Power in the Skies

“O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God;
    sing praises to the Lord, Selah
to him who rides in the heavens, the ancient heavens;
    behold, he sends out his voice, his mighty voice.
Ascribe power to God,
    whose majesty is over Israel,
    and whose power is in the skies.
Awesome is God from his sanctuary;
    the God of Israel—he is the one who gives power and strength to his people.
Blessed be God!” Psalm 68:32-35

“There is none like God, O Jeshurun,
    who rides through the heavens to your help,
    through the skies in his majesty.
The eternal God is your dwelling place,
    and underneath are the everlasting arms.
And he thrust out the enemy before you
    and said, ‘Destroy.’” Deuteronomy 33:26-27

Wide low grumbling draws attention outward, upward. Layers and smoky moisture mist and roil, alerting to the imminent storm. The looming distance closes in, cool and present, yet untouchable. The heavy dark sky attracts and repels, incites damp dread, hushed awe, and pulsing anticipation. Who is not drawn to its power? Who can stand against it?

The awesome God of the universe upholds these skies by His power, and rides them to our aid. Here He displays ineffable glory, eliciting praise; from here He speaks, issuing forth strength. Are we watching? (Isaiah 40:25-26; Colossians 1:16-17)

Often we are too wrapped up in the urgencies of the day to take in the skies. We are trapped in the temporal, taking no thought for the divine and lasting. We scurry here and rush there, fuss with this and tend to that, ignorant of heaven’s waiting benediction and help. Focus bent downward and inward, we take no determination to lift the eyes. (Psalm 121:1-2)

To grasp the power in the skies we must see ourselves as God does from there: small, yet beloved and of inestimable worth. When do we take time to look up and consider the work of God’s fingers, His signature in the beauty of the vastness and the storms, and the crowning of His love and grace? Have we come to grips with our powerlessness over sin habits and swollen pride apart from Him? O needy soul, look to the skies! (Psalm 8:3-5; 36:5)

“O worship the King all-glorious above,
O gratefully sing his power and his love:
our shield and defender, the Ancient of Days,
pavilioned in splendor and girded with praise.

O tell of his might and sing of his grace,
whose robe is the light, whose canopy space.
His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form,
and dark is his path on the wings of the storm.

Your bountiful care, what tongue can recite?
It breathes in the air, it shines in the light;
it streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,
and sweetly distills in the dew and the rain.

Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,
in you do we trust, nor find you to fail.
Your mercies, how tender, how firm to the end,
our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend!

O measureless Might, unchangeable Love,
whom angels delight to worship above!
Your ransomed creation, with glory ablaze,
in true adoration shall sing to your praise!” ~Robert Grant (1833)

Father, keep my eyes toward heaven in dependence for power, and my hands lifted high in praise.