A Walk Through Creation

Scripture: Psalm 104

Sermon: A Walk Through Creation

Topics: creation, hike, mountain, narrative sermon

Preached: July 3, 2016 am

Rev. Mike Abma

Preamble

This morning we are going on a walk,

or perhaps you could call it a hike.

On the one hand, we will be hiking through the beauty of Psalm 104.

But we will go on another hike as well.

But let’s first start the hike through Psalm 104.

Psalm 104: 1-4

¹ Bless the Lord, O my soul.

   O Lord my God, you are very great.

You are clothed with honor and majesty, 

²   wrapped in light as with a garment.

You stretch out the heavens like a tent, 

³   you set the beams of your chambers on the waters,

you make the clouds your chariot,

   you ride on the wings of the wind, 

⁴ you make the winds your messengers,

   fire and flame your ministers. 

This is the Word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

MEDITATION — The Mountain

The year was 1987.

This was before any of our children were born.

I was in seminary, and Shirlene and I were spending the summer in Langley, British Columbia – that is just upriver from Vancouver.

I was serving a church there for the summer.

We lived in an old farmhouse near the Fraser River.

Across the river we had a view of this mountain.

The mountain is called Golden Ears, because it has 2 peaks, sort of like ears.

Doesn’t it simply proclaim the wonder, and power, and greatness of God?

We spent the summer looking at this mountain and wondering whether we dared to try climb it.

This picture is a spring picture.

There is quite a bit of snow.

We knew that if we were to climb it, the climb would have to be in August, when most of the snow was gone.

So early one Monday morning in August,

When the weather forecast looked good,

And we felt strong,

we drove across the river to the trail head to begin our ascent.

Psalm 104: 5-9

⁵ You set the earth on its foundations,

   so that it shall never be shaken. 

⁶ You cover it with the deep as with a garment;

   the waters stood above the mountains. 

⁷ At your rebuke they flee;

   at the sound of your thunder they take to flight. 

⁸ They rose up to the mountains, ran down to the valleys

   to the place that you appointed for them. 

⁹ You set a boundary that they may not pass,

   so that they might not again cover the earth. 

This is the Word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

THE CREEK WALK — Chaos Restrained

There is nothing like being at the foot of a mountain to get a sense of

the earth’s foundations,

to get a sense of the solidness of the earth.

Our trail up began in a dry creek.

It was a fairly steep climb.

The rocks and boulders were big.

The walking was not easy.

I had a sense that in the spring,

if there was a heavy downpour,

the combination of melting snow and falling rain

would cause that dry creek we were walking up

to become a wild torrent of water.

Is it any wonder that in the Old Testament

they believed that the earth sat on an ocean of water beneath them.

They also believed that there was an ocean of water above them in the blue sky we see.

The only thing holding that water back was the firmament,

holding the waters “above the mountains” as the Psalm says.

But every once in a while,

The firmament would open

And rains would come pouring down.

It is God who keeps the

water from under the earth from bubbling up all over the place.

It is God who keeps the water above the mountains from all pouring down.

It is God who set the boundaries

so that the world will not be flooded again.

It is God who regulates and governs it all.

Let’s keep walking.

Psalm 104: 10-17

¹⁰ You make springs gush forth in the valleys;

   they flow between the hills, 

¹¹ giving drink to every wild animal;

   the wild asses quench their thirst. 

¹² By the streams the birds of the air have their habitation;

   they sing among the branches. 

¹³ From your lofty abode you water the mountains;

   the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work. 

¹⁴ You cause the grass to grow for the cattle,

   and plants for people to use,

to bring forth food from the earth, 

¹⁵   and wine to gladden the human heart,

oil to make the face shine,

   and bread to strengthen the human heart. 

¹⁶ The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly,

   the cedars of Lebanon that he planted. 

¹⁷ In them the birds build their nests;

   the stork has its home in the fir trees. 

This is the Word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

THE FOREST WALK — Life Nourished

After the dry creek, the path took us deeper into the forest.

The path was a bit easier.

We were able to look around,

appreciate the beauty of the setting,

the wonder of the trees,

the wildlife – the birds, the squirrels, the odd plants.

Forests are amazing gardens.

The restrained water at the beginning of Psalm 104,

becomes the regulated water that gives and nourishes life,

along with sunshine,

creating this amazing habitat for the creatures of the earth,

including, of course, us.

The amazing beauty of the earth

the sheer diversity of life

can make you almost dizzy with delight.

Let’s keep walking…

Psalm 104: 18-23

¹⁸ The high mountains are for the wild goats;

   the rocks are a refuge for the coneys. 

¹⁹ You have made the moon to mark the seasons;

   the sun knows its time for setting. 

²⁰ You make darkness, and it is night,

   when all the animals of the forest come creeping out. 

²¹ The young lions roar for their prey,

   seeking their food from God. 

²² When the sun rises, they withdraw

   and lie down in their dens. 

²³ People go out to their work

   and to their labor until the evening. 

This is the Word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

RIDGE WALK — FRUITFULNESS

We had been hiking a long, long time.

Hours and hours.

Finally we left the forest and ascended above the treeline.

Finally we could get a good view of how high we were.

The trail took us along a ridge towards the mountain summit.

Finally we could see the river valley below us.

We could see the flatlands,

and the farms to the south.

We could see lakes and mountain ranges to the north.

Everything looked wonderful:

the fertile fields in one direction;

the wild wilderness in the other direction.

The habitat mainly of wild creatures one way.

The habitat mainly of humans the other way.

And God, the creator of it all.

Let’s keep climbing.

We are almost at the top.

²⁴ O Lord, how manifold are your works!

   In wisdom you have made them all;

   the earth is full of your creatures. 

²⁵ Yonder is the sea, great and wide,

   creeping things innumerable are there,

   living things both small and great. 

²⁶ There go the ships,

   and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it. 

²⁷ These all look to you

   to give them their food in due season; 

²⁸ when you give to them, they gather it up;

   when you open your hand, they are filled with good things. 

²⁹ When you hide your face, they are dismayed;

   when you take away their breath, they die

   and return to their dust. 

³⁰ When you send forth your spirit, they are created;

   and you renew the face of the ground. 

VIEW FROM THE SUMMIT

After about 6 or 7 hours of climbing,

we finally made it to the top.

There were many times we thought we were there,

only to find the trail going up still higher.

Being so close, we simply had to make it to the top.

When we finally did make it to the top, it was exhilarating.

We were standing 1710 meters high — 5610 feet.

We had climbed 1533 meters or 5030 feet.

We had hiked for over 7.5 miles over an elevation change of mile.

O Lord, how manifold are all your works.

What a wildly wonderful world you have created, O God.

And you made it all – even inch.

And every living thing –

Every plant, and every insect,

Every fish, every bird,

Every living creature —

Every living thing depends on God and his goodness

For life.

Well is it time to start heading back down.

If we don’t start down soon, it will be dark by the time we get to the trail head.

But here are some things to think about as we take the long walk back down.

Psalm 104: 31-35

³¹ May the glory of the Lord endure for ever;

   may the Lord rejoice in his works— 

³² who looks on the earth and it trembles,

   who touches the mountains and they smoke. 

³³ I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;

   I will sing praise to my God while I have being. 

³⁴ May my meditation be pleasing to him,

   for I rejoice in the Lord. 

³⁵ Let sinners be consumed from the earth,

   and let the wicked be no more.

Bless the Lord, O my soul.

Praise the Lord!

This is the Word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

BACK TO EARTH

Let the sinners be consumed from the earth…

Let the wicked be no more…

seemingly odd way to end this psalm of praise.

But let me end the story of our mountain walk.

Anyone who has climbed knows going down is more painful than going up. Our knees hurt. Our whole body ached.

We did not want to be on this mountain in the dark.

We pushed ourselves.

We finally…finally got to our car which we had parked at the trail head.

What relief.

But… the window was smashed.

Someone had broken into our car!

And we had left our wallets in the car.

The wallets were gone.

Incredibly this long day became longer.

We made a trip to the police station.

The police told us, politely but firmly,

1. Never to leave our wallets behind in the car like that again,

2. and never to try climb Golden Ears in one day – it is a 2 day climb, not a

one-day climb.

So here was our majestic day of being overwhelmed by God’s glory

shattered by someone else’s wickedness.

and somewhat by our own foolishness.

Maybe it is not so odd for this psalm to end as it does.

In Reformed theology we always hold these two things in balance:

the beauty and wonder and goodness of creation on the one hand;

yet the fallenness and brokenness and the misery of creation in the other.

We praise Jesus, our Beautiful Savior,

For he not only created all things,

all the breathtakingly beautiful things

but he also needed to painfully descend all the way down

to rescue his creation

from the foolishness

and from the wickedness

that was threatening

to steal and destroy all that was his and is his.

Amen