Land of Delight

Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty. Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain: Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind: Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire: Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever. Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains. At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away. They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them. Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth. He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills. They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild asses quench their thirst. By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches. He watereth the hills from his chambers: the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works. He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth; And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart. The trees of the Lord are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted; Where the birds make their nests: as for the stork, the fir trees are her house. The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats; and the rocks for the conies. He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down. Thou makest darkness, and it is night: wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth. The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God. The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together, and lay them down in their dens. Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening. O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches. So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein. These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good. Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth. The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever: the Lord shall rejoice in his works. He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth: he toucheth the hills, and they smoke. I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the Lord. Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless thou the Lord, O my soul. Praise ye the Lord. (Psalm 104:1-35 KJV)

Psalm 104 is a song of praise to the Creator God. It paints a picture of a land of delight, a land created by a God who is 'clothed with splendor and majesty' (v.1). It is a land as Eden must have been: the waters are plentiful, the food grows in abundance for the animals, and humans cultivate the earth. The days come and go, the seasons turn and God breathes in and out, giving breath to all he has created and also taking it away. He sends his Spirit and new life is created; the earth is renewed. Everything is as it should be. Everything is in balance just as it will be again when all things have been renewed: God, humans, animals, plants, earth - all living in harmony. Peter DeVos and the other authors of Earthkeeping in the Nineties address the nature of that harmony:

[R]elathionships, among the living things and between them and the non-living environment, are highly complex. Relationships and interactions are essential to the perpetuation of the health and beauty of the ecosystems!

As we understood more of the balanced intricacy of the biosphere, fewer and fewer people are willing to consider it all a meaningless accident; in the past decade it has become increasingly common for people to speak of the earth in terms of some mysterious purpose! Once again, in stumbling ways, creation is turning us toward the Creator. For this balance in the ecosystem is, to the Christian, an indication of a Creator who does all things well. The life-sustaining beauty of the created earth declares the glory of God, as God declares its goodness. Thus the more we understand of the intricacy of a healthy ecosystem, the more we learn of the Creator. Nevertheless, the intricacy occurs within [healthy] ecosystems, the balance is maintained by death. And death - of a plant, an animal, or another person - reminds us that we too are creatures. We are part of the biosphere!

It is true that we have a personal relationship with God, we are 'made in his image' and thus we stand apart in some ways from the rest of creation. But it is also clear that God has created us as he has all other creatures. We, too, are organisms, living within a rich but limited world. We share with all creatures fundamental biological needs: the need for energy and minerals, for food, air, and water! The life of the earth is our life, and we depend upon it. Thus the Christian respect for creation has a twofold source: believers delight in it as God's work and respect it as they respect their own bodies - for in a sense the biosphere is our extended body.