Psalm Devotional
Bless the Lord for Creation!
Written by Ian Wise. This devotional was first published in the April 2012 issue of The Reformed Presbyterian Witness.
Psalms 103 and 104 are twins, but not identical twins. Both begin and end with the psalmist’s stirring himself up to “Bless the Lord, O my soul!” Both can be categorized as songs of thanksgiving or praise. Yet where Psalm 103 focuses on redemption, Psalm 104 has creation as its theme.
The writer seems to have Genesis 1 in mind and, in a general way, follows the days of creation. The whole effect is of a poetic, vibrant, devotional view of God’s creation; and the whole point is that we would be inspired to praise the God of creation.
Let’s take a brief look at the overall flow of the heart of the psalm (vv. 5-30), before returning to the entire song for some points of application.
Stability (vv. 5-9)
In our society many fear that, as we ascended from chaos, so at any moment to chaos we might return. Thus we are happy people to know the God who “laid the foundations of the earth, so that it should not be moved forever” (v. 5). He has a place for the waters and dry land, and a boundary has been set (vv. 8-9).
Fertility (vv. 10-18)
Creation and providence intersect in this section. The Lord has made and sustained an earth rich and bountiful in every material necessity. Of this wealth, all His creatures are the daily beneficiaries.
Regularity (vv. 19-23)
Being predictable is not always viewed as a positive trait, but order is a blessing! The tides and sunrise are two such “givens” that the psalmist enumerates. Derek Kidner remarks that such predictability “brings no monotony but only enrichment, and a built-in safeguard of the balance of work and rest which is one of His best gifts.”
Humility (vv. 24-30)
Since God is the author of life, His sovereignty is seen every day, in life begun and life ended: “You take away their spirit, they die and return to dust. You send forth Your Spirit, they are created” (vv. 29-30). Earth itself has no intrinsic life or vitality. We creatures are dependent for everything.
What are some lessons we ought to learn from this hymn of praise?
- Take time to marvel at God’s universe: its beauty and immensity, its unity and diversity, its order and complexity. We, of all people, shouldn’t be blind to these works (vv. 24, 31). The psalmist obviously wasn’t. He uses all his skill in describing creation’s wonder. God encourages us to explore it, to examine it, and to marvel. Matthew Henry said, “The works of art, the more closely they are looked upon with the help of microscopes, the more rough they appear; the works of nature through these glasses appear more fine and exact.”
- The more we marvel at God’s universe, the more we praise our God. It’s as if, unable to restrain himself for another moment, the writer interrupts his train of thought to look heavenward: “O Lord, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all” (v. 24). His soul is lifted to a place of greater appreciation and praise and humility: This is the God I worship and serve! “O Lord my God, You are very great!” (v. 1).
- This psalm convinces us of God’s continued care of His creation. We don’t make the mistake of the pantheist, who believes that God is the earth, but we must be careful of the deist’s error, too: that God is remote, distant, aloof. God is distinct from the world, but that doesn’t mean He’s distant. “He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters, who makes the clouds His chariot, who walks on the wings of the wind.”
- It’s crucial in our day that we glorify God and God alone as the Creator of the universe. There’s an apologetic thrust to this psalm. Archaeologists have uncovered a Hymn to Aten, the Egyptian sun god, supposedly written by Pharaoh Amenhotep IV. In part it reads, “When thou hast risen, they live; when thou settest, they die.” Perhaps verses 29 and 30 were written in response?
- This psalm leads us to praise our mighty Creator-Savior, Jesus Christ. While praising God for His work of creation, the hymn is anything but unrealistic. Its perspective is post-Eden and post-Fall. There is death (v. 29), and there are sinners (v. 35). It’s a world that is no longer the place God created it to be. It’s a world that groans, seeking renovation (Rom. 8:19-22).
It’s a world awaiting the return of Christ. He, with Father and Spirit, created the universe: “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made” (John 1:3.) And the very same Son, clothed in the flesh of fallen man, lived, died and rose as the only mediator between God and man, that all who believe in Him might be made new, and might inherit a renewed heavens and earth! (v. 30; see 2 Pet. 3:13).
