August 26. Shadows and Streams

May the glory of the Lord endure forever.

May the Lord rejoice in His works who looks on the earth and it trembles,

who touches the mountains and they smoke.

I will sing to the Lord as long as I live.

I will sing praise to my God while I have being.

May my meditation be pleasing to Him, for I rejoice in the Lord."

Psalm 104, verses 31 to 34.

God rejoices in His works of creation because they point us beyond themselves

to God Himself. God means for us to be stunned and awed by His work of creation, but not for its own sake.

He means for us to look at His creation and say,

If the mere work of His fingers, just His fingers, Psalm 8-3,

is so full of wisdom and power and grandeur and majesty and beauty,

what must this God be like in himself? These are but the backside of his glory, as it were,

darkly seen through a glass.

What will it be to see the glory of the Creator himself, not just his works?

A billion galaxies will not satisfy the human soul.

God and God alone is the soul's end. Jonathan Edwards expressed

it like this. The enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied.

To go to heaven fully to enjoy God is infinitely better than the most

pleasant accommodations here. These are but shadows, but God is the substance. These are but

scattered beams. But God is the sun. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams. But God is

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