Psalms

Psalms 104: Praise the wise life giving Creator

Begin in prayer

Before we hear the praise of God's wise creation, let us remember the open hand from which our food and breath come. Let us thank our wise Maker through Christ and ask Him to turn our daily receiving into lifelong praise.

Hezekiah prayed before Yahweh, and said, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, who sit above the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.

2 Kings 19:15

Father in heaven, please open our eyes as we read Your Word, and help us to see Christ. Show us that the wise Lord made His creatures and sustains every life by His giving hand and Spirit. Make us more like Jesus. And please bless our family as we worship You together. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

The worshipper praises the Lord clothed in honour and majesty, whose light, heavens, clouds and winds display His greatness. He founded the earth, rebuked the deep and set boundaries for waters that once covered mountains. Springs and rain give drink to animals, homes to birds and crops that bring food, wine and oil to people. Trees, mountains and rocks shelter creatures, while moon, sun and darkness order the times for prowling lions and human work. The wide sea holds countless creatures and Leviathan beside passing ships, and every creature waits for food from God's open hand. When He takes away their breath they return to dust, and when He sends His Spirit He creates and renews the ground. The singer asks for God's lasting glory and joy, promises lifelong praise and prays that sinners will be consumed and the wicked be no more.

As you read Psalms 104, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

The wise LORD made and sustains His creatures, ruling their life and death and deserving lifelong praise.

Light as clothing and heaven as a curtain begin a picture of royal majesty, with clouds and winds serving the Lord's rule. Father, Son and Spirit are one God, who made all things from nothing by His word in six days, and all were good. The waters flee at His rebuke and keep His boundary, making room for the ordered world His creatures inhabit. Springs in valleys and rain on mountains show His water becoming drink, shelter and food through the places it reaches. Wine gladdens, oil makes faces shine and bread strengthens hearts, joining pleasure to the daily sustenance He gives. The moon's appointed seasons and the sun's setting order a world where lions seek food at night and people labour until evening. His wisdom fills land and sea with creatures suited to their places, including Leviathan, which He formed to play there. Their gathering depends on His open hand, their death follows His taking of breath, and His Spirit creates and renews the ground. This dependence leads the singer to seek God's delight in His works, offer lifelong praise and ask for sinners' removal from the earth.

How does Psalm 104 show us that the wise LORD made and sustains His creatures, ruling their life and death and deserving lifelong praise?

God's majesty and command establish the world His creatures inhabit.

The Lord wears light like clothing and makes clouds His chariot. The waters flee at His rebuke and stay within His boundary. Every place that holds a creature rests beneath the wise rule of its Maker.

God's wise provision gives creatures food, homes and ordered times.

Springs and rain carry His care into valleys and mountains. Plants feed people and livestock, while trees and rocks shelter creatures. Day and night give different hours for the lion's seeking and the human worker's labour.

God's open hand and life giving Spirit sustain every creature.

The sea's small and great creatures wait with the rest for food in season. They gather what His open hand supplies. He takes their breath and they die, while His sending of the Spirit creates and renews the ground.

God deserves lifelong praise and the removal of wickedness from His earth.

The singer asks the Lord to rejoice in His works and resolves to spend his own life praising Him. God looks at the earth and it trembles, then touches the mountains and they smoke. His final prayer asks for sinners to be consumed and the wicked to be no more.

Memorise

Yahweh, how many are your works! In wisdom have you made them all. The earth is full of your riches.

Psalm 104:24

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, what daily gift am I taking from Jesus without honouring Him as its Giver?

The singer confesses, “In wisdom have you made them all.” Every creature depends on God's open hand and the breath He gives. The prayer for sinners to be consumed shows that the Maker's goodness also calls His creatures to account.

We have used His gifts while resisting His rule. Jesus took the death His people deserved, surrendering His own life under the Maker's righteous wrath against their rebellion. The Father raised Him from the dead. His finished obedience and sacrifice have settled their whole debt, giving them forgiveness and peace before the God who holds their breath.

Turn from your sin and come to Jesus for mercy. He forgives all who put their trust in Him. Ask Him to teach you dependence when you work, gratitude when you eat and praise when you notice His creatures. The wise Lord made and sustains His people, giving those trusting Jesus borrowed days to spend in honouring Him.

Parent's note

Tell your children that the wise Lord made His creatures and sustains every life by His giving hand and Spirit. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus, and pray that God would give them a new heart.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Thank God for His wisdom and sustaining care and ask for lives spent in thankful praise. Bring the heart question to Him. Every child can pray, so let each one say a short prayer if they want to.

But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, so I am working, too.”

John 5:17

Wise Creator, please forgive our use of Your gifts without thanks and bring us to Jesus for pardon. Thank You that His completed sacrifice has answered the guilt of His people. Help us receive food, breath and work as gifts from Your hand. Make our thoughts pleasing to You, and teach us to praise Your wisdom through all the days You give. Amen.