All Creatures Of Our God And King

Psalm 148

The Book of Psalms has sometimes been called the hymnal of the Bible.  This is rightly so, because so many of the psalms were originally set to music when they were written by David and the other psalmists.  Many of the psalms are hymns of praise to God, and a number were used as inspiration for many classic hymns.  This week’s psalm selection, Psalm 148, was the inspiration of the great traditional hymn “All Creatures of Our God and King”.  Let’s take a look at both the psalm and the hymn today.

Many people are familiar with the great Italian saint of the Middle Ages, Francis of Assisi (1181 - 1226).  In addition to founding the Franciscan Order of both monks and nuns, and of traveling and bringing the Gospel message of Jesus wherever he went, Francis deeply loved nature.  He loved animals, plants, and even the stars, moon, and sun in the heavens.  He did not worship them, but worshipped their Creator, and believed that as creations of God, they deserved our care and respect.  It has even been reported that birds and wild animals frequently would approach him without any fear.  Psalm 148 was certainly one of Francis’ favorites, as he wrote a beautiful poem, “Canticle of the Sun” based on that Psalm.  Centuries later an Anglican minister, William Henry Draper, translated St. Francis’ poem into the hymn “All Creatures of Our God and King”, based on both the Canticle and Psalm 148.

This hymn of praise to God in the Book of Psalms is a psalm of universal praise, as all animal life, and the various forces of nature sing their praises to Yahweh.  This psalm is like a great choir or a great orchestra, with each section singing out their praise to God.  In a choir we find the sopranos, the altos, the tenors, baritones, and bass voices.  In an orchestra there are the violins and other stringed instruments, the flutes, oboes, and bassoons.  There are the French horns, trumpets, trombones, and other brass instruments, along with drums, harps, organs, etc.  Here the psalmist brings all of creation, each in their own section, together to praise God.  The sun, moon, stars, and planets (vs. 3-6).  Then the creatures of the seas (vs. 7), forces of nature (vs. 8), mountains and plants (vs. 9), animals and people (vs. 10-11).  The psalmist even calls upon the angels and other heavenly creatures to sing their praises (vs. 1-2).  Like a great symphony, each part comes in when they should, making a beautiful chorus to sing praise to God.

Both the Canticle which St. Francis wrote, and the hymn, focuses most of their lines on the heavenly bodies of the sun, moon, and stars, along with the wind, clouds, rivers, and fire giving their own unique praise to God, which we find in verses 3-8 of the psalm.  The hymn concludes by calling upon men to give praise to the Trinity.

We might wonder how inanimate objects and forces of nature can praise God.  God has used various forms of nature to accomplish His will throughout history.  He used fire to call the attention of Moses with the burning bush (Exodus 3:2).  God also used hail as one of the ten plagues against Egypt (Exodus 9:19), and in battle against His enemies (Joshua 10:11).  God sends the snow (Psalm 147:16).  Clouds often proclaim His glory (Deuteronomy 4:11).  God led His people through the wilderness by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Exodus 13:21).  He uses storms and wind to show His power (Genesis 8:1; Mark 4:35-41).

Though we may not always be happy with it, God sovereignly oversees all weather.  He will use the forces of nature and weather greatly during the last days, as we read all throughout the Book of Revelation.  Every force of nature obeys God’s command.  We can ask, are we doing the same?  If these forces without a brain know to obey and praise God, shouldn’t we?  Let’s obey Him and sing His praises, as they do.