Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
Picture Jesus's triumphal entry. Thousands have gathered at the city of Jerusalem to welcome Jesus, not as a carpenter, not as a teacher, but as their king. He has spent the last three years teaching, shaking up the religious system, flipping ideas on their heads, performing miracles. He's made both friends and enemies. As He rides in on this colt, people are casting down their garments onto the ground and laying down palm leaves, heralding Him in as their King and Savior.
But in the midst of their praises, Jesus is faced with some Pharisees, which is very common for Him. Also common was that these Pharisees were very angry at Him, and they demanded that Jesus stop His disciples from praising Him and the ways that they were. And Jesus says something very incredible. He says that even if the people stopped singing the rocks themselves, creation would cry out and sing.
Now Jesus was making a jab at the religious elites to be sure, but He was also sharing a very profound reality about the world around us. The same sort of reality that's revealed in our verse today in Psalm chapter 96, verse 11, the psalmist writes, let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice. Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise.
All Creation Sings
This is the truth Jesus revealed—all of creation sings God's praises. Maybe not in the way that we sing with music, but everything that we see around us is meant to bring God glory. In Genesis, when God creates, it's an overflow of who He is meant to reflect just how great and powerful and lovely He is.
And so let me paint a picture for you and how creation can sing God's praises. In 2013, I was helping to lead a college group and this was back in California. And so I had the privilege of leading a college group in Malibu. But I was a little bit sad, down, lost on this particular drive out to the college campus. And I just remember kind of focusing in a little sad, little angry. As I was driving, I was talking out loud to God. And I remember coming up over this hill, through this valley and seeing the most breathtaking sunset I have ever seen in my life.
It was like I was seeing colors for the first time and I just began sobbing. And if you know me, this isn't in my nature to just cry on a whim. But that's what happened. And I wasn't crying because it was just beautiful. I was crying because of what God put on my heart in that moment.
He said, Chris, look around you. This creation is broken, but I want you to see the beauty and how it sings my praises, even in that brokenness. And He reminded me that even in my brokenness, that if I continued to sing His praises, that beauty would shine through in some of the darkest of places.
Beauty in Brokenness
And so I'm not sure where you're at in life. Maybe things are going great. Maybe you're worried that things are going to fall apart because it all just seems too good to be true. Maybe you're down on your luck and you're waiting for that big break here at your lowest of your lows. And you just need something to pick you up. One thing that I can assure you that will always pick you up is that God sees you, His most precious creation, and He cares for you.
Jesus said that not a sparrow falls apart from the Father's hands. And how much more precious are you than many, many sparrows? So take the time today, even in your brokenness, even in the darkness, to sing God's praises alongside of all of creation. Remember that God is with you and that is something worth praising.
