Psalm 104

1 Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God, you are very great! You are clothed with splendor and majesty,

2 covering yourself with light as with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a tent.

This hymn by an unknown author was placed right after the epic hymn of God’s steadfast love. The first and last lines link the two -- “Bless the LORD, O my soul!” We are summoned to worship YHWH for his steadfast love and for his creative power and goodness. The psalm begins with a vision of God in the heavens, but it quickly moves to life on earth. The psalm is teeming with life as it describes the world in idyllic language, the way the world was meant to be. It all starts with the greatness of God. Addressing YHWH directly, the psalmist declares him to be very great and then proceeds to describe his actions. Taken with Psalm 103, the theological statement of God’s essential nature is that he is the creator and sustainer of the cosmos and the lover of our souls. He reigns supreme over all by virtue of actions and his character. Psalm 104 begins by describing God’s reign in the heavens, the realm of the gods in the ancient world. YHWH is clothed with splendor and majesty. The ever changing canvas that is the sky, sunrise, sunset, billowing clouds, roiling storm fronts, and rainbows show his splendor by day. The rising moon and twinkling stars bedazzle the nighttime sky. All of these provide a never ending display of God’s beauty and authority. Take some moments every day to just look up and see. Too often our eyes are fixed on the earth, on the day to day tasks and the things all around us that we forget to look up. Lift your head a few degrees and gain some perspective throughout the day. We live our lives under the beautiful reign of God. The master artist paints the sky constantly and we barely notice. YHWH wraps himself in light. This is perhaps a reference to God as the sun. Most ancient religions placed the sun god at the center of their pantheon, so it’s not surprising that YHWH would be portrayed in this way. The big difference is that the YHWH is not the sun. He pitches a tent for the sun and commands the sun to run its course (Psalm 19:5,6). This was a radical distinction in the ancient world. Every morning light overcomes darkness and we take it for granted. What kind of power does it take to illuminate and energize the whole world? This is the power so great that God had to place it in the sky 93 million miles away from us to keep it from burning us up. The stretching of the heavens refers to both the daytime and nighttime sky, encompassing the whole earth in every direction. Everything on earth lives within the tent of the sky. When you are in a tent, the roof of the tent is all that you see. Now imagine the earth as a great big tent. There’s a lot more outside of the tent, but you can only see what’s in the tent. We are so small in relation to the worlds that God’s hands have made. What’s fascinating about this line is that the psalmist declares something that is literally true about the cosmos that he couldn’t have known. I’m talking about the expansion of the universe commonly referred to as the Big Bang. Yes, this is poetry and not the author’s intended meaning, but it is an amazing coincidence that an ancient writer describes a phenomenon that would not be discovered until the early part of the 20th century. 

3 He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters; he makes the clouds his chariot; he rides on the wings of the wind;

4 he makes his messengers winds, his ministers a flaming fire.

In the heavens God has built his house. The cosmos is his temple, the dwelling place of YHWH, and at the very top of it, he’s constructed his throne room, resting its floor joists on the waters in the sky. The ancients understood that there were waters up above because it rained. That’s a pretty common sense observation. The assumption was that a solid but transparent surface held the waters above the earth. If they were all released the flood would be devastating, so YHWH in his goodness holds them back and releases them seasonally to support agriculture and life on earth. It is on these waters that God builds his house, figuratively telling us that he controls everything, including those waters. Dwelling above as he does, he gets around by riding clouds, a metaphor first seen in Psalm 68:4, but hinted at in Psalm 18 as well. Baal was also referred to as a cloud rider, the storm god. YHWH is described similarly here as the one who commands the storm, although as the rest of the psalm reminds us, this is for the watering of the earth, not its destruction. YHWH’s messengers (“angels” when quoted in Hebrews 1) are the winds, the spirits. God messages us by way of the wind. The wind reminds us of his unseen presence (John 3 - you don’t see the wind but you see the result of its presence). Feel the wind against your face and know that things can be real without being seen. You can’t see or capture the wind in a jar, but you cannot deny its existence. So it is with God. God also messages us with fire from heaven, a reference to lightning. Because we typically experience storms while indoors, we seldom appreciate the terrifying power of lightning, fire from the sky. If you’ve ever experienced a lightning strike close by, it’s unforgettable and incredibly humbling. It gives us the strong sense that we are not in control here. Our lives could end in an instant by its incredible power. There are echoes of Psalm 19 in this psalm as it portrays God as one who is communicating with us. The heavens declare his glory and proclaim his handiwork day after day. Here in Psalm 104 the winds and fire of the thunderstorm are his messengers. Take heed. There is a God and he is greater than you. That's a fundamental but life-altering truth. 

5 He set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be moved.

6 You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.

The storm may rage above the earth, shaking it with thunder and frying it with lightning, but YHWH set the earth on its foundations so that it should never be moved. This is a reference to ancient cosmology which understood the earth to be resting upon pillars. There was water under the earth, evident by springs and wells, so these pillars kept the earth above those waters. There are other references in the psalms to the pillars of the earth shaking (earthquakes), but the earth ultimately rests on pillars that will not be undone. Incidentally, this is what makes the statement in Psalm 46:1-3 so stunning with its imagery of the earth being thrown into the heart of the sea. It is the undoing of creation. The Hebrew in verse 5 literally says that the earth shall not be moved forever and ever. What can be counted on is the fact that the waters will never again cover the earth as this language takes us back to creation itself. Verse 6 describes the primordial world, formless and void with darkness over the face of the deep. God’s spirit hovers over the water and he commands separation of the waters above (sky) and below (sea) and that the sea then be separated from the land (earth). The three primary features of the terrestrial world are created -- water, earth, and sky. People will debate whether or not God did this in 6 days or 5 billion years, but the psalmist doesn’t address this. In the west we have been obsessed with time, ever since we invented the clock. Polychronic cultures are not, so the point is not how long God created the world, but the fact that God created the world and the process by which he did it. The ancients universally understood that in the beginning, the world was disordered, formless, lifeless, and uninhabitable, a watery world of chaos. They were reminded of this chaotic world of out of control waters every time it flooded. The prime real estate in the ancient world was near rivers, yet it could also be the most dangerous. Seasonal floods could wipe everything away. It was important to have favor with the God who commanded the waters. God is still in command of the waters, and we enjoy its life-giving power and beauty. Consider that next time it rains or snows. Be grateful for the glass of ice water and that warm shower. Water is an amazing substance, the vital blood of the earth.Yeah, God came up with it. 

7 At your rebuke they fled; at the sound of your thunder they took to flight.

8 The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them.

9 You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth.

These verses describe God’s activity on day three of creation where he separated the water and the earth. A question I’ve always wondered about is where the ancients got this idea of the earth being completely underwater at some point in the past. Did they discover fossils of underwater life and conclude that the location of the fossil was once underwater? It at least seems possible that fossil dinosaurs and sea life were discovered in the ancient world and contributed to their mythology. I have no proof of this and it would be worth investigating, although I’m not sure if there’s any historical evidence of it. Whatever the reason, the ancients nearly universally believed that the earth was covered with water at creation and that God (or the gods) battled it out to separate the two. Biblical creation doesn’t involve a battle of the gods but rather the cooperation of the three persons of the trinity - Father, Son, and Spirit. Working together they fashioned the planet so that it was not created out of rivalry but out of love. That’s a distinctly different worldview that has stood the test of time and is still quite relevant today. Was the earth formed by the mindless gods of physics and chemistry in epic conflict, or was it formed as a result of divine wisdom establishing those laws of physics and chemistry and harnessing them in love to fashion a world filled with beauty? If you’ve ever pondered the vast expanse of ocean while standing at the shoreline, you have to think of these verses and reflect on the boundaries God established, the order and stability of things that make life on earth possible. As much as the ocean rages against the shore, God established a boundary that it cannot cross. But some will say, “what about global warming?” The reality is that the oceans have risen and fallen many times over earth’s history and a few inches over several hundred years isn’t a big deal. The practical impact of this text is the reassurance that God is sovereign. Just as he has set boundaries for the waters of chaos, he has set boundaries for the trials in our lives (I Corinthians 10:13). He will not allow us to be tempted/tried beyond our ability to endure it. 

10 You make springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills;

11 they give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

Having separated the water from the land and guaranteed the stability of the surface of the earth for habitation, YHWH turned his attention to cultivating the land. He made springs gush forth in the valleys, releasing water held underground for the nourishment of wild animals. The ancients understood that there was water under the earth, but they probably didn’t understand the fullness of the water cycle. Water from the deadly seawater evaporates, leaving behind its deadly poison and is carried over the land where it condenses and falls as rain. Rain that is not captured in freshwater lakes soaks into the ground where it is filtered through layers of rock, stored there until it bursts forth in a spring or until someone draws it up from a well. Water from the rock in essence. Stop and ponder the miracle of the water cycle, how God provides a never ending source of life-giving water to the earth. Water is one of the prime ingredients for life, which is why we search for it on the planets. All of this happens without man’s intervention whatsoever. God has set up the system like a terrarium but on a cosmic scale. It runs itself based on the laws that he has established. The beasts of the field and the wild donkeys don’t worry about where their next drink is coming from. Neither should we. The imagery here captures one of the favorite scenes of human beings -- flowing water in between hills. How we are mesmerized by crashing waterfalls and running streams! As a child one of my favorite memories was camping by a stream, listening to the soothing sounds of water flowing and falling over rocks. We can’t live more than three days without water. It is life. So an abundance of water suggests an abundance of life. Artists capture images like this all the time because we find them so beautiful and satisfying. Some would say it is a remnant of our evolutionary past, this need to be close to water. Could it be that we are made in the image of God and our hearts yearn to be close to him? To be in a place where we are safe and provided for? To see the thing that could potentially kill us (water) harnessed for our good? I think that’s what the psalmist is going for here. 

12 Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell; they sing among the branches.

13 From your lofty abode you water the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.

The birds of the heavens live beside the streams that God causes to flow through the valleys. They build their nests in the branches and “give voice” (literal Hebrew). In other words, their voice joins the sound of the flowing stream. The sight and sound of running water is enhanced by the birdsong that accompanies it. This vision of nature suggests a world in harmony, created and cultivated by an unseen hand. The world exists and thrives without human intervention to this point, operating by the laws of nature that govern it. Scientists have unlocked so many of the mysteries of how the world works, but they cannot answer the bigger questions of why and who. They can’t supply meaning to life or agency to creation. It just is, without reasonable non-theistic explanations. The water from the ground is met by water from above as YHWH waters the mountains from his upper chambers. The highest places on earth are nurtured from a place higher yet, the clouds that are formed from evaporation and transported thousands of miles to release their burden in a thunderstorm, or perhaps a snow storm in the mountains that allows that water to be stored through the winter and slowly released during the spring and summer to flow through the valleys. It’s really quite elegant, both functional and beautiful, the work of a master artist and craftsman. The harnessing of water is the primary theme of this section of the psalm. What could potentially be so deadly, (the raging salt water), is purified and directed for good. This goes to the very nature of God who specializes in redeeming lost and broken things. Setting up the laws of the heavens and the earth was the work of God. The fruit of that work may be seen every day in nature. Don’t let a day go by without seeing his handiwork all around you. Take moments to listen to the sounds of water nurturing the earth and ponder his wisdom and goodness. 

14 You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man [adam] to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth

15 and wine to gladden the heart of man [enosh], oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen man's [enosh] heart.

The poetry breaks the pattern of two lines per verse and expands to three in both verses 15 and 16, perhaps suggesting emphasis. If so it would place the emphasis on man at the center of this psalm about the earth. This is similar to what the author does in Psalm 8, placing mankind at the center of creation. Indeed, the whole purpose of creation seems to be to establish a garden in which man can work and live. YHWH is seen as the source of life, causing the grass to grow (it’s one of the things that man doesn’t cultivate) so livestock can feed on it. God also causes plants to grow so that man can cultivate them, breaking up the ground, planting seed, weeding and harvesting, resulting in food coming forth from the earth. These fruits and vegetables are then refined for use by men. Grapes are crushed, yeast is added and fermentation takes place until wine is produced (and what an elaborate and expensive industry that has become). Olives are crushed releasing their oil that can be used in cooking and cosmetics, the oil softening the dry weathered face of a man who labors outside every day. Kernels of grain are crushed, water and yeast are added, and the mixture is baked into bread, a staple in the diet of every culture in the world. This is a great example of culture-making. Human beings take the raw materials, the stuff of this earth, and fashion it into products that are both useful and satisfying. This is what we are made to do, our purpose. The use of the terms adam and enosh for “man” seem to be used interchangeably for poetic variety, but anytime the word adam is used, it’s impossible not to see the first man and Jesus, the second adam from above. One of the key principles from this passage is the fact that work is a good thing. Work is not the curse, and those who don’t work are actually under some kind of curse. Work makes us feel good. We are wired to make and do things, and to simply sit around and indulge ourselves is no way to live (not that you should never take a vacation, you just can’t live like that all the time). Give thanks for the wine, the oil and the bread -- these delicious staples of life that are made through man’s cooperation with the divine. 

16 The trees of the LORD are watered abundantly, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.

17 In them the birds build their nests; the stork has her home in the fir trees.

18 The high mountains are for the wild goats; the rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.

The psalmist turns his signs from the fruitful rolling hills of Galilean farmland to the mountains of Lebanon to the north. He writes as if he’s had firsthand experience there as he describes the flora and fauna of the higher elevations. He begins by describing the trees as belonging to YHWH. He planted and watered them. Farmers plant vineyards, olive gardens, and wheat fields on the plains. God plants trees in the mountains. Without any help from man, the trees grow abundantly, satisfied by the rain and snowfall stored in its meager soil. In these trees, birds build their nests and establish their homes. Here we could reflect on the miracle of flight, of nest building to avoid predators, of laying eggs and incubating them for weeks, of feeding the hatchlings and teaching them to fly. All of this is wrapped up in the phrase “the stork has her home in the fir trees”. No one taught the bird how to do all these things. Birds are amazing on so many levels and a critical part of the ecosystem, scattering seed and as has already been mentioned in the psalm, singing songs. Finally, the psalmist reflects on the land animals that inhabit the forbidding mountain habitat. The sure-footed mountain goats scale the steep cliffs without fear, making their home where predators cannot reach them as well. This parallels the birds in the previous verse. The rock badgers find refuge in the cliffs and crags as well. Small but wise, they find dens in which to hide. Then they sire and nurture offspring. This all relates to the central verses of this psalm which describe man in his habitat, adapting to his environment to make a living. The plants and animals do the same. It’s the grand design of God, and whether all of it came about through a process of evolution or instant creation is ultimately irrelevant. Life exists and is perfectly suited for our environment. We don’t need to know how God did it to appreciate the fact that he did it. Jesus draws another lesson from the environment. The plants are clothed with beauty and the smallest birds are provided for, so don’t you worry about clothes and food. Your father in heaven knows that you need them. Seek first his rule in your life and in the world, and you’ll be satisfied. 

19 He made the moon to mark the seasons;  the sun knows its time for setting.

20 You make darkness, and it is night, when all the beasts of the forest creep about.

21 The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God.

The psalmist turns his attention to the sky briefly again, not so much to glory in its beauty and expansiveness, but to note how it also serves animals and mankind. The moon was an important marker of seasons in the ancient world, informing people when to plant and harvest. The yearly agricultural cycle was built around the changes in the moon. The sun simply marked the days, but the moon marked the seasons. The IVP OT Backgrounds commentary notes that “by early in the first millennium the ancients were well aware of the difference between the solar cycle (365+ days) and the lunar cycle (354+ days). They also had a growing awareness of calendrical reckoning by the sequence of stars and constellations rising and setting. The moon remained the main determiner of months and seasons, though supplementary months were added every three years to re-adjust the months to the solar cycle. If only lunar calculations were used, the months would gradually drift away from their festivals that marked the planting and harvest times (which, of course, were determined by the sun).” The psalmist addresses the question of why God created the night. If the goal of life is to be productive and make something of the earth, covering the earth in darkness half of the time doesn’t make sense. It’s difficult to work in the dark, and our bodies need rest in order to continue functioning. The answer presented is that the night is the opportunity for animals to work, specifically, predators. They can take advantage of the dark to sneak up on their prey and feed themselves. It’s why animals have such a highly evolved sense of smell, while humans have a highly evolved sense of sight. The brain has only so much space, and a lot of human brain space is devoted to vision rather than smell and hearing. These are maximized in animals and actually help them survive (and hunt) in the dark, making sight less important to them. So while humans sleep at night, animals go to work, often resting and hiding during the day. The metaphor of a lion creeping in the dark hunting its prey is picked up in the New Testament as a descriptor of Satan who prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. The metaphor of night is also used in the New Testament as a time when we are prone to sin.  

22 When the sun rises, they steal away and lie down in their dens.

23 Man goes out to his work and to his labor until the evening.

If the darkness is the best environment for the lion, the king of beasts, the daytime belongs to the king of the earth, mankind. As the sun rises, animals who have been hunting (working) in the night return to their dens to sleep in secrecy and safety. At the same time, men begin to stir in their homes, beginning their daily waking up rituals. The word for man here is adam, suggesting the universal nature of this experience. Once again the psalmist affirms the positive nature of work. It is not drudgery and punishment, but rather the reason for our being. Our cultural mandate is to rule, subdue, and exercise dominion over the earth, to take its resources and manufacture them into finished products all while stewarding those resources, replenishing them even as we harvest them. We are to take advantage of the systems that God has put in place to restore the face of the earth by planting, fertilizing, harvesting and repeating. Thus far the psalm has focused on days three and six of creation, the forming of earth’s terrestrial environment and the filling of that environment with every kind of life, climaxing with the establishment of man as the steward of it all. In the last fifty years there has been a lot of doomsaying about the future of the planet entirely because mankind is said to be destroying the planet. As usual, the solution to this challenge depends on your politics and not good policy. Good policy would flow out of reality, the truth of our nature and the consequence of our purpose. We are created in the image of God which means that we have his creative capacity to come up with novel things and shape our world. It also means that we love the works of our creator’s hands. He stopped and admired his work every day, and so should we. We can take that admiration for the planet and our God-given knowledge and adapt to a changing climate, doing what we can to mitigate the effects of overpopulation and industrialization without hurting people in the process. 

24 O YHWH, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.

This is the “thesis statement” of the psalm. This is what the psalmist is trying to say summed up in one verse. It is both an expression of worship and statement of fact. “How many are your works!” Up to this point, the psalmist has been inventorying them, checking off each as he reflects on the various domains of creation -- sky, sea and earth. Each of these environments is filled with creatures of all kinds, perfectly suited to their homes. The psalmist has described the birds and land animals as well as the steward of all of them, man himself. Each of them a marvel of engineering, creativity and beauty. The diversity of the animal kingdom is testament to God’s creativity. Whether the process was one of evolution over millions of years or instantaneous creation, clearly a designer was at work monkeying with the system, leaving his fingerprints everywhere. YHWH wants to be known and one of the strongest evidences for his reality is that of creation and design. It beggars the imagination to think that systems as complex as those on this planet could have happened as a result of blind chance. The amount of information encoded in DNA for example doesn’t just get there by applying electricity to a chemical soup. After over 150 years of study, the origin of life is as much a mystery as it ever was, even though many assume it is settled science. Refer to Francis Collin’s The Language of God for evidence of information built into the system. The reason many can be satisfied with a materialistic explanation of the origin of the universe and life itself is because this frees them from moral responsibility. If everything is material, everything is chemistry, and there is nothing transcendent. Is chemistry the explanation for everything? If so, how does it explain things like love, altruism, and imagination? To be honest intellectually is to admit the reality of God and order one’s life accordingly, to accept the fact that there is a universal moral law and the accountability that must come with it.  

25 Here is the sea, great and wide, which teems with creatures innumerable, living things both small and great.

26 There go the ships, and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it. [Or you formed to play with]

The psalmist turns his attention from the land to the sea. Standing on the shore of the Mediterranean he sees the endless sea to the west, oblivious to the fact that beyond it lie the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and Arctic Oceans. It’s easy to see how the ancients came to view the sea as dangerous and without end. The fear of the ancient mariners that they would get too far from shore and be pushed to the end of the world was real. With only the sun and stars to navigate, they were often at its mercy. And yet this frightening and often deadly place is described in idyllic terms. The sea is great and wide, teeming with all kinds of creatures, large and small, way beyond counting. Most of these creatures were hidden from view, limited to those that could be caught in nets or which washed up on the shore. Others could be seen by sailors who took their craft further out -- whales, dolphins, schools of fish. Again, the psalmist had no idea how accurate his words were in describing the abundance of life in the waters from tiny plankton, krill and shrimp down to microscopic life, every ounce of ocean water contained life. Freshwater is teeming with it as well. One gets the idea that God loves life because he made so much of it. The two greatest things that inhabit the vast oceans are ships and Leviathan. The reference to ships is another example of how man is fulfilling his mission to rule and subdue the earth, to use his God-given creativity to problem solve and harness the abundance of the earth for good. The reference to Leviathan is notable because this sea creature is frolicking in the waters. In every other context, this creature is destructive and forbidding. It is referenced in Job 41 and in Psalm 74. There are various interpretations regarding its identification -- crocodile, shark, or whale if taken literally, a mythical sea monster or a dragon if understood figuratively. Every ancient culture had its sea monster and dragon stories so it wouldn’t be surprising if Israel had the same. Perhaps they had seen fossil teeth and jaws or perhaps sailors had encountered whales and great white sharks and embellished their accounts of them. It seems most likely that this is the reference here, and the point remains the same. The most terrifyingly powerful creature in the sea is God’s plaything, a bathtub toy, his rubber duckie. The application for us is clear: we’ve got nothing to fear. Or as Larry used to say, “God is bigger than the boogie man.”

27 These all look to you, to give them their food in due season.

28 When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.

Every living thing looks to YHWH to receive their food in due season. Eating is something that living things must do. Humans cannot go more than several hours without feeling hungry, or several days without experiencing the effects of hunger on their bodies. Some animals can go much longer, hibernating through the winter. All animals have different dietary needs and patterns of eating, and YHWH knows every one of them and ensures that they are fed. Jesus spoke of God knowing when the smallest of birds, the sparrow, falls to the ground. Ask him right now and he could give you an accurate inventory of every living creature on the planet and he’ll throw in the number of hairs on your head to boot. All of these creatures look to YHWH for sustenance and in this way tacitly acknowledge their dependence on Him. God is portrayed in this psalm as a master gardener, tending to the earth so that it yields food and then making sure that all the animals are fed. He’s essentially a farmer cultivating fields and feeding livestock. This is an important worldview point because in many ancient religions, the gods didn’t work. They created humans to do the work and “feed” them through sacrifices of grain and livestock. This psalm elevates work by repeatedly implying that God works every day, not just in initially creating the universe, but in constantly sustaining it and increasing its life. Modern people often dream of a utopia where work is easier and easier and fewer people have to engage in it, as if it were a curse that we need to get out from under. The Bible presents works as a necessary good, flowing from the fact that we are created in the image of God who delights in his works. Do you delight in your work? Maybe you’ve got the wrong job. There’s a great feeling when you know you are doing what God made you to do and you feel his favor while doing it. God is a farmer, and he loves it. 

29 When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.

30 When you send forth your Spirit, [Or breath] they are created, and you renew the face of the ground.

These verses imply that YHWH has sovereign authority over life and death. When God hides his face, the earth and its inhabitants are dismayed. When it feels like God has turned against us, we are discouraged. For example, natural disasters make us question the goodness of God. How could he allow such things when he is sovereign over creation? We say things like, “Where were you God?” when tornadoes, hurricanes and tsunamis shatter lives and destroy what our hands have made. It feels like he is hiding his face. He is AWOL when we need him most. The parallel line is even more stark. YHWH doesn’t just hide his face from people, he takes away their breath, they die and return to the dust. One of the ways that many people die is through hypoxia, lack of oxygen, brought on by any number of factors. We can tell that someone has died when they stop breathing. Breathing is fundamental to life and the psalmist asserts that God has the power over life and breath. That is Thanos-level power. The fact that God has power over life and death is just that, a fact. When someone dies, it is because God has allowed it to happen. We may not like it; we are free to make our case before him; we may not understand the timing; and we may rightly blame others. Ultimately, if God is sovereign, our complaint needs to go to him. The following verse also reminds us that God has the power to give life as easily as he takes it. When God breathes, life begins and the face of the ground is renewed. On balance, there’s a lot more life creating than dying going on, even though our perspective is skewed by our experience. Every day in the world, 385,000 babies are born and 178,000 people die. God is still filling the planet with life. He loves people for some reason, and so he’s making lots of them. The final word in verse 30 is adamah, translated “ground” or “earth”, but you can see that it has the name Adam at its root (because Adam was made from the ground). God breathed life into dirt and created humanity. He has power over life and death and he wields that power for our good and his glory. 

31 May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works,

32 who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke!

The meditation on creation becomes a prayer to the creator and a promise from the created in these final verses. First, the psalmist asks that the glory of YHWH never cease. Into eternity may the ponderous weight of wisdom, beauty, and elegance displayed in creation never cease to point everyone’s attention to YHWH Creator. May we not become so wise in our own eyes that we miss the obvious. The evidence for the creative work of God is everywhere and in everything. Glory is due him for all time. Secondly, the psalmist asks that the LORD himself rejoice in his works, that YHWH would step back and admire his handiwork and take pleasure in its workings. One can imagine a divine being looking at the beauty of the earth in the same way that we do, in awe and wonder at its glory and diversity. The ever changing landscape, the play of light and shadow, the trillions of interactions with animals and plants -- all of these are a wonder to behold, and God himself sees it and takes pleasure in it. It’s something akin to the way we feel when we’ve made something either artistically or functionally. We can step back and admire it, and this is a very godly thing to do. Verse 32 highlights God’s power and authority over creation. He commands earthquakes and volcanoes. Volcanoes were rare in the ancient near east, but stories of them certainly circulated, giving rise to mythology about the gods who might dwell in the mountains. In poetry, mountains we considered timeless and unchanging (Psalm 90:1-2). Life down in the lowlands was tumultuous, but the mountains represented stability and permanence. This is why it is so significant that YHWH can command the mountains to shake and spew smoke and fire. Even when the earth shakes, it is YHWH who holds its foundations firm. These are signs to us that we are not in control. We are not gods. We are at the mercy of the sovereign of the universe who commands things that cannot be shaken to shake. 

33 I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.

34 May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the LORD.

35 Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more! Bless the LORD, O my soul! Praise the LORD!

In the final verses the psalmist vows to sing, to psalm, to meditate, to rejoice and to bless. This activity will continue as long as he is alive on this earth and as long as his soul has existence. The word meditate here is not the more common one, and it is typically translated as “complaint”. There is clearly no complaining going on to this point in the psalm. However, verse 35 does offer a hint of complaining, essentially stating that the only thing wrong with creation is the presence of evil. “Let sinners be consumed from the earth and the wicked be no more!” If it weren’t for evil, this world would be perfect, but sin corrupts everything. Imagine for example how much easier it would be to cultivate and make something of the world if you didn’t have to worry about anyone stealing what you’ve made. Think of the resources that we spend in security and in the justice system that could be appropriated to human flourishing if only we didn’t have sin to reckon with. In a way, this psalm anticipates the New Testament teaching of a new heaven and earth (2 Peter 3, Revelation 21,22). There are other hints of this in the Old Testament prophets although some of those prophecies are really about the church and the redemption that she brings to the earth as individuals and communities are shaped by the gospel. The lyric reminds me of the line from “Joy to the Word” -- no more let sin or sorrows grow, or thorns infest the ground. He comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found. Jesus is the first fruit of that transformation. In order for it to be effectuated, the church must move forward aggressively with proclaiming the gospel. Short of the return of Christ, conversion is the only way to ensure that sinners vanish from the earth. The final phrase, “Hallelujah” is a first at this point in the psalm. The word will occur a total of 22 times in the final 47 psalms (the same number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet). The psalm also concludes with the same phrase that began Psalm 103, “Bless the LORD O my soul”, suggesting a linking of these two psalms as well.