Psalm 104
The Live-Giving Waters
The average human body is 60% water, with higher percentages for the heart, brain and lungs. Water is necessary to protect the eyes from dryness and irritation. It helps with maintaining our body temperature as heat is expelled through sweating. Water aids in helping our muscles move smoothly. The body weakens and tires without regular rehydration.
Water in the world helps to grow the plants we eat and which maintain our atmospheric balance. The seas and oceans regulate the weather. Water is pivotal for life, not just as we know it, but for our very existence.
And in this week’s Psalm, we see that water is the overflowing of God’s joy and goodness and care for his creation.
1 Bless the LORD, O my soul!
O LORD my God, you are very great!
You are clothed with splendour and majesty,
2 covering yourself with light as with a garment,
stretching out the heavens like a tent.
3 He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters;
he makes the clouds his chariot;
he rides on the wings of the wind;
4 he makes his messengers winds,
his ministers a flaming fire.
5 He set the earth on its foundations,
so that it should never be moved.
6 You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
7 At your rebuke they fled;
at the sound of your thunder they took to flight.
8 The mountains rose, the valleys sank down
to the place that you appointed for them.
9 You set a boundary that they may not pass,
so that they might not again cover the earth.
10 You make springs gush forth in the valleys;
they flow between the hills;
11 they give drink to every beast of the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12 Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell;
they sing among the branches.
13 From your lofty abode you water the mountains;
the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.
14 You cause the grass to grow for the livestock
and plants for man to cultivate,
that he may bring forth food from the earth
15 and wine to gladden the heart of man,
oil to make his face shine
and bread to strengthen man’s heart.
16 The trees of the LORD are watered abundantly,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
17 In them the birds build their nests;
the stork has her home in the fir trees.
18 The high mountains are for the wild goats;
the rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.
19 He made the moon to mark the seasons;
the sun knows its time for setting.
20 You make darkness, and it is night,
when all the beasts of the forest creep about.
21 The young lions roar for their prey,
seeking their food from God.
22 When the sun rises, they steal away
and lie down in their dens.
23 Man goes out to his work
and to his labour until the evening.
24 O LORD, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom have you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
25 Here is the sea, great and wide,
which teems with creatures innumerable,
living things both small and great.
26 There go the ships,
and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it.
27 These all look to you,
to give them their food in due season.
28 When you give it to them, they gather it up;
when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
29 When you hide your face, they are dismayed;
when you take away their breath, they die
and return to their dust.
30 When you send forth your Spirit, they are created,
and you renew the face of the ground.
31 May the glory of the LORD endure for ever;
may the LORD rejoice in his works,
32 who looks on the earth and it trembles,
who touches the mountains and they smoke!
33 I will sing to the LORD as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him,
for I rejoice in the LORD.
35 Let sinners be consumed from the earth,
and let the wicked be no more!
Bless the LORD, O my soul!
Praise the LORD!
As with Psalm 103, this song opens with an address to our souls (v1). But where the previous Psalm was focused on reminding ourselves on God’s redemption, here we speak to our souls of God’s creation, and his lavish generosity in it. So if Psalm 103 is about God’s saving grace for his people, this is God’s universal grace to all people. In our worship, we celebrate both that we are redeemed by God (Romans 8.1) and created by God (1 Corinthians 8.6).
The following words of the Psalm after the first line then are the song our souls are invited to take as our own, as we lift our eyes to the luminous splendour of our great God (1-4). Here we fix the eyes of faith on the Lord God who constructed all creation and is enthroned with all authority over the entirety of the cosmos.
As we move into the main body, we see a particular theme within God’s creation that runs through this Psalm: the waters.
First, we see God’s dominion over the seas and oceans (5-9). Here we are transported back into the primordial waters of the creation. Once the waters covered the earth (see Gen 1.2), but now God by his word has brought order and life. Where in the opening chapter of the Scriptures, God spoke, here the drama of the moment is conveyed as he “rebukes” the waters, and they cower before his thunderous voice. Anyone who has spent much time near or on the waters knows their fearsome potential (see Mark 4.37-38). Yet where men and women cower before the great power of the oceans, they waters cower before God. They move at his behest for he is wholly and totally sovereign over all. Just as they did when Jesus rebuked the storm in the sea and it was silenced at his word (Mark 4.39).
Second, we see God’s gracious generosity through the waters. This is the main focus of the Psalm. As Jesus said, God sends rain on both the just and the unjust (Matthew 5.45). This is what theologians have called his common grace. This is in contrast to his special grace, which is the salvation given only to all who believe. God’s common grace is his continuing provision of everything we need to live and move and have our being. And in this Psalm we celebrate God’s life-giving and life-sustaining waters.
The waters pouring out from the skies at the joyous behest of our God is cause for our celebration. For through this lavish provision, God:
quenches the thirst of all his creatures (10-11)
nourishes the trees in which the birds find a home (12, 16)
grows the grass which feeds the livestock (14)
grows the produce for wine and oil and bread which gladdens our hearts (15)
fills the oceans, where fish play and live and ships throw nets in for food (25-28)
God has formed the earth and filled it with his creatures (24). With the waters cascading from the skies and running through the earth, the sun rising in the morning and moon watching over the night, God has engineered it so that humanity might labour during the day and rest well at night (19-23).
All of this is a witness to the power and kindness of God. Every time it rains, it is evidence to us of God’s rich blessing on all humanity. When Paul and Barnabas were in Lystra, they healed a man who could not walk. The crowds thought Zeus and Hermes were walking among them. Paul stridently denied this, saying they were just mere men. He said their message was to turn from vain idols like the Greek gods and turn towards the living and true God. Paul said God had left a witness for all the world in the rains from the skies. And using language resonant of Psalm 104, he said the rains had left “fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness” (Acts 14.17). This should lead to our repentance to the living God and giving ourselves to true worship of him.
We then remembering God’s everyday mercies of rains and water and seas, pray for the LORD’s glory to be magnified and for him to retain his exuberant joy in providing all we need (v31). And we commit to giving him the praise and adoration he alone deserves (v33).
And so praising the LORD, we say together:
Glory be to God the Father, who is clothed with splendour and majesty.
Glory be to God the Son, through whom and for whom all things were created.
Glory be to God the Spirit, who is sent forth to bring renewal into the hearts of the church.
Ever three and ever One.
Home Group: Ecclesiastes 3.16-4.16
What is so surprising about where the Preacher sees wickedness (3.16)? How does what he say in his heart comfort us and keep us labouring on (3.17; see also 1 Peter 2.22-23)?
How does knowing we will die humble us (3.18-21)? How does knowing we will die cause us to rejoice in our work (3.22)?
4.3 is a bleak conclusion to his observation in 4.1. Is there anything that we can take from this as we toil on in the world?
How does envy motivate people to work hard (4.4)? What is a bad response to this envy driven working and what is a good way to counteract it (4.5-6)?
What does the man who works hard fail to notice (4.7-8)? Why is friendship so important as persevere in our work (4.9-12)?
Why is a poor youth better than an old king in his labours (4.13)? How does his legacy limit our understanding of the benefit of wisdom (4.16)?