“These all look to You, to give them their food in due season. When You give it to them, they gather it up; when You open Your hand, they are filled with good things. When You hide Your face, they are dismayed; when You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. When You send forth Your Spirit, they are created, and You renew the face of the ground. May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in His works, Who looks on the earth and it trembles, Who touches the mountains and they smoke! I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being. May my meditation be pleasing to Him, for I rejoice in the LORD. Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more! Bless the LORD, O my soul! Praise the LORD!” Psalm 104:27-35
Devotional Thought For The Day
The psalmist reiterates that all things depend upon God for everything – food, breath, and length of life. God is the Creator of all living things and also the One Who renews and sustains all things. This is a vision of God that is hard to arrive at and to maintain, given the sheer immensity and complexity that exists in just our world, planet Earth. Personally, we look at the many challenges that nature presents to us, in addition to the good and the productivity that enables us to eat and live, and we see nature as somewhat ambiguous. We can look at the pleasant side of nature and almost idolize it, or we can look at the difficult and dangerous side of nature and think of life as nothing more than a constant challenge for survival. Somehow, the psalmist was able to balance all things and to see everything with the eyes of faith. I struggle to have that kind of faith and vision, but it is a tremendous gift of God that He wills for us to have, so we are called, through His Word, to continue growing in faith.
This is important, for all of nature and God’s providence over it is part of the “glory of the LORD” which endures forever. For many people, life becomes a quest to have as little to do with dirt and animal life, with temperature extremes and natural dangers as possible. We move from house to car to office to store to church and back to house in heated or air conditioned comfort, and are inconvenienced and irritated when nature has disrupted the fulfillment of our desires and wishes – when oranges, tomatoes, avocados, lettuce, beef, or fish are in short supply and expensive, or when heat or cold require more expense in our energy bills. We think such sanitized living is the height of existence, and praise the inventions of man more highly than God’s creation. We pity those who have to work outside in the elements. We look at nature as something to be improved for our own benefit, without regard to the other creatures. With such a view of things, we look at the existence of birds and rodents, bees and insects, their quest for survival – for God’s food – as meaningless and futile. We see little to nothing of the glory of God in the world in which we live, and our faith and relationship with God suffers deficiency in this.
God actually “rejoices in His works.” If He does so, then this is a good thing, something that we also ought to do – to the glory, praise, and worship of God. The negative things – the earth trembling and the mountains smoking at the touch of God’s hand – are also to be rejoiced in; these things remind us of our sin which has skewed creation’s perfection, and of our need for repentance and the gracious mercy, forgiveness, and love of God. They should be humbling, causing us to tremble at God’s Word. These spiritual needs God has also provided for us in the gift of His Son, our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ Who is the blood atonement for our sins and for the sins of the whole world. [1 Jn. 2:2] Even the things which are frightening and destructive display the glory of God, and it is grotesque ignorance and darkness which intentionally ignores the relationship of all observable natural things to the heart, mind, and spirit of human beings. It is our culture and education, along with our fallen sinful minds, which does this, skews and hides the glory of God in creation. We should be aware of this, and even if it is in our old age we should begin dismantling and adjusting these weaknesses and distortions of our faith. Much blessedness depends upon this.
Consider the psalmist, who had the realities and the relationships correct. He concludes this massive praise of God with this vow: “I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being. May my meditation be pleasing to Him, for I rejoice in the LORD.” I’m sure you agree that this is good, that of course all human beings should be doing this! Those who do otherwise, who have no sense of the love and glory of God and so do not praise the Lord, are a dismal lot. Despite the great value that God has imbued them with, they are headed for destruction – and this is right, that they perish along with the curse of sin upon God’s creation when He makes all things new. So the psalmist expresses this pious wish: “Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more!” But those whose spirit is renewed in the knowledge of God’s love will join the psalmist in blessing the LORD and praising Him. The invitation is held out to all of us to learn, to believe, to rejoice, to be blessed by God’s gracious mercy, and to join in singing praise to God! So we also exclaim, even today: “Bless the LORD, O my soul! Praise the LORD!”
Prayer For The Day
Dear Lord Jesus, continue to instruct us, strengthening and nurturing our faith and our knowledge of Your glory. Forgive us for our shallowness and our weak gratitude to You for all things. Help us to properly grasp Your great love for us, especially in Your forgiveness and mercy, but also in all of the things of Your creation. We too join in singing praise to You, and looking forward to the day when the dreadful handicap of our sin is fully and completely removed from us. Until then, may we give thanks to You with each breath and with each spoonful of food. Amen.