Psalms Book 4: Songs of Exile | Video DevotionalUzorak

Recap

Yesterday, we saw that God is endlessly compassionate. Today, we will learn that in a world of chaos, God is a powerful creator.

What’s Happening?

Psalm 104 celebrates that in a world of chaos, God is a powerful creator. In this song, the psalmist uses the days of creation described in the book of Genesis as a template to celebrate God’s creative power in the world. On days one and two of creation, God created light, and the sky (Genesis 1:3-4). So, the opening verses of this psalm celebrate God’s power over light, the universe, and the powerful things in the sky, like clouds, wind, and lightning (Psalm 104:2-4; Genesis 1:6-7). On day three of creation, God brought land out of the sea (Genesis 1:9-10). So next, the psalmist reminds us that the ordered distinction between water and dry land remains in effect to this day (Psalm 104:5-9). Rather than chaos ruling the water and on the earth, under God’s control, water and land become homes for animals and allow plant life to flourish (Psalm 104:10-11,16-18). On day four of creation, God told the sun and moon to rise and fall in ordered intervals (Genesis 1:14-19). So, the psalmist praises that all creation can measure and enjoy time, days, and years (Psalm 104:19-23). On days five and six, God filled the waters with sea creatures and the land with beasts and humans (Genesis 1:20-26). So, the psalmist celebrates how God powerfully cares for all his creatures. Every animal looks to God for its next meal and breath, and even ships and sea monsters follow his commands (Psalm 104:24-30). God is a powerful creator who tames the chaos in our world and cares for his creation.

Then, in the middle of celebrating God’s care and power over all creation, the psalmist praises God for partnering with humans to care for his world and create new things in it. Man takes the plants and fruits that God brings out of the ground and turns them into food (Psalm 104:14). Humans ferment grapes into hearty wine, they press olives into glistening oil, and they thresh wheat to bake fresh loaves of bread (Psalm 104:15). In all these ways, humans get to partner with the creator God. But the psalmist also knows that the very people who were supposed to partner with God have also corrupted God’s world (Psalm 104:31-34). So the psalmist prays that God would right the chaos his people have reintroduced into his ordered world (Psalm 104:35). And he does this because he wants to spend the rest of his life delighting in God’s creation and pondering his powerful creator.

Where is the Gospel?

Humanity’s refusal to partner with God in caring for his world has resulted in a world soiled with violence, pride, and all kinds of evil. But just as the psalmist hoped, God the Creator came to right what people had ruined when he entered his creation in the person of Jesus. Throughout his ministry, Jesus showed that he is the God who created the world and that he came to make his world right again. He claimed to be the light who can draw people out of darkness (John 8:12). Jesus commanded waves to be still and swarms of fish to fill his friends’ nets (Mark 4:39; Luke 5:4-6). He provided for his people by miraculously giving them fish and bread to eat (Matthew 14:19-20, 25). Jesus even raised a dead friend and withered a living fig tree (John 11:43-44; Matthew 21:19). Jesus is in control of both life and death. Jesus is the powerful creator God who has come to reorder a world filled with chaos.

But Jesus’ ultimate display of his creative power was seen when he allowed the chaos of human violence to kill him on a cross. Jesus descended into the uncreation of death and the chaos of the grave. But the grave could not hold Jesus for long (Acts 2:24). Jesus, the true God of creation, rose from his grave and now lives as the uncontested King and Creator of the universe and everything in it. And now Jesus is using his creative power to make corrupted and chaos-prone people into new creations who partner with him in making the whole world new (2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 2:10). Jesus is inviting us to partner with him in re-creating the world. One day, he will make the world new and erase all chaos. In his new creation, God and humans will enjoy an eternal partnership in living and tending to an incorruptible world together (Revelation 21:5-7). So like the psalmist, celebrate that in a world of chaos, Jesus is a powerful creator.

A Time of Prayer

I pray that the Holy Spirit will open my eyes to see the God who created and sustains the world. And may I see Jesus as the one who recreates people to partner with him in renewing the world.