Heaven and Nature Sing

Tuesday, Dec. 9. Psalm 96. I was impressed by Isaac Watt's "Joy to the World" which we sang on Sunday. He drew his inspiration from Psalm 98, a kingdom psalm with a very similar emphasis to our Psalm 96. Heaven and Nature sing at the coming of the Lord. We see the beginnings of this rejoicing not only at Jesus' birth in Bethlehem, but in the praises of Elizabeth and Mary while they are still just expectant mothers, bearers of an impossible knowledge, knowledge of what is in the works, knowers of what God is up to, knowing more than anyone else in the world, knowing it with their heads and hearts and bodies, knowing it with the new life stirring in their wombs. Heaven and nature are singing within them. I think as heaven and nature awake within us, we become more adept at hearing from afar, amidst the present groan of creation, the rejoicing that took place when Christ came the first time and this tunes our hearts so that we may hear from however near or far away it is, the rejoicing at his Second Coming.