PSALM 104:1-5, 13-15, 24, 27-30.
PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO PSALM 104.
The lesson this Sunday is the first in a series of four on the theme of CREATION. We have here a great song of praise commencing and closing with a note of personal praise. The dominant note is that of His majesty. This is a song of loyalty to Royalty. Our God is an AWESOME God. The Bible throughout declares that the created order of the universe reflects God as an intelligent, loving and powerful Creator. This is basic and essential to Biblical faith.
In recent years more and more scientists are writing that evidence from the universe point towards a “designer.” Many of them will not use the word of God but they are convinced that Scientific evidence, honestly studied, points toward some type of intelligent design. The Bible is clear in its affirmation that there is design in the universe because there is a Designer!
Psalm 104 is so closely related to the Genesis account of creation that it has been called Genesis 1 put to song. Its structure reflects the six days of creation. On the first day, light was created. On the second day, the firmament divided the waters. On the third day, land emerged out of the water, and God created vegetation and trees. On the fourth day, luminaries were created as timekeepers. On the fifth day, God created creatures of sea and air. On the sixth day, God created animals and human beings, and He appointed food for all creatures.
However, Psalm 104 is more than a review of the creations of the six days. It is a hymn of praise to the awesome God who created all things. The author used poetic language to depict the creator in terms people could identify with. He also magnified the way the Creator provides for each part of His creation. Some of this is in Genesis l, but it is magnified in Psalm l04. This psalm also magnifies the interrelationships among living things. Thus it presents a biblical view of ecology in which God binds all things together. Finally, Psalm 104 shows how God’s creative work continued beyond the initial creation recorded in Genesis 1. God is the giver of life.
Psalm 104 was written to inspire a reaction of praise. The song of praise can become our song as our souls plunge with the singer through the adventure of God’s work in creation. This magnificent passage of Scripture is an invitation to a worship experience of genuine praise.
PLEASE READ PSALM 104: 1-5.
This psalm is dedicated to Jehovah, the Creator and Sustainer. Psalm 104 begins with the psalmist setting his soul up for praise. Here is an appeal to have a worship experience at the deepest level of being—one’s soul. The exciting appeal of Psalm l04 is the offer of spiritual refreshment to a dry and thirsty soul.
With his soul in the spiritual readiness position, the psalmist made a direct address of praise and adoration to God—You are very great. What it means to be very great is defined in the case of this psalm by what God did as Creator.
As impressive as God’s greatness is, His availability to individuals also inspires heartfelt praise. The psalmist expressed his personal knowledge of God---my God. It is one thing to exclaim God’s greatness, but quite another to claim a personal relationship. The One who is very great cares for one who is very small. In this way the psalmist drew life from the creator of the universe and also was connected to strength beyond himself. Gathering momentum from his first line of address, the psalm writer described God in kingly terms—majesty and splendor. Both terms picture the scene of a king appearing in public with his subjects bowing at his sovereign presence.
The psalmist wrote a hymn of praise to this awesome God. Over the centuries others, such as Start K. Hine, have followed his example with a favorite of Baptists, “How Great Thou Art.”
Vs. 2 begins with the awesome picture of God in His acts of creating. The picture is of the master craftsman in the process of putting segments of creation together. Light ignites the creation process coming from the essence of God Himself, who has light as His clothing. God’s outfit is appropriate because 1 John 1:5 says “there is no darkness in Him at all.” The energy for the creation comes from God’s essential nature. No doubt, God’s glorious character shines forth in the beauty of His creation.
Following the Gen. 1 sequence, the psalmist described the setting of God’s dwelling place in the firmament above in Gen. 1:8. We could call it a cosmic condominium with a fantastic view. From that perspective, God brought heavenly solutions to earthly situations.
The psalmist switched from sating who God is to what He has done. He directed our reverent attention to God as the divine construction engineer whose construction site began with a work in the sky. Spreading out the sky speaks of the action of a tentmaker spreading the canvas across the tent frame
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In vs. 3-4 the action of laying the beams of His palace was according to the plan and design of a Master designer. The world under construction is a thought-through project that fits according to the design of the Master Builder. Structure comes to the unstructured with God’s guiding direction.
He made the clouds His chariot and walked upon the wings of the wind and made the wind His messenger. He used lighting or flames of fire as His servants. What a poetic description of God.
In Genesis 1 God spoke the parts of the universe into being. Here He is depicted in human-like activities that resulted in creation. One impression of both accounts is the ease with which the Creator did His work. For example, creating the sky was like a man putting up a tent. Another impression is that the creation belongs to the Creator.
In vs. 5 the psalmist followed the Genesis sequence with God’s act of creation moving from the sky above to the earth below. He said God established, a strong verb that means, “to set in place.” Having stretched out the heavens like a curtain, God then established the earth on its foundations.
This statement shows that God is both powerful and separate from His creation. It also excludes the claims of dualism---that matter is eternal alongside God. Neither is there room here for an evolutionary model that understands the origins of the earth as part of a process of billions of years of development. As Gen. 1:1 puts it, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” God spoke and it was done—instantly and in full form. The Hebrew verb translated established basically means to lay a foundation. It is commonly used in contexts of building or construction.
Psalm 104:5 thus could be rendered, “He founded the earth on its foundations.” The result of its being founded by God Himself is that the earth is permanent---it will never be shaken. These words do not mean that the earth will never end, but it assures us that it is in the Lord’s hands.
If people of ancient times marveled at the wonder of the universe and the majesty of the God who created it, how much more should we? Science has shown us that the universe is more immense and more intricate than past generations realized. Of course, some people have assumed that science has made belief in a divine Creator unnecessary and impossible. Others see in each advance stronger confirmation of faith in a wise and powerful Creator.
Some unbelievers accept a purely natural explanation for the things God created.
But it takes more blind faith to believe that everything just happened than it does to believe the biblical record.
What is the chance that the world was created by chance? The biblical answer thunders forth—not a chance! God put together a creation production that brings wonder and amazement. God is an awesome Creator!
Such a description of the person and work of the Creator ought to inspire profound and heartfelt praise. This is the intention of the psalmist, who opened his composition with the self- admonition, My soul, praise the Lord!
PLEASE MOVE DOWN TO PSALM 104: 13.
PLEASE READ PSALM 104: 13-15.
Vs. 6-12 form a transition from vs. 5 to vs. 13. God brought dry land into being, but water continues to be vital for life on earth. God is the giver of the gift of water. He controls it so that it stays within its bounds. From His dwelling in heaven God watered the hills with rain.
Many ancient religions were fertility religions that promised rain to grow crops and sustain life. This was why God used Elijah in 1 Kings 18 to deprive Israel of rain for three years and then defeat the prophets of Baal and pray for rain at Mount Carmel. This showed that the Lord, not Baal controlled the rain. When people recognize God, the earth is satisfied with the fruit of His works.
Having extolled the Lord as the Creator of all things, the psalmist then celebrated the fact that God provides for all that He has created. Creation is not random or purposeless. God made the heavens and the earth to bring glory to Himself, but He did so to provide an arena in which humankind, His most noble creative achievement, could exercise the dominion inherent in being created in the image and likeness of God. To create the universe only to turn it loose and let it run on its own would make it subject to decay and would undercut God’s purposes. What God begins He continues to sustain.
The Lord sends rains for the benefit of all living things. God provides springs for animals to quench their thirst. This includes wild animals and birds. Vs. 14 focuses on domestic animals and human beings. He causes the grass to grow for the livestock. God provides crops for man to cultivate. The purpose is that He may bring forth food out of the earth. The He in vs. 13-14a is clearly God. He sends the rain so the plants grow.
According to Canaanite mythology—which both the psalmist and his readers would have known---Baal was the god of thunder and lighting and thus responsible for the rain without which the land and all its inhabitants would die. The Lord’s people must know, however, that God the Creator is also God the Provider.
He alone pours out the rain upon the mountains as the clouds from the Mediterranean deposit their waters there. And from the slopes of these mountains, they cascade down the river-beds to supply life-giving nourishment to the thirsty valleys and fields below. The earth is totally dependent on God and is satisfied by God’s labor on its behalf.
God’s labor is not a reference to actual physical effort, for the omnipotent One need only speak and it is done. What is being emphasized is that God is so interested in His creation that He willingly sees that it is properly cared for. Such tender care toward His creation may seem in conflict with the theological idea of God’s “otherness”---, His distinctness from creation because of His holiness. But thankfully the God who is far away is also near. The resolution of this tension must remain within the wisdom and character of God Himself.
God’s care for the inanimate earth extends to those creatures that depend upon it for their very existence. The grass that springs up as a result of the rains provides grazing for the livestock. But this concern for livestock has in view ultimately the well-being of humankind, for livestock and all else in creation are there to sustain the human race.
The creation story of Genesis 1:1-2:3 ----in its structure and development---demonstrates clearly that human beings are the focus of the narrative and that all the elements of creation prior to the day of the creation of man and woman were in preparation for that climatic event.
Vs. 14 speaks directly to the fact that God makes provision for man by creating conditions in which crops will grow for the service of man.
The point is that though God makes possible the production of crops, man must engage in the task of taking care of what God creates. There is a partnership between the Lord and humanity that results in the provision of food from the earth. This is partly what it means in Gen. 1: 28 for human beings to accomplish God’s directive to “be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it.
The result of God’s benevolence in providing for His children is not a mere subsistence. Indeed, He enables them to produce wine and oil, goods that were luxuries to the vast majority of Israelites at that time.
The reference to wine that makes man’s heart glad should not be construed, however, as a happiness induced by intoxication. In a land where good drinking water did not abound, wine had to supplement to quench man’s thirst. The Bible is clear that drunkenness does not bring joy but utter misery.
The example of Noah in Gen. 9: 20-27 sounds the warning. In our day many of us believe that total abstinence is the best position. The point here is that God’s provision of blessing beyond he normal should promote a glad and grateful heart in those who receive it.
Oil serves many purposes, including fuel for lamps, food, lubrication, and medicine. The latter may be in view here as some kind of an ointment for skin care, but the context and parallelism suggest that the olive oil here was for food. The reason for the shining face was the joy that the wine had also elicited. When people are richly blessed by God and recognize that the blessings come from Him, their hearts become glad and their faces reflect that gladness.
The delicacies of wine and oil led the poet to rejoice also in God’s provision of bread, “the staff of life.” Bread is often synonymous with human existence. Yet, the Bible reminds us in Matt. 4:4 that we do not live by bread alone. The first petition in the Model Prayer in Matt., is “Give us this day our daily bread.”
Jesus wanted His followers to remember the same basic truth expressed in Ps. 104:15: We are dependent on God for daily bread. We, therefore, should pray in humble trust for it and give thanks when we receive it as one of God’s good gifts. God is to be praised, not just as Creator, but as Provider.
PLEASE READ PSALM 104: 24, 27-30.
Psalm 104 stresses the greatness of God as Creator. Vs. 24 emphasizes his wisdom. When the psalmist contemplated the great abundance and complexity of God’s creation, he did not conclude that it is the result of mindless and random chance. Instead, it is the fruit of divine wisdom. The wisdom of God—and wisdom generally in the Old Testament---has not so much to do with knowledge and intelligence as it does with their proper use.
God has infinite knowledge, of course, but the point to be made here is that every created thing has a divine purpose. Human experience and understanding cannot grasp this, especially when thinking of such pests as mosquitoes or fleas or creatures not seen by the human eye. What value can they have? What do they contribute to the well-ordered course of nature? How can they be a means of bringing glory to God?
The psalmist offered no answer to these questions, nor can we. All that can be said is that the Lord made them all and that He did so in line with some purpose buried deep within His own wisdom. They serve a purpose---His purpose---and for that reason alone they should be an occasion for God’s people to praise Him.
In vs. 26 the Leviathan of the ocean depths was a mighty creature (perhaps a whale), one so large and powerful as to seem totally independent of any need for God. But even it and all its companions would perish were God to withhold from them the food necessary to sustain them.
This food does not come in some unpredictable way or time but precisely at the right time. Just when the needs of the creatures of the sea are most upon them, then the Lord provides for them.
The lesson is two-fold: (1) nothing and no one is large or powerful enough to exist independently of God: (2) the times and seasons of the universe are regulated by Him in such a way that everything interlocks and complements everything else so that all of His creatures have their needs met.
The psalmist observed that all creatures wait for You. This does not mean that animals such as whales have a God-consciousness or that they rationally and logically acknowledge God’s existence and their dependence on Him.
What they have are instincts and drives that remind them of their needs but also give them an intuitive sense that their needs will be met. Thus they wait in anticipation until the Lord satisfies their cravings. It almost seems that they have a greater understanding of God’s transcendence than do many human beings who wrongly attribute the fulfillment of their appetites to their own craftiness and hard work.
The sovereignty of God in dispensing His blessings to even the mute animals is further illustrated by His initiative in feeding them and their corresponding reception of what He provides. They gather it, not finding it necessary to plan or work to acquire it. This is reminiscent of Jesus’ exhortation to the disciples in Matt. 6: 26 to “look at the birds of the sky, they don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? “ This is the psalmist’s point as well. If dumb beasts in some sense recognize their dependence on God, should not men and women created in His image not only recognize this, but praise Him for it?
The animals, in fact, are satisfied with the good things that God provides. Again, their satisfaction is not in terms of a conscious recognition of a personal God whom they can thank and praise. Indeed, the satisfaction here is most likely the alleviation of a physical hunger and not a sense of satisfaction that what they have enjoyed has come from the hands of a gracious Benefactor. Nevertheless, the point remains that God is the source of all good things regardless of whether the recipients are aware of it or not.
The other side of the coin is that He who sustains is also He who withholds His gracious sustenance in times and circumstance according to His wisdom and will. The poet put it in terms of the Lord’s hiding His face, another way of saying He turns His back. When the Lord fixes His gaze upon His creation, He demonstrates His attentive favor. The face of God is, of course, a figure of speech suggesting His person as a whole. In Ex. 33:20 Moses had asked to see the glory of God, by which he meant God’s face, but the Lord had replied, “You cannot see My face, for no one can see Me and live.”
The face of God is thus equated with Himself. For God to hide His face from someone is to expose him to danger, even death. The immediate reference here is to animals that somehow sense their abandonment by God as death approaches. They are terrified, though what all this means cannot be known. Perhaps again it is some kind of instinctive foreboding. That turning God’s face is tantamount to a sentence of death is clear from the parallel line that says, “When You take away their breath, they die and return to the dust.”
The emphasis on death is not the principle point in a passage devoted to the Lord as a Sustainer. What it contributes is the idea that God is so essential to existence that should He avert his gaze or remove His hand from His creatures they would surely die. Their return to the dust is uncreation, the polar opposite to creation.
The God who has created all things can undo His creation and make it as though it never was. The poetry of the text has nothing to do with annihilationism but with the observable fact that decomposition to nothingness follows death.
After Adam sinned, the Lord told him in Gen. 3: 19, “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread,, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” The hope of resurrection was unknown to Adam and to the psalmist to a degree, so from their perspective to return to dust was to perish with finality.
Some glimmer of hope may cast a ray in vs. 30 where the author asserted that creation occurs when God sends forth His breath. In saying this he made unmistakable allusion to the creation account. Gen. 2:7 says, “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.”
Animals are also said to possess the breath of life. This breath also clearly comes from God as the psalm states: “When You send your breath, they (the animals) are created.” God is the One who by definition is a Creator. As such He created in the past, could create in the present, and will re-create in the future.
In the case of human beings, parents are co-creators of human life with God. Life is the gift of God. He gives it, and He allows it to end. But He continues to renew it with each new generation. Humans know that life is a fragile and precious gift of God. Believers know that only as we trust and obey God does life become all it can be. We don’t know the time and manner of our death (for which we are grateful), but we can trust God in life and leave the issue of death in His hands.
God gives the breath of life to all living things. There is a difference, however, between animals and those created in God’s image. Human beings are the only species of living things capable of fellowship with the Creator. Animals have no awareness of their creator, of the certainty of death, or of a continuing life beyond this life. Eccclesiastes 12:7 says of humans after death : “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”
In any case, He is the antithesis of death. If it pleases Him, the Lord can undo death’s tragic consequences and apparent finality. The psalmist affirmed that the Lord renews the face of the earth. He does this in space and time through “natural” processes as evidence of His continuing creative power. But there may also be an eschatological thrust here, one that looks forward to the time when He will make all things new as described in Rev. 21:5.
In a world marred by sin and death, we may a times be tempted to doubt the power and goodness of God. We need to trust God even in times of bereavement and death. When we read vs. 30 from the perspective of God’s full relation, we can see in God’s renewal of life a foreshadowing of eternal life through Jesus Christ. For all His sustaining grace, God is to be praised.
NEXT SUNDAY FROM PSALM 33 BECAUSE GOD RULES OVER HIS CREATION WE BELIEVERS MUST SUBMIT TO HIS AUTHORITY. A.V. DAUGHERTY