Knowing God through His Word … Day by Day

His lightnings light up the world;
the earth sees and trembles.
The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
before the Lord of all the earth.

The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
and all the peoples see his glory.
—Psalm 97:4-6

Pastor Coty Pinckney comments on Psalm 97:

What is the first verse in the Bible? “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Here in this section we have the reaction of the heavens and the earth – in reverse order – to God’s power. These verses don’t add new characteristics, but underline some of previous points through the reaction of creation. When creation sees God as a consuming fire, how does it respond?

The earth trembles! The mountains melt!

Think about melting for a moment:

• What must you do to melt an ice cube? Simply take it out of the freezer!
• What about a wax candle? Light the wick, and it will melt over time.
• What about a 12 inch cube of granite? That’s not easy. But if we took that to an iron smelter, we could handle it.
• What about a mountain? What would it take to melt Mount Everest? Or, for that matter, what would it take to melt the mountain range that contains Jerusalem? We can’t do it. Not even nuclear bombs could melt a mountain.

This is power indeed.