Psalm 104 — The Yeti Version
the creation account retold.
This one might have set a new record for me for how long it took to rewrite. It not only is decently long, but it is perhaps the most poetic of any psalm that I have rewritten. I had to do some research and found out that this is very much is a rough poetic reflection on the creation narrative. I really tried to help the modern reader understand the imagery that I think the author was trying to convey. For a reliable translation, please see the ESV version.
Self, celebrate Jesus! God, you are awesome! You are so regal.
Because you are king and creator, this is how I see the world. Light is a fabric that you use for your clothing. The sky above is like a tent you have pitched for all of us to live under.
And that tent is supported by the beams that you build your house on in storm clouds. You ride the wispy clouds like your chariot.
You send your messengers out with the wind patterns and your representatives with fire.
Imagining the earth like a rectangular terrarium with a layer of rocks at the bottom, you first put us on a sturdy table that does not wobble.
Then you added water to the terrarium like a blanket so that even the tallest rocks were covered with water.
Then with a thunder clap of your hands, a lot of the water began to evaporate.
Then while that was happening, you rearranged the rocks and added dirt to form mountains and valleys.
You removed just the right amount of water so that not everything would be covered again.
You drew the paths for the rivers to flow in the landscape.
All of the land animals will get the water they need to drink from there.
Birds will make their nests along the rivers.
From your house in the clouds, you watered the mountains and watched the water flow down. From a land and water perspective, there was completion and peace.
With that as a foundation, you began to grow edible plants for humans and their livestock.
You gave us food for strength, wine for levity, and oils for happy and healthy skin.
You planted and grew forests of trees
that many birds call home.
You made homes for all sorts of land animals as well — steep mountains for goats and rocks for weasels.
For our terrarium, you gave us signs indicate the passing of time. The moon for seasons. The sun for days.
You also created each time unit to have a purpose. The night belongs to forest critters
and to the lions searching for the food God provides for them.
When the morning comes, everything on the night shift returns to their homes,
and it is time for humanity to go out and about to do the daily work…until nightfall comes once again.
Jesus, you’ve done so much! The ground is covered with all of the different things you have made…
not to mention the oceans which are filled with animals big and small.
Our ships roaming the waters have encountered your huge sea creatures.
Everything relies on you for food, and you give it to them in your time on your schedule.
And when you do, everything accepts what you give because what you give is good.
When you pull away and choose not to give, they all are sad. When you take their last breath, they return to the earth as dust.
When you give them your breath, life comes from the dust.
I hope the celebration for God’s importance never ends, and I hope that God enjoys what he does.
Our little terrarium prepares itself to be moved or changed whenever God looks at it.
While I still have breath in my lungs, I will celebrate Jesus with songs.
I hope God appreciates my conscience and unconscious thoughts, including this psalm!
People who don’t want anything to do with God can just disappear from Earth for all I care. Self, praise Jesus!
