You and I both have, from time to time, looked at the beauty of God’s creation and stated – “How can anyone not believe in God?” That sentiment is expressed here in Psalm 104, our fifth psalm we will study together this year.
GOD’S GREATNESS – 104:1-4:
We begin here with the greatness of God. The psalmist – whomever it may have been – calls on his soul to bless the Lord, which is a statement of praise and honor. Why? Because God is great. How can we say more about the nature of God than that?
GOD’S GREATINESS IS SEEN IN THE CREATION OF THE EARTH – 104:5-9:
God designed man to need water – lots and lots of water. So, verse 6 points out that God covered the earth with water. In the beginning, God covered even the mountains with water. That’s how deep the water is.
Notice in verse 9: God set a boundary for the waters not to pass over, so that they will not return to cover the earth. Doesn’t that sound like global warming is not going to flood the world? It certainly sounds like it.
GOD’S GREATNESS IS SEEN IN PROVIDING WATER – 104:10-13:
Notice what the psalmist says: God provides springs in the valleys (ver. 10). God gives drink to every beast of the field. God provides for the wild donkeys to quench their thirst (ver. 11). Even the birds of the heavens sing praises to God – so to speak (ver. 12). They have their needs provided. In verse 13, from His upper chambers, God waters the mountains. The earth is satisfied with the fruit of God’s works. In other words, God provides for everyone and everything!
GOD IS GREAT WHEN WE LOOK AT HIS NATURE – 104:14-23:
The trees – they drink their fill. Specifically the psalmist praises the well-known “cedars of Lebanon.” The trees in which the birds of the heavens can build their nests and the stork who lives in the trees.
Everything has its place. Everything has its cycle.
GOD’S GREATNESS IS SEEN IN THE OCEAN AND SEAS AND EARTH – 104:24-30:
How many are Jehovah’s works? Quite frankly, they are innumerable! Yet, in wisdom, God made them all. The beauty and perfection of the earth shows that a wise and discerning God had designed and created it all. It all belongs to Him (ver. 24).
The ships move as well as “Leviathan” (ver. 26). I do not believe the “Leviathan” is any more a mythological creature than the lion, the birds, the mountain goats and the wild donkey that he has already mentioned. It is quite baseless to suggest that the Leviathan is some kind of mythological creature. From the description in Job (chapter 41), it very much sounds like it could be a dinosaur but it was surely an animal that no longer lives on the earth. Look up Leviathan up apologeticspress.org. Here, the psalmist quite plainly says that God formed the Leviathan to sport in the seas.
A FINAL EXHORTATION – 104:31-35:
In this final paragraph, the psalmist calls on God’s glory to endure forever. In other words, it is a wish that all future generations of human beings glorify God because of His marvelous works (ver. 31). So the psalmist will sing to the Lord as long as there is breath in his body (ver. 33). He will sing praises to God while he has his being.
He ends with a call for his soul to bless God and he concludes with the Hebrew word, “Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!” That Hebrew expression is found 27 times in the book of Psalms and no where else.
We should always and frequently praise God for the creation of the world around us in all of its intricacies. The evidence of God’s wisdom, power, and love are all around us. How can we doubt?
Paul Holland
