Psalm 103-104, Psalm 113-114, Psalm 117
Ryan: Today marks an important event in the year-long daily Bible blogging experiment: the first YouTube video from the movie Godspell. If you were living under a rock in the 1970′s (or weren’t born yet) and have not yet heard/watched Godspell, you owe it to yourself and to your children and your children’s children to go watch it. I believe that Godspell played a larger role than did any one person in my eventual decision to follow Christ. How can I make such a bold statement, you ask? I will tell you a story (and try to keep it short). It’s Fall of 1992. I’m a freshman in high school. I’m infatuated with a girl in the junior class who was a musician. The school drama department produces Godspell, and said girl plays in the pit orchestra. Naturally, I go to all four performances. Four times I watch as Jesus gathers his disciples. Four times I listen as Jesus teaches them about the New covenant. Four times, Jesus is betrayed by Judas, and four times he is crucified. I buy the original broadway cast soundtrack, and listen to it no less than once a day for the next month, and then no less than once a month for the next eight years. When I meet my future wife, she is amazed at my knowledge of the book of Matthew even though the rest of my Bible knowledge is lacking. Long story long, God imparted His Word on my heart through the music of a broadway musical. In a manner of speaking, you could say that I was saved through the Godspell of Stephen Schwartz. So what does that have to do with today’s reading? Psalm 103 is one of the songs sung in the musical…read the King James Version and watch the embedded video below.
Samantha: Psalm 104 paints a majestic picture of God riding on his chariot of clouds, looking over his vast creation. The psalm praises God for creating the world and everything in it: the heavens, seas, earth, the animals, and food. It so beautifully describes what the Lord has provided to us here on earth, and how everything has a place and a purpose. I love nature and learning how the world around me operates; this psalm describes specific animals, natural processes like water, oceans, and springs, and how the sun and moon set seasons. I praise God almost everyday for the natural world–for the butterfly that floated past me as I was at a stoplight, for the birds I see gathering worms, for the crops and gardens growing that provide us with food. “How many are your works, O LORD! In wisdom you made them all” (Psalm 104:24).
