Hawaii is an amazing place filled with the wonders of creation. It’s a relatively young place, having been formed by lava, and you can really imagine that the brand new earth and the Garden of Eden filled with strange and amazing fruits, plants and creatures must have been something like it. From the towering volcanoes topped with snow and yet still billowing steam from their vents, to waterfalls cascading down mountains steep and green, to powerful ocean waves pounding beaches of white, pink and black, to rainbow striped trees and red pineapples, Hawaii is a treat for all the senses, just as Almighty God created this world to be.

Genesis 2:4-9

This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven. Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground.

Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. The Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Psalm 95:1-7

¹ Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
    let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
² Let us come before him with thanksgiving
    and extol him with music and song.

³ For the Lord is the great God,
    the great King above all gods.
⁴ In his hand are the depths of the earth,
    and the mountain peaks belong to him.
⁵ The sea is his, for he made it,
    and his hands formed the dry land.

⁶ Come, let us bow down in worship,
    let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
⁷ for he is our God
    and we are the people of his pasture,
    the flock under his care.

Psalm 104 (1;5-10;19-20;24-25;31-33)

1 Praise the Lord, my soul.

Lord my God, you are very great;

    you are clothed with splendor and majesty.

5 He set the earth on its foundations;

    it can never be moved.

6 You covered it with the watery depths as with a garment;

    the waters stood above the mountains.

7 But at your rebuke the waters fled,

    at the sound of your thunder they took to flight;

8 they flowed over the mountains,

    they went down into the valleys,

    to the place you assigned for them.

9 You set a boundary they cannot cross;

    never again will they cover the earth.

10 He makes springs pour water into the ravines;

    it flows between the mountains.

19 He made the moon to mark the seasons,

    and the sun knows when to go down.

20 You bring darkness, it becomes night,

    and all the beasts of the forest prowl.

24 How many are your works, Lord!

    In wisdom you made them all;

    the earth is full of your creatures.

25 There is the sea, vast and spacious,

    teeming with creatures beyond number—

    living things both large and small.

31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever;

    may the Lord rejoice in his works—

32 he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,

    who touches the mountains, and they smoke.

33 I will sing to the Lord all my life;

    I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

PRAYER: Lord, my soul is filled with praise for all of Your marvelous creations, from the splendor of the heavens to the majesty of the mountains, to the power of the seas, and the beauty of the earth, I stand in awe. Help me to be a good steward of the earth and its amazing creatures which You have put under our care, including Your people in all their wonderful diversity. In Jesus’ precious name I thank you!

Blessings,

Jen