February 24
Reading: Psalm 114
1 When Israel went out from Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a people of strange language,
2 Judah became his sanctuary,
Israel his dominion.
3 The sea looked and fled;
Jordan turned back.
4 The mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs.
5 What ails you, O sea, that you flee?
O Jordan, that you turn back?
6 O mountains, that you skip like rams?
O hills, like lambs?
7 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob,
8 who turns the rock into a pool of water,
the flint into a spring of water.
Psalm 114 is the second psalm of the Egyptian Hallel, sung by the Jewish people every Passover to commemorate their salvation from Egypt. This short psalm recalls the presence of the Lord with His people (vss. 1-2), the salvation of the Lord at the Red Sea and the Jordan river (vss. 3-6), and the provision of water from the rock by the Lord in the wilderness (vss. 7-8).
Verses 3-6 are remarkable and unique. They employ a lighthearted poetry that includes personification, humor, and rhetorical questioning. The psalmist is flaunting the sovereignty of God over His creation. The waters and the mountains are depicted as living things. It is as if the psalmist is looking with surprise at these awesome created things that are not behaving like they are supposed to, like they usually behave. Responding with surprise, the waters and mountains are asked questions: Are you fleeing in fear? Leaping about? What is going on? Why are you acting strange?
Of course, we all know. The Lord, the creator of heaven and earth, of mountains, seas, and rivers, commands these things still. All creation obeys His orders. This is what the psalmist is celebrating with joyful fun. All of God’s creation is always standing by, waiting for orders from the Lord. Do not fail to forget this when you want it to rain or when you are fearful of catastrophe. You and I need not tremble, because heaven and earth tremble at the voice of the Lord.
God’s world is His plaything. We are His children. Do not get this reversed. He loves to use His creation to show us that He loves us.