Psalm 104 The Lord’s Majesty (Part 8)
Psalm 104:31-32 “May God’s glorious splendor endure forever! May the Lord take joy and pleasure in all that he has made. For the earth’s overseer has the power to make it tremble; just a touch of his finger and volcanoes erupt as the earth shakes and melts.
Wow, this verse has a lot of powerful language that helps to visualize what the verse is saying. First, it says, “May God’s glorious splendor endure forever!” God’s splendor is displayed so often when we look at nature. When we slow down and take the time to admire nature, there is no way we can deny God’s splendor. Look at the beauty of the sunrise and sunset. Look at all the beautiful flowers and trees. Look at the birds and all the animals. Even if you don’t find some animals beautiful, you must admire how God created them to work together. Each one has its purpose and its place in the world and in the food chain. It is truly remarkable.
Next, the verse says, “May the Lord take joy and pleasure in all that he has made.” I hope this is the case. I hope God looks down on the world and takes pleasure in it. I know we have messed many things up, and He probably is not a fan of all of that. However, I hope He can at least enjoy the parts He made that we have not messed up yet. There is still so much beauty and majesty in the world. I have a friend who is on a cruise right now, and the other day, she visited Iceland and said it was beautiful! There is so much to see in this world, it is impossible to see all of it.
Then the verse says, “For the earth’s overseer has the power to make it tremble; just a touch of his finger and volcanoes erupt as the earth shakes and melts.” This part of the verse serves as a stark reminder of the power of our Lord. With just one touch of His finger, He could make volcanoes erupt, and the earth shake. Yet, we know God wouldn’t even have to touch it; He could make anything He wants with His voice. God spoke the whole world into existence. He can certainly speak other things into existence.
We can look at this line in the verse in two ways. We can view it as something to worry about. We can read that verse and get scared that God could reach out and touch a volcano, and it would erupt. We could fear that God will get mad at us and do something like this. I mean, if we are honest with ourselves, we have been taking God out of more and more of our lives. We have done our best to take Him out of the school, the government, and most places. That can’t feel good to Him. I can’t imagine He is looking down upon us and thinking we are doing great things right now, especially in this country.
It's important to remember that not everyone is turning away from God. Many good people are doing good things, and I am sure that pleases the Lord. There are people fighting to include God more in schools and the government. However, it's also true that many are doing terrible things, not just to God but to one another. Boston held a Satanic Conference this past year, and I doubt that made God happy. However, God promised after the flood with Noah that He would not do that again. This promise of mercy is a source of comfort and reassurance for us all.
The second way we can look at this part of the verse is to recognize the power that God has and to apply that to our lives. If God has the power to reach out and touch a volcano, and it erupts, then what could He do in your circumstance? Could he make a way for you to pay your rent and car payments? Could He heal that cancer or that sore back? Could He take care of your tenant who is not paying rent or fix your car that needs to be fixed? We can look at this verse and realize that the power of God has no limits. He can do ANYTHING!
Once we realize this, once we truly believe this in the depths of our hearts, then we start praying bigger prayers. Once we realize there is no limit to God’s power, we start to ask for the things we really need. We start to ask for our loved ones to be healed, even though the doctor said there isn’t a way. We ask for a car because ours just died and we need a car to get to work to pay our bills. We ask for supernatural provisions because we know that we do not have enough money in our account to pay our bills or enough food in our cabinets to feed our family.
Sometimes, we look at the faith of those who live in other countries, and we are so envious. We wish we could have the faith they have. They trust the Lord so much, and we feel like we would give anything to trust the Lord that much. However, I have discovered that they trust the Lord that much because they truly need Him. They know they can’t feel their family on their own. They know they are powerless without Him. They can’t save their children. They don’t have the medicine we have here in the United States. Their trust in God is necessary because life would be much harder if they didn’t believe.
I know my parents love the Lord, and listening to their stories in High School and meeting up each morning so they could do daily mass together, I know they trusted Him even back then. My mom was the oldest of 10 children, so I am sure she had plenty of chances to rely on the Lord. There is never enough time, money, or resources when you have a big family. Like those in other countries, you must learn to lean on the Lord and trust He will help you. When you are looking at your bare cabinets and your ten children, you hit the floor on your knees, and you pray for God to help. When you are looking at your sick child, and you know there is no medicine to save her, then you hit the ground on your knees and pray to the Lord to save her.
We say we would give anything for that kind of faith, but would we really? Would we give up the comforts and security of our lives now to see the Lord working in our lives more? People who have to rely on the Lord get to see the Lord working in their lives more because they know they need the Lord. If we have all that we need and feel we can provide for ourselves all that we need, then we generally see God working in our lives less because we are taking care of everything, so we feel we don’t need Him as much. This doesn’t mean that God is working less in our lives. It just means we have a harder time seeing it because we have learned to rely on ourselves instead of God.
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless everyone listening to this episode today. Lord, we want to see you working in our lives. Please open our eyes to see where and how you work in our lives. We love you so much, and we know we need you. We know we have nothing and can do nothing without you. We believe, Lord. Help our unbelief. Lord, show us where in our lives we can rely on you more. Show us how we can trust you more. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I have exciting news, I have booked the same retreat place as I did last year to hold a retreat that same weekend. It will be the second weekend in October at the Holy Cross Retreat House in North Easton, MA. I pray all of you listening will consider coming to join for a weekend of fun and spiritual growth. The theme for the weekend will be Come As You Are. Most of us feel we must be perfect before approaching the Lord. We need to shed our past, our sins, our bad habits and then we will be worthy to come to God. This is not true. God tells us several place in the Bible that He wants us to come just as we are. Come to Him and He will help us become the person we want to be. More details to come soon. Right now I just pray that you think about coming to this retreat. I know when I first started hearing about retreats I thought I was not holy enough to go to a retreat. That is for really religious people. I couldn’t have been further from the truth. Retreats are for anyone who wants to grow closer to the Lord, no matter where they are on the journey. Once you experience one retreat, you will want to go on another. Even just being around other people who love the Lord is amazing. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, just as you are, and so do I! May the grace and favor of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your Spirit! (Philippians 4:23)
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in February 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “Come to me. Come, no matter where you are, no matter how short the time you have, no matter what you feel, come to me. I am your life. I will give you life.”
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