If you are looking for “Bible lessons and songs for kids of all ages”, this song is a good candidate. The idea to use songs to augment “sermons” has been around for a long time. Lyrics for this song were written by Cecil F. Alexander as part of her collection of hymns to teach — especially young people — specific points found in the Apostle’s Creed. It offers her explanation of the phrase from that creed, “Maker of heaven and earth.” We can easily see not just that creed, but also Genesis 1:31 in this song: “And God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” Please give this song a sing-along listen, and come back for a chat on the idea that, though people’s opinions about beauty differ, God’s word can help us learn to see what is truly beautiful in His eyes.
Learn God’s taste in beauty
Hymnary.org offers these comments about this song:
“… when we are in the midst of God’s creation, are our ideas of who God is not being shaped by all that we see? God made a good creation, and He loves it. Our God is a good God, who gives us good things, and then tasks us with taking care of them. Our God is imaginative, and His creation is both whimsical and sometimes startlingly majestic. Let us lift our voices in praise to our maker, the creator of all things bright and beautiful.”
We’ve heard people say, “Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder” . We understand that to mean “each of us gets to define what is beautiful” — so, of course, defining beauty can be tough. Do you imagine it could help us live better if we would learn to think of beauty the way the Lord does?
God’s words can lead us to discover and see what beauty truly is.
Now THAT’S beautiful!
Many verses in the Bible point us toward a Godly view of beauty — of what the Lord regards as “good”. Here are a few to think about.
And God looked upon all that He had made, and indeed, it was very good.
— [Genesis 1:31 BSB]
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
— [Psalm 139:14 BSB]
Do you see yourself as God’s masterpiece? He does! He wants you to “know that full well”. Think of that when you look at yourself in a mirror.
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
— [Ecclesiastes 3:11 BSB]
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.
— [Psalm 27:4 BSB]
What about people and beauty? Peter writes to Christian woman, “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair or gold jewelry or fine clothes, but from the inner disposition of your heart, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in God’s sight. For this is how the holy women of the past adorned themselves. They put their hope in God …” (1 Pet 3:3-5 BSB). True beauty to God is not what you or I look like on the outside, but what’s in our heart and if a person has repented and trusted in Christ.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
[Philippians 4:8]
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.
[Colossians 3:12 ]
Beautiful!
“♫♪ All things bright and beautiful ♫♪”
God’s children of all ages can easily understand the mind pictures this song paints. Someone called this kind of song lyric a “catalog text” because it lists various works of God’s making — flowers and birds (verse 1), mountains, rivers, morning, and sunset (verse 2), cold winter, pleasant summer and fruit of the harvest (verse 3), and humans formed, made and created to see and proclaim the beauty of the Lord (verse 4). The chorus re-asserts it was the Lord who made the good and the beautiful, using the word “all” four times! What a blessing to be able to go through our days seeing — and singing — that the Lord God is the One to praise and to thank as the maker of all things bright and beautiful.
God bless you lots
-Dale R.
LYRICS – All Things Bright and Beautiful
Text: Cecil Frances Alexander (1848)
Tune: 17th Century English melody “ROYAL OAK”
Chorus:
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
And all things wise and wonderful;
The Lord God made them all.
1. Each little flow’r that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colors,
He made their tiny wings.
2. The purple-headed mountain,
The river running by,
The sunset, and the morning
That brightens up the sky.
3. The cold wind in the winter,
The pleasant summer sun,
The ripe fruits in the garden:
He made them, every one.
4. He gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell
How great is God Almighty,
Who has made all things well.
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