Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. –Psalm 90:2
There is a song that I learned as a child. I know it in both English and Spanish. It is called “My God is So Great.” Maybe you know the tune. Here are the lyrics:
My God is so great, so strong and so mighty. There’s nothing my God cannot do. The mountains are his. The rivers are his. The stars are his handiwork too. My God is so great, so strong and so mighty, there’s nothing my God cannot do, for you!
(Or in the Spanish version para ti, para mi, para todos tambien. Translation: for you, for me, for all of us, also!)
The beauty of creation is important to my family. We love to be surrounded by the work of our creator. This is why I try to get my children outdoors as much as possible. At the beginning of the summer, I asked one of my daughters where she would go this summer if she could go anywhere. Her big brown eyes exploded at the idea of exploring someplace new. After thinking about it for a minute or two she had her answer. She wanted to go to Yellowstone National Park and The Grand Canyon National Park. She wanted to use her 4th Grade National Parks Pass to see something spectacular.
Now, while the longitude line for both parks is quite similar–Wyoming and Arizona are 900 miles apart, going to both would not be an option. We would have to settle for just one. So we decided to go north to Yellowstone. And we were not disappointed. We saw waterfalls, hot springs, geysers, rivers, mountains, plains, bison, elk, deer and the Grand Canyon… of Yellowstone. We were awestruck by the majesty of God and his handiwork.
However, you always wonder, as a parent, if these lessons are sticking. One of the most popular attractions at Yellowstone is a geyser nicknamed “Old Faithful.” It’s called Old Faithful because the park rangers can time out when the geyser will explode into the sky, making easy for tourists to congregate. It is the only geyser with bleachers, lodging, and concessions surrounding it. Old faithful even has its own gift shop. Try as they might, all these manmade buildings and shops could not compare to the majesty of creation.
The hands of God created the real show, not man. We waited about 45 minutes for the old geyser to explode. It did so faithfully two minutes after the estimated time. She lived up to her name. As the geyser went off I looked at my youngest daughter and said, “Nobody made this, it happened naturally.” She looked at me a little cross-eyed and said, “Somebody did, God made it!” I’ve never been more pleased to be corrected by an eight year old. That statement was worth the trip!
In that moment, the words of an eight-year were echoing scripture. Notice how Paul phrases it after a similar observation:
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… – Romans 1:20
Regardless of your age, creation is a great reminder of God’s power because our God is so great, so strong and so mighty, there’s nothing our God cannot do, for you, for me and all of us, also!
