Psalm 24

¹The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness,
The world and those who dwell therein.
² For He has founded it upon the seas,
And established it upon the waters.

³ Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?
Or who may stand in His holy place?
⁴ He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol,
Nor sworn deceitfully.
⁵ He shall receive blessing from the Lord,
And righteousness from the God of his salvation.
⁶ This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him,
Who seek Your face. Selah

⁷ Lift up your heads, O you gates!
And be lifted up, you everlasting doors!
And the King of glory shall come in.
⁸ Who is this King of glory?
The Lord strong and mighty,
The Lord mighty in battle.
⁹ Lift up your heads, O you gates!
Lift up, you everlasting doors!
And the King of glory shall come in.
¹⁰ Who is this King of glory?
The Lord of hosts,
He is the King of glory. Selah

The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness

I love the earth. I majored in environmental studies, and people just don’t know what to do with that. I had a woman cutting my hair who felt the need to apologize to me for using hairspray, and I’ve had people who have called me a hippie. I just have one question. Why doesn’t everybody love the earth? Everything that is in it is part of God’s creation. So, why did I listen to a pastor say from his pulpit that all of this environmentalism is a laugh, that he didn’t care that global temperature rise melted beautiful ice formations so long as he had a longer growing season for his tomatoes? I’m not saying that Christians don’t love the earth. Most of us can go out to an untamed vista and marvel at the wonder of God, but we need to appreciate ALL things in it. That little flower that pops up all by itself in your yard and even that bird that lives on your balcony and wakes you up at 6am. Did you know that in a square-foot patch of grass there could be entire communities of living things that have never been documented by science? They’re God’s too. Let’s not forget all the people in it too. A big part of environmental studies deals with humans. Guess what. We’re part of the environment too. And so are the cities and towns we build. And the roads and the dams and the cars. Everything is part of the environment. All the environment is the Lord’s.

Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol… This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face.

I love this song. When some people asked Jesus what was the greatest commandment, he said that it was to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matt. 22:37). The two super important things from the psalm are expressed in Jesus’ commandment. If we have lifted our souls to an idol, we necessarily cannot be giving our all to God. We should instead seek Him with everything we’ve got. He is the creator of the earth and all that’s in it.