Covered with Light

“Bless the Lord, O my soul!
    O Lord my God, you are very great!
You are clothed with splendor and majesty,
    covering yourself with light as with a garment,
    stretching out the heavens like a tent.
He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters;
he makes the clouds his chariot;
    he rides on the wings of the wind;
he makes his messengers winds,
    his ministers a flaming fire.

He set the earth on its foundations,
    so that it should never be moved.
You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
    the waters stood above the mountains.
At your rebuke they fled;
    at the sound of your thunder they took to flight.
The mountains rose, the valleys sank down
    to the place that you appointed for them.
You set a boundary that they may not pass,
    so that they might not again cover the earth.

You make springs gush forth in the valleys;
    they flow between the hills…
From your lofty abode you water the mountains;
    the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work…

He made the moon to mark the seasons;
    the sun knows its time for setting…

O Lord, how manifold are your works!..

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.” Psalm 104:1-10,13,19,24a,31-33

The concept of being ‘covered with light’ sounds like an oxymoron. After all, light exposes, opens up, reveals, uncovers. But almighty God is wholly other, unique, transcendent, and is both Light Himself and covered with light. He shines the shekinah glory that is impenetrable and self-existent. He is indescribable and like none other. He covers the deep, and His light and love are deeper still. (Genesis 1:3; John 1:4,9; 8:12; Ephesians 3:17-19)

The clothing of our Lord is splendor and majesty, light and life. We see Him all around, and are invited into His breeze and breathless beauty. What we make of it and how we interact with it determines our mindset and ongoing resolve. The psalmist proclaims in praise the manifold wonders of God, and wills to sing His praise as long as He lives.

Likely we rouse ourselves for a number of activities, and muster energy for social situations, competitions, and hard assignments. We rely on light, and gravity, the foundations of the earth and rhythm of days without giving them much thought. We are earthly and horizontally minded, and fit ourselves into nice tidy places of convenience and complacency. We gaze at the moon, forgetting God’s power that sustains it, and depend on water with nary a thought for its tidal power held by holy hands, and its boundaries divinely ordained.

How regularly do we rouse our souls to bless the Lord? How often do we hush our busyness to contemplate God’s light and all it reveals? Where do we see evidence of the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, and rejoice in it? (2 Corinthians 4:6)

Father, cover me and fill me with Your light, so all may see that You, O Lord, are God, and my God.