God Of The Earth, The Sky, The Sea
God of the Earth, the Sky, the Sea
God of the earth, the sky, the sea,
Maker of all above below,
Creation lives and moves in Thee,
Thy present life through all doth flow.
Thy love is in the sunshine’s glow,
Thy life is in the quickening air;
When lightnings flash and storm winds blow,
There is Thy power; Thy law is there.
We feel Thy calm at evening’s hour,
Thy grandeur in the march of night;
And when the morning breaks in power,
We hear Thy word, “Let there be light!”
But higher far, and far more clear,
Thee in man’s spirit we behold;
Thine image and Thyself are there,
Th’indwelling God, proclaimed of old.
SAMUEL LONGFELLOW, brother of the famous poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, loved the seashore. He once compiled a book called Thalatta, including “all the charming bits of poetry in the language about the sea and the seashore.”
Like many of the psalms, this hymn praises God for His involvement in nature. Paul wrote that the invisible qualities of God are clearly seen in what God has created. Longfellow echoes Paul’s message here. God’s love, life, power, and even His law are seen in the events of nature.
He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples, and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries. His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and exist.
Acts 17:24-28
From the book
