“The God of Big and Little Things”
“Psa. 36:5 Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the clouds.
6 Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;
your judgments are like the great deep;
man and beast you save, O LORD.
Psa. 36:7 How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
8 They feast on the abundance of your house,
and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
9 For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light do we see light.” (English Standard Version)
The God of the Old Testament is incredibly deep and high and powerful. He is also described at times as being incredibly tender.
Take Psalm 36:5-6, for example. After focusing on the wicked in verses 1-4, the psalmist changes his prayer focus very abruptly. In the rest of the psalm, this praying person focuses on God (with the exception of saying that the wicked will get their comeuppance in God’s good time in verses 11-12).
And what does the psalmist say about God? Well, God’s love is as high as the heavens and God’s faithfulness is as high as the sky (verse 5). God’s righteousness is like the highest mountains (vs. 6). Everest has nothing on God! And God’s justice is like the ocean depths (also verse 5).
And then the psalmist does something that is weird and wonderful: He says that this God, this God whose qualities are so high and wonderful, also preserves both people and animals!
Say what?! Yes! This same God, who is so big, also takes care of individual people—and the animals too. The word for animals is a generic one in Hebrew. This word refers to both domesticated animals and wild ones. Apparently, God’s loving faithfulness and such extends to all people and animals—even the wild critters.
Even those who don’t believe in God ought to wish that a God like that should exist. And those of us who have experienced God’s goodness should learn to trust and praise this God unceasingly. Yes, even in tough and uncertain times such as we’re going through right now. Especially then.
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