Praise To Our Creator

Psalm 104

Psalm 104

Today’s Psalm is a song of praise to God, our Creator.  All of creation is God’s masterpiece.  Just as you can tell something about an artist through the work he creates, we can see how wonderful God is through looking at all of creation.

Psalm 104 is laid out just like the days of creation.  Verses 1 and 2 are Day 1 of creation, found in Genesis 1:3, where God creates the Light.  This was not the light from the sun that we see every day, which was created later, but the brilliant light of heaven, which God clothes Himself with like a garment.

Verses 2 thru 4 are Day 2, found in Genesis 1:6.  Here God creates the heavens and waters.   Heaven here is the sky, the visible heaven or outer space, where we see the stars and planets, not heaven as in where we go after we die.  I enjoy looking at the clouds in the sky, and the image of the clouds as God’s chariots, and Him walking on the wings of the wind is a special image.  Verse 4 is referenced in Hebrews 1:7, which pictures the angel’s swiftness and destructiveness when they are used by God for judgment.

In verses 5 thru 18 of our Psalm we see Day 3, found in Genesis 1:9-13, where God creates the land and vegetation.  From the second half of verse 6 thru 11 in our psalm, the psalmist speaks of springs and streams coming down from the mountains to give refreshment to all of creation, both animals and plants.  God directs where the rivers and streams go, the paths that they take (vs. 9).  It is God who provides the grain and crops for both man and animal to eat.  We may work hard in the fields planting and harvesting, but it is God who provides it all for us (vs. 14-15).  

Verses 19 thru 23 we have Day 4, found in Genesis 1:14-16.  Here God creates the sun, moon, and stars.  In an earlier psalm, Psalm 8, which King David wrote, he had gazed out into the night sky and praised God for the creation of all he saw, the stars in their constellations, the moon.  Here in this psalm, the anonymous psalmist echoes the praise for the creation we see in the skies.  Whether it is by day as with the sun, or at night as with the moon and stars, they all follow the pattern which God has set for them as they cross the sky.

Verses 25 and 26 is Day 5, from Genesis 1:20-23, where God creates the fish and the birds.   The number of different types of birds and fish is truly amazing.  They come in all different colors, and all different sizes.  Each species of bird has their own unique bird call, all singing their praises to God.  There are some species of fish living in the very lowest depths of the ocean that were completely unknown to man until recently.  It was not until we had the technology to build a craft that could go down to the very bottoms of the ocean that we first saw them.  God knew about them, though, as He was the one who created them.  The Leviathan in verse 26 is probably a large, giant sea creature who could overpower man, but certainly not God.

And in verses 21 - 23, and 27 - 30, we have Day 6, found in Genesis 1:24-31, where God creates the animals and man.   God’s creation is so vast (vs. 24), from the hugeness of the universe, to the smallest particle of an atom.  We can never comprehend it all.  In verses 28 thru 30 we see that God has complete and unlimited power over the entire universe.  He created it, He preserves it, and He governs it.  Our very breath depends on God (vs. 29).  There is no place for us created humans to show arrogance against God!

In the final verses of the psalm, verses 31-35, the psalmist closes with a brief description of some natural events that occur on earth, such as earthquakes and volcanoes (vs. 32).  He knows that God is master, and He is in control of everything.  He alone is worthy of praise (vs. 31 and 33).  The Lord God is the Creator of all things.  As seen in this psalm He is greater than all of His creation, and He alone, not His creation, is deserving of our devotion.  Worship Him alone!