Day 30: Psalm 98

When Paul wrote to the Romans, trying to explain Christ, he reminded them that Christ has always been everywhere.

In his words, in verse 20 of chapter 1, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

I’ve always been struck by that phrase, “without excuse.” You have to wonder if from the perspective of God, He must be baffled that humans could doubt Him, question Him, or wonder about His faithfulness given that He’s positioned His faithfulness all throughout creation. We look to the Bible to bring us hope, as we should, but you really just have to look up to have hope. Richard Rohr, a Franciscan priest, famously said that creation is the first Bible, and it was around 13.7 billion years before the second one. I think he’s explaining what Paul said, that creation is telling us of God. We are without excuse. Paul is only saying what the Psalmist already assumes. God is all around us. I love this verse:

Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy; Psalm 98:7-8

The Psalms see creation clapping and rejoicing. Maybe you have a hard time rejoicing about much. Maybe the fatigue of the pandemic has set in. Maybe reading your Bible to find hope has been a struggle. The fastest way to find hope is to go outside. The quickest way to find peace is to stare at creation and not a screen. I don’t know about your neighborhood, but in mine, more people are outside than ever before.

Perhaps God is just forcing more of us to breathe in His creation and listen to the rivers clap their hands and the mountains sing their songs.

Jared