Today we read these verses in the One Year Bible:
Zechariah 12:1-13:9
Revelation 19:1-21
Psalm 147:1-20
Proverbs 31:1-7
Let's look at the Psalm. David is telling all of creation to praise God. He names many different parts of creation, including the sun, moon, stars, water above the sky (we'll talk about that another time), sea creatures, fruit trees, fruit bats, breakfast cereals.... ok, maybe I made up those last two (inspired by this scene from Monty Python), that he says should praise God.
Most of my life I've thought that the birds and other animals, but especially the birds, were praising God in their songs. I thought it was just one of my crazy ideas, like rain being God's tears when things are sad in our lives. But now I put it in context of Psalm 148 and I realize that creation really IS singing His praise.
So that means that when we praise God, we are actually joining in on the praise that is going on all around us already. That reminds me of the book The Silent Planet by CS Lewis. He calls Earth the silent planet because none of the other planets are affected by sin (in his books) so they are all communicating with one another and praising God. Only Earth is silent because it has fallen from grace.
Well, we humans are fallen from grace, but when we join in the chorus of praise that is going on all around us, we no longer find ourselves the silent creations amid all of the rest of creation that sings His praise.
God, thanks for teaching us that we can break our silence and join the rest of creation in singing the praise that You so richly deserve.
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