon.

Psalm 96:12-13

Let the trees of the forest rustle with praise

before the Lord!

For the LORD is coming!

Psalm 104:16

The trees of the LORD are well cared for—

the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.

Psalm 137:2

We put away our lyres,

hanging them on the branches of the willow trees.

Psalm 148:7, 9

Praise the LORD from the earth . . .

fruit trees and all cedars.

As our world continues to become more urbanized, it is becoming more difficult to see and appreciate the work of our Creator and praise him with great excitement. In the spring, nature explodes with colorful excitement, but we simply do not notice much of the time. We have also grown to see nature in very mechanistic ways. We buy a loaf of bread in the supermarket without much thought of the God who provided it. The weatherman informs us that there is a 50 percent chance of rain, according to the various isobars, highs and lows, and air currents.

The psalmists didn’t know as much about isobars, but they could get very excited about what God was doing in nature. They speak of the rivers clapping “their hands in glee” (Psalm 98:8). In Psalm 65, after the psalmist talks about the hillsides blossoming with joy and the valleys being carpeted with grain, he invites all nature to join together to “shout and sing for joy” (65:13).

The psalmists knew that it is God who takes care of the earth and waters it (Psalm 65:9), and he is given credit as Creator throughout the Psalms. The psalmists recognized that God causes “grass to grow for the cattle. [He] cause[s] plants to grow for people to use” (104:14). And as the Psalms conclude, we are reminded that God is the one who “satisfies you with plenty of the finest wheat” (Psalm 147:14).

Make a point this week to praise God for the way he brings color out of drabness, variety out of sameness, beauty out of ugliness. This is the God we worship, and he wants to cause this same transformation in your life as well.

Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands,

Robed in the blooming garb of spring:

Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer,

Who makes the woeful heart to sing.

FROM THE MÜNSTER GESANGBUCH