Montana Sings Praise!
I live on the southeast side of the Continental Divide in Montana. Sometimes people call this area the banana belt because it’s warmer in the winter than the rest of the state, and we get much less precipitation in the way of snow and rain. Spring is often cut short as the summer sun takes the moisture up to the skies to become rain for Minnesota. In the low lands, it can become scorched, and without snow, the landscape becomes a sea of beige. Even then, my eyes find the spruce-covered mountains and the lush foliage of the irrigated fields and waterways. God blessed Montana with wide spaces and a big sky. So, even when the hills are brown, He gives our eyes a place to settle and find respite in the mountains and valleys.
This year it’s been different. The spring rains have continued to fall, and everywhere the eye can see are shades of green. I feel like a winter-worn horse let out into the fresh green pasture. The dew-covered leaves and every blade of grass invigorate my soul and restore my hope. I simply can’t stop looking at the views and breathing in the fresh scents of spring. I don’t want to miss a moment of the show God is putting on for us across this gigantic state. The spring rains and greenery are the stars of the show. But, He also sets a gorgeous stage with blue and grey skies to highlight the snow-capped mountains. While rays of sunshine spotlight the landscape in a symphonic movement as white and periwinkle clouds illuminate the landscape.
I’m in awe of the beauty of our world, and I can’t keep quiet. So, I have to ask everyone around me, do you see it too? Isn’t it so green? Aren’t the skies spectacular? Creation is exulting its Creator; how could anyone miss it?
“Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice; let the sea and all that fill it resound. Let the fields and everything in them exult. Then all the trees of the forest will shout for joy before the Lord, for He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth…The heavens proclaim His righteousness; all the peoples see His glory.” (Psalm 96:11-13, 97:6)
My heart swells with joy as I watch creation rejoice, resound, exult, shout for joy, and proclaim God’s righteousness. We can all see His glory. Some of you experience it the same as me but don’t yet know the Creator. God created this world for you, and He reveals Himself to you in it.
“For His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power, divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made” (Romans 1:20).
His grandeur in creation is on display in Montana right now. I can’t help but wonder why? My spirit is so desperate for refreshment that I am drinking it in like a child on a hot day with a garden hose. Our county, state, country, hemisphere, and world are in overwhelming turmoil. God is being swept from every corner of man’s world. Less and less of us are praising Him, so I think Creation must.
The week before Jesus was crucified, He entered Jerusalem on a donkey. As He came into the city, crowds were praising joyfully in loud voices. Some Jewish leaders, called Pharisees, didn’t believe He was the Son of God and wanted Him to tell the crowd to stop. Jesus said to them, “I tell you, if they were to keep silent, the stones would cry out!” (Luke 19:40).
Many people are being lured away from the one true God and fidelity to His Word these days. The desire for self-exultation and self-sufficiency is so alluring that people turn inward and sing praises to themselves. Mankind’s worship for God is so hushed that Creation is praising Him. The earth is heralding God’s glory before the stones must cry out.
“I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, and His robe filled the temple. Seraphim were standing above Him; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts; His glory fills the whole earth” (Isaiah 6:1-3).
His glory fills the whole earth. From the snow atop the distant mountain to the moth that just flew past my window, God’s creation extols His glory, and everything the eye can see shouts His name!
*Photo was taken by me. It doesn’t do the real landscape justice.