Psalm 104:24: “O LORD, how manifold are Your works! / In wisdom You have made them all. / The earth is full of Your possessions—”

April 19th, 2024 by Pastor Ed in devotional

The author of this psalm is not mentioned in the title, but it’s believed that this is another psalm by David. In it, he directs us to think on God by looking at His original acts of creation, which leads to praise and worship of the Creator who provided humanity with such an amazing place to live—earth. Loosely following the order of creation found in Genesis 1, the psalmist praises God’s greatness as seen in His creation. In verse 24, he breaks out in praise of God’s wisdom because of the diversity of the animal life. By looking at the design of individual species, we can capture a small part of the character of the Creator Himself. We are certainly struck by the fact that He is the God of detail. God created everything, and it all works together in a beautiful, harmonic balance.

One of the most fascinating members of the arachnid world is the European water spider. It lives in ponds throughout northern and central Europe, and is the only spider that spends its entire life underwater. Although it lives under water, it breathes air. Using short hairs on its abdomens and legs, the water spider traps air bubbles from the water’s surface. It does so by doing a somersault on the surface of the water to trap a bubble of air, and then, holding it over breathing holes in the middle of its body, it swims to underwater reservoirs spun from silk that it has constructed among the seaweed at the bottom of the lake. It goes up and down, bringing bubble after bubble, until a little balloon of air is formed where it will live and eat and mate. Our heavenly Father has been enjoying this small piece of His artfully designed creation for millennia before any human on earth even knew it existed. Imagine how many millions of other wonders there are beyond our sight that only God sees every day.

“LORD, we see a little of You in the astounding creation all around us. You, the God of beauty, balance, detail, and extravagance, we worship this day, in Jesus’ name.”