God

God

You formed the mountains by your power and armed yourself with mighty strength. You quieted the raging oceans with their pounding waves and silenced the shouting of the nations. Those who live at the ends of the earth stand in awe of your wonders.

Psalm 65:6-8

My friend Ruthie just returned home from a vacation to the Canadian Rocky Mountains. When she showed me her pictures of the snowcapped mountains, colorful wildflowers, and clear-as-glass lakes, the words that came to mind were majestic and glorious.

When Jim and I and our sons take vacations to the ocean—whether it’s the emerald waters of Gulf Shores, Alabama, or the aqua waves of Hallandale, Florida—our pictures prompt descriptive words like mighty or awesome.

We humans have a penchant for wonder. We are captivated by spectacular sights like a peacock spreading its wings or a porpoise leaping in the ocean. But we finite humans also need glimpses of how wonderful God is—and that’s what nature gives us. I think that’s why many of the words we use to describe mountains or oceans are words that the Bible uses to describe God. If the mountains and the oceans are this glorious, and the Bible tells us that God formed the mountains and quieted the raging oceans, God must be much more awesome than anything we could ever imagine!

Visiting the mountains or the ocean with our children gives us incredible opportunities to witness the power and majesty of God. As J. I. Packer phrased it, “The world dwarfs us all, but God dwarfs the world.”

God of the mountains and the oceans,

Thanks for the beauty you created in the world, all of which points back to you. Amen.