Our Creative God
Opening Prayer
Lord, Your entire creation sings aloud to You each and every day, from the birds, to the fish, to each one of us.
Read Psalm 104
1 Praise the Lord, my soul.
Lord my God, you are very great;
you are clothed with splendor and majesty.
2 The Lord wraps himself in light as with a garment;
he stretches out the heavens like a tent
3 and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.
He makes the clouds his chariot
and rides on the wings of the wind.
4 He makes winds his messengers,
flames of fire his servants.
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.
11 They give water to all the beasts of the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12 The birds of the sky nest by the waters;
they sing among the branches.
13 He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;
the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work.
14 He makes grass grow for the cattle,
and plants for people to cultivate—
bringing forth food from the earth:
15 wine that gladdens human hearts,
oil to make their faces shine,
and bread that sustains their hearts.
16 The trees of the Lord are well watered,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
17 There the birds make their nests;
the stork has its home in the junipers.
18 The high mountains belong to the wild goats;
the crags are a refuge for the hyrax.
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.
21 The lions roar for their prey
and seek their food from God.
22 The sun rises, and they steal away;
they return and lie down in their dens.
23 Then people go out to their work,
to their labor until evening.
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.
26 There the ships go to and fro,
and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.
27 All creatures look to you
to give them their food at the proper time.
28 When you give it to them,
they gather it up;
when you open your hand,
they are satisfied with good things.
29 When you hide your face,
they are terrified;
when you take away their breath,
they die and return to the dust.
30 When you send your Spirit,
they are created,
and you renew the face of the ground.
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.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him,
as I rejoice in the Lord.
35 But may sinners vanish from the earth
and the wicked be no more.
Praise the Lord, my soul.
Praise the Lord.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
There is an almost infinite variety of life on planet earth, which stands in such contrast to its inhospitable neighbors.
Think Further
As a keen birdwatcher I regularly feed the birds in my garden and record those that come. It’s fun to watch their different characteristics. Greenfinches sit guzzling on the seed feeder. Sparrows dart in and out quickly. I have seen collared doves appearing to plead with me to put more food out. And yet all the birds fly off when I go out into the garden. They depend on me when the surrounding food supply is low, but they’re wary of me as well. Perhaps that’s a good illustration of how humans are with God. We depend on him for everything and yet there’s a wariness, too—which comes through clearly in this psalm.
In evocative poetry, the psalmist picks out the relationship of creation to its Creator, beginning with some wonderful metaphors which invite us to see creation as something he delights in, charged with his energy and alive with his presence (1–4) (Derek Kidner, Psalms 73–150, 369). It culminates in a note of trusting dependence and praise (27–35). There are striking resemblances to Akhenaten’s fourteenth-century B.C. “Hymn to the Sun” in parts of the psalm, but there is a huge difference between worshiping the sun and worshiping its Maker—something that is brought out in our reading (Kidner, 368). Sadly, some of the best wildlife experts are unable to see God in his creation, yet Paul tells us there is no excuse for that lack of vision (Rom. 1:20).
The psalm looks back to Genesis 1, but also to the Exodus. The descriptions of springs in the valleys and hills, grain, wine, oil, grass for the cattle and so on are very close in their wording to the preview Moses gives to Israel when they’re about to enter the Promised Land (Deut. 8:7–9; 11:11–15).
Apply
Read through the psalm again, slowly, and delight in the wonder of God’s world. Then pray verses 31–34.
Closing prayer
Lord, as I meditate upon the wondrous works of Your hands, help me to appreciate the variety You have graciously given the inhabitants of the earth to enjoy.
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