Living in God’s World • Psalm 104

15:57 Teaching begins

Notes

There are some dense theological passages in the Bible, but Psalm 104 is not one of them.

In fact, it reads more like a BBC documentary narrated by David Attenborough.

What David does is take you where you’ve never been, show you things in nature you have never seen, and you go, “Wow. Nature is cool.”

The psalmist shows us things that maybe you have seen, and they aren’t as exotic. But he shows us the meaning of those things. The meaning is what makes you go, “Wow. God is cool.”

Here in Psalm 104 the psalmist meditates on Scripture and what he sees in nature, and he increases his grasp of God’s glory, wisdom, power, and judgment.

The meaning is that you live in God’s world. Let’s read in Psalm 104 (first five verses).

1. The psalmist’s beginning point for meditation is Scripture, vv. 1-5.

A. He’s meditating on the first parts of Genesis. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

B. He’s thinking on the greatness of God, that He is clothed in light. God is the light of the world, He is the life of men, the Light in which we see light. He is the One from whom comes meaning because He is who He is: God before all worlds, eternal.

C. Heaven is above the material world. It is spiritual and transcendent.

1. When the Russians went into space they made a point of saying, well, no streets paved with gold up here. There is no heaven. There is no God. But though they were at a high altitude, they were still in the material world.

2. Saying that God lays beams in the waters and that His chariot is in the clouds is to say that God is above us more than distance, He is above us in quality.

3. By the word of God we understand that heaven is transcendent, where God has established His throne. God showed Moses the heavenly, spiritual reality and said, make a material copy of this on earth so I can dwell among you.

D. Finally God made the earth and founded it so that it would be stable. It doesn’t wobble, it’s consistent and solid. There’s gravity. It revolves at 1037 mph, and orbiting the sun at 67,000 mph. But it is stable, dependable because God made it to be that way.

E. You and I would look up, see sky. Look down, see the ground. Here’s the meaning: Heaven is where God dwells, where He is glorious. Earth is God’s creation, established to be consistent for us because God is faithful and consistent.

2. The psalmist also meditates on the Flood from Genesis 6-8, vv. 6-9.

A. From God’s power in creation we move to God’s power in judgment. God destroyed the earth with a worldwide flood.

B. This catastrophe submerged the mountains. It was not a local flood. It effectively killed all life on earth and obliterated the culture of that time. There was nothing left after that flood.

C. God has the authority and power to judge because He is the author of life.

D. We see that God not only covered the earth, He also intervened to drain the water. It didn’t go away by itself, God made it go away by raising up mountains and making other parts of earth go down into ocean basins. He also promised not to destroy the earth that way ever again. There is a boundary that the waters will not pass over.

E. We look at the oceans, the land, we say, that’s pretty. The psalmist sees oceans and land through the lens of Genesis and sees meaning. He looks at water and sees God’s instrument to judge and destroy the earth, and he also sees God’s faithfulness to continually keep His promise.

3. Now the psalmist looks at nature, and sees how the earth is satisfied from heaven, vv. 10- 15.

A. These springs that flow between the mountains provide water for every beast of the field, for birds, and for man.

B. That water comes from God’s upper chambers. From the direct work of God He brings forth not only water itself, but all the results of water, which is food for animals, growth of cultivated crops. Everyone drinks, everyone eats, everyone is satisfied and cheered, so many are provided for from above.

C. You and I would say, well, it rains, the water collects in streams and rivers, it supports animals and farming. Of course it does, it’s supposed to. The psalmist sees God’s direct giving from heaven so that there is satisfaction and animals and in man. Satisfaction will not come from the earth. Our fulfilment comes directly from God above.

4. Everything God has made has meaning. There’s a message about the goodness and love of God, vv. 16-23.

A. God made trees.

1. They are full. The translators have supplied “sap” as a possibility. They are also full of water. They are natural water pumps that can transpire up to 300 gallons of water a day.

2. The branches and the height make trees a perfect environment for birds to perch and make nests. A perfect place for flying animals to make a home. Where predators naturally cannot go. Home, safety, shelter, trees are for birds to live. God was providing an environment for birds when He made trees.

B. The high mountains are for the mountain goats and the rock badgers. Some translations have hyrax, a small, weak creature.

1. God made mountain goats with the ability to stand on steep sides of mountains. They can go anywhere on the mountains in freedom, in the open and they are safe. Predators can’t go there. A hyrax makes its nest in between the rocks, again, predators can’t get in there.

2. The psalmist sees how God provides environments of safety and shelter in different ways for different animals.

3. It’s not just mountain goats God is concerned with. Habakkuk 3:19 The Lord GOD is my strength, and He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, and makes me walk on my high places. God is a refuge to us like a mountain. We can roam in liberty, not cooped up in some bunker in the ground. No predator can go to the right hand of the throne of God. That’s where God makes us live, close to Him.

C. The moon has meaning. You can look at it and know what part of the month you are in. It’s a cosmic timekeeper.

D. The sun has meaning. It’s a cosmic locator. It knows the place of its setting. You always know where east and west are — look for where the sun rises and sets. Now you know, north is this way, south is that way.

E. There’s meaning in night and day.

1. The Hebrew day begins with the evening. Darkness is first. That’s when the animals hunt and make their kills. God determined that they would be active at night. Man sleeps at night in his house where he is safe from predators. When man goes out in daytime to work, the predators are asleep. Man can work in safety.

2. At this time in the history of the world, it is night time. Night comes first, then day. The animals of prey are out searching for victims to kill and devour. That’s what the devil is doing. But day is coming. Then men will do their work of love, righteousness and glory. No more people acting like animals.

3. Right now we are not of the night, we are not to live like animals. We are children of light, children of the day. We are to live in love like God made us to live.

5. God is actively engaged with all He has made, vv. 24-30.

A. The psalmist is meditating on the sea.

1. Men sail over the surface, and it’s dangerous.

2. In the sea there are swarms without number and Leviathan plays in the depths. You can read more about Leviathan in Job 41. Leviathan is an absolutely dangerous sea creature.

B. Over all this innumerable multitude God exercises providence and sovereignty.

1. They all wait for God to feed them, even Leviathan is dependent upon God.

2. God is faithful to feed them. The fish gather up swarms and eat them. I’ve seen videos of dolphins round up fish swarms and then swim through them and eat them. Whales swim through plankton and krill and eat them.

3. God satisfies all these fish and aquatic animals, then He hides His face from them, and they are troubled, terrified. God takes their lives away and they return to dust.

4. God also actively sends out His Spirit and renews the swarms.

D. God is continually sustaining life, ending life, and renewing life. He did not wind up the universe and walk away while “it” works. God is involved in His creation. He exercises sovereign providence over all that He has made. He kills and He makes alive. This is God’s world.

6. The psalmist looks at these particulars and thinks about patterns, looks for meaning. And meaning is there, if you can see it, vv.31-35.

A. The psalmist is a thinking, reasoning being, therefore he worships God.

1. His focus is God. What God does and says occupies his thoughts and his time. It’s right and proper to focus on God, to learn more about Him. Psalm 145:3 Great is the LORD, and highly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable. In verse 32 it literally says, “This is the One” who looks at the earth and it trembles, He touches the mountains and they smoke. God is power, sovereignty, authority, judgment.

2. So the psalmist says I will worship Him as long as I exist. As I worship, and list out God’s perfections and wisdom and glory, I see more, I grasp more, and there is always more to grasp.

3. And he says, I want my meditation to be pleasing to Him. The word meditation means “that which occupies my time, that which is important to me.” I want everything about me to be pleasing to Him. Since I can see this, I am constrained to know more, appreciate more, grasp more about God.

B. When I meditated on this I thought what about people who hate God, reject Him, don’t want anything to do with Him? And the psalmist’s meditation leads to exactly this. He prays let the wicked be consumed from the earth.

1. They live in the light of God’s sun and moon, drink His water, eat food God made, yet they don’t want to know anything about God.

2. And they live badly, hurting themselves and others around them. No love for God means no love for others, only love of self, and pride and ignorance. No one who rejects God lives rightly. There is no such thing.

3. God will eventually judge the wicked. They are not going to inherit the earth. All life depends on God. He satisfies from above. Those who don’t want God get to reject Him, but at the same time they forfeit their lives. Do you really want that? Scriptures like this give everyone fair warning that they are in conflict with God. It’s time to turn to God and make peace through Jesus.

7. So what?

A. We live in a world created by God. Run by God. He sustains, He provides, then He says, “It’s time. You’re done.” He gives life and He takes life.

B. Realise that God watches over every one of us. Just like He watches over birds and land animals and water animals. The amazing thing is that He says to us, “You are worth more than many sparrows.” To Him!

C. What do you do with that knowledge? You have two choices.

1. You can move away from God. When you do that, you move away from the one who made you and holds you together, the one who integrates you into a whole entity. You begin to disintegrate. The unity dissolves into fragments, the fragments into dust and destruction. We see that now in people. They polarise and battle one another and lose the ability to love, be patient, and communicate meaningfully. Personality disintegrates because people believe they are fluid in their gender, but the reality is, it’s a mental disorder that destroys, not satisfies. Nations are disintegrating, finances are disintegrating. All these radical people can achieve their goals. They can have it all, but then they die. What good is it to gain the whole world and yet lose your soul? Satisfaction does not come from this world but from above. There is no satisfaction coming from the earth, and people are disintegrating and dying.

2. The alternative is to seek to know God. To grow in knowing Him. Jesus said that to know the one true living God is eternal life. More life, not disintegration. That is our rational, logical service of worship. Do you know God a little bit? Then get to know Him better! Press on to know the Lord!

D. You show what is important to you by what you meditate on. What occupies your thoughts and your time? That’s what you are meditating on. Look at your life. Does it reflect your values? If you want to grasp more of God and make Him yours it takes time.

E. Have you ever read your Bible and put it down and said, what did I just read? We can actually read the words and yet not grasp them. What we are missing is taking the time to digest them. It takes time to think through and grasp for ourselves what we have read. This is why we take time to read and meditate. We are seeking God.

F. If you are born again of the Holy Spirit, then realise, this is your Father’s world. You are His beloved. He is looking out for you, He has your times in His hand. He will provide, He will supply. Satisfaction comes from above. Are you seeking that satisfaction?

Let’s pray.