Cloaked by a Summer's Day

Scripture:
My soul, bless the Lord!
Lord my God, you are very great;
you are clothed with majesty and splendor.
He wraps himself in light as if it were a robe,
spreading out the sky like a canopy,
laying the beams of his palace
on the waters above,
making the clouds his chariot,
walking on the wings of the wind,
and making the winds his messengers,
flames of fire his servants.
Psalm 104:1-4

Observation: What a wonderful image to open a song of worship and praise ... the Lord is so great that the splendor in which he is enveloped like a cloak is that of the entire sky. Bright light itself is his robe, and it spreads out all around him like the infinite expanse of a clear blue summer sky. The clouds are there to support the canopy that covers him - that shades him if he were to need it - as he moves about just like the wind. The wind itself takes him and also his message, it is at his command, just like the warmth of the air it blows.

Application: This is, in fact, how I see nature ... the very extension of the Lord himself. It isn't just metaphorical, for creation is of the Lord, and it is the Lord. He manifested it as "good" because it is how he presents life, and sustains life, and embraces life.

I see the Lord in a beautiful, sunny day, on a clear blue afternoon, with his warm wind so refreshing and energizing. I see the Lord on a rainy afternoon, with life-giving water soaking the grasses and trees, to become running streams for animals to find satisfaction. I see the Lord on the darkest of nights, when the moon is so clear and the stars seem infinite, with the quiet only disturbed by lapping waves or rustling leaves.

May my soul truly bless the Lord!

Prayer: Lord, again I say, may my soul bless you, for you are indeed very great. Thank you for the blessing of life itself, and not just my life but the abundance of all nature you have created. I wish for all to see you so clearly within that nature. Amen.