The Earth is the Lord’s
The entry from the Psalms in my One-Year stood out to me, and was a part of my highlights and journal for the day. It stood out more when I looked back at it this evening — and then even more as I became distracted by the jaw-dropping beauty of our planet, in the images I searched to use tonight. I almost had to rip my eyes away from some of the stunning images from space, viewed from satellites countless miles up.
My highlighted segment from Psalm 24 reads:
The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness,
The world and those who dwell therein.
For He has founded it upon the seas,
And established it upon the waters. (Psalm 24:1–2)
At first, I imagined an image of the blue-and-white orb hanging in the cosmos, based on all of the pictures I had seen, even in elementary school. My thoughts drifted a little more towards God’s ownership of the planet, over all the land, governments, and people. But as I stared at the pictures of our planet, I realized that the song the Psalmist sings means something mind-numbing and enormous. Our stunningly beautiful, powerful planet was designed with expert craftsmanship — even the ancient, watery foundations, the mountains older than most civilizations, and the machinations of gravity that hold our planet together perfectly.
We see images of our planet and watch documentaries and it is impossible to take it all in. It’s so big, so beautiful. To be honest, its strength is frightening to behold. But it isn’t just a pretty globe floating in space, in an orbit around the sun. It was founded and established by Someone even bigger. Look at that image above. Look at other images above.
That beautiful rock, our home, with all its people and abundance and complexities — all its power and wonder and life — all its fullness. All of that?
It is the Lord’s. Every ounce of it, and He made it for us. He made this impossible planet, that by every rhyme and reason of our limited scientific understanding, shouldn’t even be here! He made it for you and for your family, and it will hold together — no force in the Universe will split it apart.
The Earth is the Lord’s, in all of its abundance,
The whole planet, and everyone and everything upon it.
He has crafted it, made its very foundations on the seas.
And cemented it, perfected it, upon the ocean’s depths.
God made this world to bless us and to endure; what’s more, He lovingly, willingly gave a gift so cosmically, incomprehensibly precious to save it.
I don’t know if I can ever fully comprehend the enormity of that. The only response, I think, is the way of the Psalmist: worship.
