Psalms 104

Psalms 104:1

Psalm 104: Creator and SustainerThink of what must be involved in running cities like New York or London or Tokyo with their millions of inhabitants. Complex organizations administer the water department, the housing department, the food supplies and all the other essential services. But then think how infinitely more complex is God’s task of managing the world in which we live. There is the problem of supplying water for all His creatures. There is the immense logistical task of providing food for men, beasts, birds and fish. There is the matter of housing and shelter. It can only give us great thoughts of God to meditate on Him as the Creator and Sustainer of this vast world of nature. 104:1-3 After summoning every part of his being to extol the LORD, the unnamed psalmist gives one of those great descriptions of God that must have inspired Michelangelo. It has to be understood as figurative language, because how else can you describe the invisible God or capture His infinite greatness with finite words? As he stands and gazes and wonders, the psalmist exclaims, “O LORD my God, You are very great!” Then the details of the theophany (an appearance of God) pour forth. God has robed Himself in garments of inexpressible splendor and majesty. He has covered Himself with light as with a garment, a symbol of His absolute purity and righteousness. He spreads the stellar and atmospheric heavens over the earth like a curtaina work that boggles the mind by its immensity. The watery cloud-cover over the earth forms the foundation on which the pillars of the heavens were set. Scudding across the sky, the clouds are the chariot of Jehovah, borne along on the wings of the wind. 104:4 Who makes His angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire. Since the Hebrew uses the same word for wind and spirit and another word means both angel and messenger, this may be translated: “Who makes winds His messengers, a flame of fire His ministers.” This fits the nature context nicely, but the quotation of this verse in the context of Heb_1:7 requires the traditional translation. (The Greek language has the same sets of double meanings, so it applies in both Testaments.) 104:5-9 It becomes evident as we move through the Psalm that we are re-living the days of creation in Genesis 1, although some of the days are not as distinctly referred to as others. The psalmist marvels at the providential arrangements of God for His creatures and especially for man. First, he recalls how God formed the earth on invisible foundations so that it would provide a stable, unshakable surface for habitation. At the outset, the entire earth was covered with waters so deep that even the mountains were submerged. On the third day God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear” (Gen_1:9). Immediately the waters beat a hasty retreat. The mountains and valleys appeared in the locations which God had prearranged for them. The seas and oceans were formed with distinct boundaries so that they would not invade the dry land. 104:10-13 Then God’s marvelous water system began operating. Springs began pumping out water in abundance. The streams fought their way downhill to the valleys and lowlands and eventually to the seas. Ever since then the wild animals have been quenching their thirst in these streams, rivers and lakes. And the birds have found nesting places in the trees that grow beside these water courses. Another part of the water department is the rain. As Elihu pointed out, God “draws up drops of water, which distill as rain from the mist, which the clouds drop down and pour abundantly upon man” (Job_36:27-28). And as the great sprinkling system waters the mountains, the earth is satisfied with the results of God’s irrigation program. 104:14, 15 Next is the commissary department. He provides vegetation in abundance and variety for the cattle, and grains for man to cultivate, both for himself and as fodder for his livestock. By a slow, silent miracle, food comes out of the earth. The juice of the grapes is turned into wine by a marvelous chemical process, and man is cheered as he drinks it. The olive yields its golden oil with a wide variety of uses, both healthful and tasty. And from the grain comes bread, the staff of life, to give man strength for his labors. 104:16-18 The great trees of the forest suck up tons of water from the ground; the cedars of Lebanon grow naturally without human planting. These in turn provide housing facilities for the birds. The stork, for instance, nests in the fir trees (which may mean junipers or cypresses). The high mountains provide ideal sanctuary for the wild goats, and the rocks a home for the badgers. 104:19-23 Since life moves along in cycles and on schedule, there must be some way to measure time. So God set the moon in place to mark the months, and the sun, as if conscious, knows when to set and thus to mark the end of another day. The regular alternation of day and night is providential for animals and man. Under the cover of darkness the beasts of the forest go prowling after their food. When morning comes, they slink back to the safety of their dens. But man goes off to his work and utilizes the hours of daylight for productive labor. 104:24-26 The variety of God’s works is staggering. “What wisdom has designed them all” (Knox). The earth is full of His creatures, and He cares for each one with amazing attention to detail. The sea swarms with life both small and great, ranging all the way from the minute plankton to the whales. The mention of ships in verse 26 seems somewhat out of place in a discussion of living creatures. Some understand it to mean sea monsters (Gen_1:21), but ships is the correct reading. Leviathan (in the same verse) may refer to the whales or porpoises which find the sea an ideal playground for their sporting antics. (But see comments and endnotes on Job 41.) 104:27-30 Though they may not be conscious of it, all living organisms depend on God for their food. As He supplies it, they gather it in. He opens His hand and they are abundantly filled. In verse 13, the earth is satisfied with the results of God’s work in sending the rain. In verse 16 the trees are full of sap. And now all creatures are filled. An inescapable fact of God’s economy is that death strikes down one generation, and a new one is raised up to take its place. When animals die, either by violence or through age, it is as if God were hiding His face. But at the same time that these fall and return to . . . dust, God sends forth His Spirit and repopulates the earth with what seems like a fresh creation. On the one hand there is a constant wasting away, on the other hand a continual renewal of the face of the earth. 104:31, 32 Just as the Psalm opened with the original creation, now it closes with a passionate prayer for the golden age when the ravages of sin will be suppressed and when the LORD will be honored and glorified for His greatness and goodness: He (the psalmist) longs to see it all brought back, restored, to find himself and all God’s creatures, parts of the mighty harmony, that a new sabbath of creation may dawn, a rest of God, in which He shall rejoice in His works and they in Him, and the universe becomes a temple filled with the anthem of praise. As for the LORD, the psalmist prays that His glory will endure forever, that He will rejoice in His worksthis great God whose glance produces an earthquake, whose touch causes volcanic eruptions. 104:33-35 As for himself, the sacred writer is determined to sing forth the excellencies of his God as long as he lives. He prays that his meditation might be sweet to Jehovah in whom he finds his true joy. As for sinners who spoil God’s creation, he sees a moral fitness in their being banished from the earth. God has already decreed that it shall be so, and thus his prayer is in accord with the divine will. As for ourselves, we can surely join him in his final doxology: Bless the LORD, O my soul. Praise the LORD!