CREATOR, SUSTAINER AND JUDGE (Psalm 104)

All of Scripture is given to help us know God in a greater way. It is all about the Lord. But certain portions of Scripture concentrate simply on who God is. One of those is Psalm 104.

It is full of theology. At 35 verses long, it is one of the most majestic, amazing psalms.

It begins this way: “Bless the Lord, O my soul.” Does that sound familiar? That was the opening and closing phrase of the previous psalm.

Here is the rest of verse 1: “O Lord my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty.” This is not about what God is, but who He is. We just praise Him for His greatness. His goodness to us comes out of the greatness of His character.

In verse 2 we begin to see God as the Creator: “Who covereth thyself with light as a garment.” I believe this is what Adam and Eve saw in the Garden of Eden because God is light. According to 1 John 1:5, “In him is no darkness at all.” It is the essence of His being.

God is the Creator.

Verses 2-6: “Who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain: Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind: Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire: Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever. Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains.”

In some ways, I believe this is a creation psalm. The writer covered the week of creation beautifully. As you walk through Psalm 104, you see so many references to His creative work.

Verse 8: “They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them.”

Verses 10-12: “He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills. They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild asses quench their thirst. By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches.”

Verses 14-17: “He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth; And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart. The trees of the Lord are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted; Where the birds make their nests: as for the stork, the fir trees are her house.”

Verses 19-22: “He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down.Thou makest darkness, and it is night: wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth.The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God.The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together, and lay them down in their dens.”

This is beautiful. All of these are examples of the creative work of our God. Then there is His prize creation in verse 23: “Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening.”

All of this is culminated in verse 24: “O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.” The exclamation point reflects the psalmist’s excitement at all that God has done.

God is the Sustainer.

The passage deals with God as the Creator. But notice what happens in verses 27-31.

“These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good. Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth. The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever: the Lord shall rejoice in his works.”

We have moved to seeing God as the Sustainer. The same God who spoke the world into existence continues to renew His creation. The Lord did not make all of this and then just leave us on our own. He still has the whole world in His hand.

I love the expression in verse 27, “These wait all upon thee.” In a real sense, the whole earth waits on God. We wait on His rain, His provision for food, His air to breathe. Whether consciously or not, we must wait on God.

Verse 27 ends, “in due season.” God is always on time. Waiting on Him with expectation is the very definition of faith.

God is the Judge.

The psalm ends by showing us God as Judge. Verses 32-35:

“He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth: he toucheth the hills, and they smoke. I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the Lord. Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless thou the Lord, O my soul. Praise ye the Lord.”

The psalm ends as it began, with a blessing to the Lord. But there is also the satisfaction in knowing that God will deal with sinners and take care of the wicked. The eternal Judge will always do right.

Psalm 104 is really about God who is over all. He is the God of Heaven and rules over the entire earth from beginning to end. In a real sense, we move in verses 1-35 from Genesis to Revelation. He is “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending” (Rev.1:8), and He is the God of everything in between.

So what is our great goal today? Our goal is to know God — not to know something, but to know Him. The aim of Psalm 104 is to acknowledge our Creator, our Sustainer, and our Judge.

Read this psalm today with the following prayer: “Lord, help me to know You better.” That is something we can all pray, no matter how long any of us has been a Christian. David wrote this after many years of knowing the Lord and experiencing His presence, but he still wanted to know God better and make Him known to others.

What this world needs more than anything else is to come to know the Creator, Sustainer, and Judge. Isn’t it wonderful that He is also our Savior and friend? Ask God today to help you know Him better and to make Him known to others.

Talk about your Creator. Go back to where He set the world in motion. He has no beginning, but this planet does. If people are going to come to know the God of the Bible, they must see Him as the Creator, know Him as the Sustainer, and acknowledge Him as the ultimate Judge of all.

Psalm 104 is all about God. May the Lord help us learn to know Him more intimately today, and make Him known more clearly to the world around us.