Daily Meditations

Psalm 105:1-2 Let us proclaim His Name This lengthy Psalm is a re-telling of all the saving acts of the Lord God for His chosen people - Israel. The beginnings of these works are rooted in the covenant promises made to Abraham, and the writer follows through right up to the time when the people entered the Land of Promise and the covenant was fulfilled. The heart of the promises made to Abraham was the unconditional granting to them of the land of Canaan, for all time. The whole point of the Psalm is to encourage the people to think about all that happened, to see the hand of God upon them and to worship Him and trust in Him alone. This song was probably sung annually at one of the prominent annual festivals such as the Feast of Tabernacles or Pentecost.    V1-2    Although this Psalm was written for Israel and recounts their early history, we have no reason to overlook it. If anything, the works that God has wrought for His holy people, the church, are even greater and therefore provi

Psalm 104:35 May the wicked be no more!! Hopefully we have learned a lot from this Psalm; we have learned that the living creatures that God placed upon the earth are praising Him and are dependant upon Him. We have the learned that the heavens and the skies and all celestial bodies are in attendance to the Lord. The wind blows at His behest, earthquakes and volcanoes erupt at His voice or His touch, even the clouds in the sky and the oceans below are subject to His commands. Inanimate objects resound with His praise, in fact there are only two things that do not praise the living God. One of these is the dust of the earth from which man was made and to which all living things return. The other non-worshipping organism is man! It is human beings who have spoiled all that the Lord has made. It is only human beings who operate contrary to His will. It is only humanity that questions God and believes it knows better. Only humans ignore the Creator and deliberately live in outright disobed

Psalm 104:34 Take time to rejoice in the Lord The writer of this Psalm now pauses and reflects on all that has been revealed to him. Have you noticed how he took time to meditate upon the goodness of the Lord and ends up being overwhelmed with the wonder and glory of God’s creation? As we read, we can feel the words pouring out of his heart and what began as a meditation ends up becoming a symphony of wonder and praise that embraces all of God’s wondrous, creative works. I don’t know about you, but I have so enjoyed this Psalm as it has uncovered the hidden depths of the created world and introduced us to new ideas as to how things tick! I feel as if I am looking at the earth through different eyes.  Do we take enough time out to meditate? Do we have enough moments of uninterrupted peace and quiet where the Lord is able to break through the noise and clamour of a demanding world and where He is able to speak? Is our pursuit of Him and understanding of Him merely an intellectual exercis

Psalm 104:33 I will sing to the Lord all my life Suddenly, the Psalm becomes very personal. The writer has investigated all of creation and he concludes that everything, with or without the breath of life, is offering praise to its Maker. Some of God’s creatures are endlessly praising Him with music and song, some created objects simply reflect His glory, the word the Bible uses is “resounds.” Whatever you and I see around us, wherever we go in the earth, there is a symphony of praise being played to the divine Creator. Even as I sit writing this, on a still, mid-December morning, I can hear a Robin singing loudly in the garden and a clear blue sky embraces the sun with joy, as it appears over the horizon.  I have relatives who live just a few metres away from a very busy dual carriageway. They have lived in the same house for at least 50 years, and they never notice the traffic! Is it possible that we have failed to notice the song of praise that is being sung all around us? Even if w

  Psalm 104:32 He reigns over all things This is terrifying stuff because it puts the relationship between the Lord God and His creation into proper perspective. What the psalmist is saying here is, God only has to look at the earth and it trembles. He only has to touch a mountain and it smokes. In other words, the earthquakes and volcanoes that erupt upon the earth are just a consequence of His momentary glance or His gentle touch. Geologists and seismologists would, of course, offer a different explanation because modern science has a pragmatic, and basically godless, view of the created world. So, is this just a fantasy in the mind of an ancient psalmist who lived at a time when these earth-shaking events were not understood? Or are there some grounds for taking this verse literally?  The only conclusion that can be made, is that the Bible clearly teaches that the planet we live on came about by the Word of God. That is a core teaching of Scripture and is at the heart of Genesis 1 a

Psalm 104:31 May the Lord rejoice in His works I am reminded here of the opening verses of Psalm 19.  “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech; they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the end of the world.”  What a travesty that so few human beings catch the real message that is proclaimed by the heavens and the skies. They are not the thrones of the gods as some have believed; neither do they control our destinies, as astrologers and horoscopes purport them to do. No, their glory is in the fact that they declare the faithfulness and righteousness of the God who created them. In the same way, as we have seen, the whole of creation displayed on planet earth is a powerful revelation of the glory of the Lord; every living thing is in tune with Him and receives its life from Him. Even t

Psalm 104:30 When He sends His Spirit We know, from Genesis 1:2, that the Spirit of God was hovering over the primeval waters before God began His creative acts that gave birth to planet earth. In other words, the Holy Spirit of God was active from the very start of the life of our planet. Job saw that he was not just a product of his natural parents but that,  “The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life.”  Job 33:4. Whilst the Old Testament speaks little of the Holy Spirit, it does tell us that the Spirit was active amongst God’s people; in Isaiah 63:10-14 we read that it was the Spirit of God who led the Israelites and empowered Moses and also gave the people their rest in the Promised Land. It was the Holy Spirit who inspired the prophets, who gave ministries to God’s servants and who equipped godly men to serve the people. That is why David pleads in Psalm 51:11 that the Holy Spirit be not taken from him.  The Father and the Son and the Spirit are not s

Psalm 104:29a The dust of the earth It was while walking the dog, after reading this verse, that I was challenged to think more about “ the dust .” We were passing along the perimeter of a field and I was aware of the newly planted wheat that had sprouted in late autumn and given a lovely green tinge to what had been a barren area of land. One of my beefs about modern agriculture is that it has robbed our fields of their goodness, if you look closely at a field of winter barley or wheat in early spring, the crop will appear to be light green or yellow. The colour changes as farmers apply “spring starter” fertilisers which are used primarily to feed the young plants with Phosphate, Potassium, Nitrogen and Sulphur.  Because fields are no longer allowed to rest and there is very little rotation of crops, the goodness has been drained from the soil and fertilisers have to be added to promote healthy young plants. In other words, the ground is dead, the dust of the earth has no natural good

Psalm 104:29 Dependent creatures I’m struggling with this verse! It suggests that there is direct interaction between the living creatures and the Lord God, that they are as aware of Him and His actions as we are! The idea that God hides His face from humans is not new, we have come across it before in the Psalms. In moments of need the psalmists want to know why God has turned away. David writes in Psalm 30:7, “ Lord, when You favoured me, You made my royal mountain stand firm; but when You hid Your face, I was dismayed .” God hiding His face is associated with rejection and it causes despair and hopelessness, on the other hand, when His face shines, blessing and deliverance come.  This Psalm writer seems to suggest here that the creatures of the world undergo similar despair and blessing, that they too are encompassed by the actions of the Lord and that they suffer when He turns His face away. I suppose that is obvious, but I’m challenged by the concept that all living things are awa

Psalm 104:27-28   God feeds the creatures of His earth These are breath-taking verses, they contrast the attitudes and activities of the creatures of the earth with the pursuits of mankind. Man works, toils and labours, using every hour of his days to produce food and to provide for himself. Most people are driven by greed and selfishness to accumulate wealth and possessions and to “look after No 1.” Contrast that with the creatures that live around us who “ look to You to give them their food at the proper time. ” This takes us back to Genesis 3:17-19 when God pronounced over Adam, “ Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return. ” Notice that the curse is upon the ground not on the

Psalm 104:25-26 The vastness of the sea Yesterday’s national news (10 th  December 2023) included an account of the discovery, on the Dorset coast, of the skull of a colossal sea monster that terrorised the oceans about 150 million years ago! Whilst Bible students may have something to say about the dating systems used by scientists, we can all agree with today’s verse that  “the sea is vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number – living things both large and small. ” Up until now the Psalm has embraced the animals that roam on land and the birds that fly through the air, but there has been no mention of the creatures of the seas. The life that exists below the waves is vast, in Genesis 1 the waters are described as “teeming” with living creatures, and there has been speculation for centuries about the true identity of the Leviathan. The root of this word is “Livyatan” in Hebrew, which means to twist, turn, wind, or coil. The equivalent animal on the land is the “Behemoth”

Psalm 104:24 How many are Your works Lord! This is not the end of Psalm 104, as you are aware, but the verse before us today kind-of summarises everything that has been written thus far. Our journey has had us dabbling with the origins of light and the immensity of a Being who treats the billions of galaxies around us as if they were His tent! His messengers fly in the clouds, and wind and fire obey His commands. It is God who separated the waters and created the vault between the skies above us and the watery depths of the oceans and seas below. Even though these vast coverings are separate, they interact day after day and the materials used to form them are exactly the same! Mountains, valleys and plains are the work of God’s hands, as are the springs that bubble from the earth. All animals and birds are dependent on the Creator who feeds and waters each of these creatures independently. In the same way, this amazing, divine being provides for mankind and even supplies our luxuries!

Psalm 104:23 The Lion of Judah There are many images today that use the lion to represent the glory and strength of Christ. CS Lewis’s novel, “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” presents us with Aslan, the mighty warrior lion who is sacrificed on an altar but comes back to life and drives the evil forces out of Narnia. The only symbolic mentions of a lion in the Bible are the Lion of Judah,  “ Judah, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons will bow down to you. You are a lion’s cub, Judah; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness—who dares to rouse him? The sceptre will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his. He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. His eyes will be darker

Psalm 104:21-22 Big cats! There are still some hyenas to be found in Israel and also a few wolves, but the country has no big cats. The Lions are thought to have become extinct there in medieval times, probably around the time of the Crusades. The last leopard was seen as late as 2010 but the big cats are now all gone. However, they were commonplace in Biblical times. Lions do most of their hunting   at night   as their eyes have adapted to the dark and this gives them a huge advantage over their prey. Interestingly though, lions also hunt during storms. The noise, rain and/or wind make it harder for prey to see and hear them, increasing their chances of a successful hunt. What is also interesting is that lions tend to roar together rather than individually, so everything this Psalm tells us is true, these are creatures of the night that generally retreat silently to their dens during the day.  What the Psalm is telling us is that even the most savage of the wild animals live by God’s

Psalm 104:20 Light and darkness Genesis 1:3-5 tell us that God said,  “Let there be light.”  He went on to separate the light from the darkness. He called the light “day,” and the darkness He called “night.” In Isaiah 45:7 we read,  “I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.”  Let us all be aware that darkness is not just an absence of light, it is a deliberate consequence of the actions of an intelligent Being who recognises the need for dark and light to exist together and to complement each other. Without the one the other would not be recognisable. We need light to dispel darkness, but we also need darkness to show us the importance of light. Imagine a world that was always dark or always light. All the creative processes depend on both states interacting together and creating a balance that allows life and growth and sustenance that is beneficial to all living things. God even chose to make creatures that inhabi

Psalm 104:19 The God of time Having been reminded again and again, of the creative genius of the Lord on the earth, we are now asked to briefly switch our attention to the skies and to consider the sun and moon. When these were created and planted in the heavens above us, God made this pronouncement,  ““Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so.”  Genesis 1:14-15. It’s interesting isn’t it, that the Lord God’s first announcement is that the sun and the moon were put in place to serve as signs and to mark days, and times, and years? From that moment to this we have, as human beings, lived our lives according to these days and times and years as marked by the sun and moon. The two heavenly chronometers never waver in their accuracy or in their dependability and every human life and every action

Psalm 104:18 Alpine creatures The footnotes in my Bible call the land of Lebanon, “God’s earthly parkland.” Why not? It is a paradise of variety, energy and inspiration. In fact, the whole earth is God’s earthly parkland. The scenery is breath-taking, the abundance of life is mind-blowing and the sensory experience of just living here is heart-warming! We are surrounded by creatures of every kind, by mountains and oceans, rivers and valleys, plains and rounded hills. The sky is full of life, as are the seas, and the songs of God’s creatures follow us all day and night. The seasons gladden us with their variety as plants and growing things respond to changes of temperature and light. As this verse tells us, even those places that are inaccessible to most humans are occupied by the alpine creatures that God has made.  Those who trust and believe in the Lord God should be daily overwhelmed by the glory of His creation; but we ain’t seen nothing yet! On the day that He comes to rule and re

Psalm 104:16-17 Lebanon, storks and junipers In Psalm 92:12 we commented on the significance of the cedars of Lebanon. “ In Bible times, cedar wood was desirable for a number of reasons. Obviously, the wood was very desirable, it had no knots in it and it was used to adorn the Temple and royal palaces. It was an expensive wood and was durable because it did not decay, and it was generally resistant to disease. A cedar can grow up to 120 feet (10 story building) and its branches spread wide at right angles to the trunk. The roots go down as deep as the branches go up and it is little surprise to learn that this was known as the “king of trees”, even its name means “firm or strong. So why Lebanon? Lebanon means “whiteness”, it comes from the Hebrew “lawban”, the same word that is used in Isaiah 1:18, “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white “lawban” as snow.” Lebanon was renowned for its snow-capped mountains and the cedars grew prolifically on the mountain slopes.” What w

Psalm 104:15 Wine, oil and bread We have seen in the previous verses of the Psalm that God is the master-provider. Everything we have comes from Him, all the systems that help this planet to function are the product of His genius. And now, three curious objects that God provides for us are highlighted. They are wine, oil and bread. Note also that wine gladdens our  hearts  and bread sustains our  hearts . In the language of the Bible, the heart is the centre of the human spirit, from it springs the emotions, the thoughts and the motivations that make us the people we turn out to be. Everything that we are originates in our hearts and everyone’s heart is different. The Lord God pronounced a damning indictment of our hearts after Noah and his family were released from the Ark.  “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.”  Genesis 8:21.

Psalm 104:14 Food from the earth This Psalm is all embracing, it is trying to show us that nothing is left to chance, that all of creation around us is wired to work in ways that are beneficial to man and to other living creatures. The foundation of the cosmos and the earth are not accidental, the division between the waters above us and the seas below are mathematically calculated, the weather systems that circulate around the earth, and the rivers and streams that flow to the seas, all of these are designed, and every detail is carefully programmed so that all these vast and complex structures interact and do their job. If we interfere with one of them, there is a domino effect that disrupts the others. What an immense intellect this God of ours has, how perfectly He has created this planet, how foolish we are to take it back from Him and to seek to run it without Him. Of course it is doomed to fail under human control, every grasping, greedy interference from man upsets the equilibr

Psalm 104:13 He waters the mountains Like you, I watch the TV weather forecasts with interest. We are especially addicted to these in a country like the UK where weather patterns differ dramatically from day to day, and an idea of what the weather is going to do assists our planning and preparation for the hours ahead. It’s not like that in every part of the world of course. In some countries every day’s weather is the same, in others the seasons come and go but they are very predictable. Wherever we are in the world the land, if it is to be productive, needs rain. And who organises and sends the rain? God does. And because the clouds need to dispose of some of their weight to enable them to be lifted over mountain ranges, it’s on the mountains that the rain falls first and falls the most. That is why the western side of England is wetter than the east, the clouds dump their rain on Manchester so that they can make it across the Pennines!  The psalmist here is keen to point out that th

Psalm 104:12 The birds of the sky Having been an avid birdwatcher for 50 years I might be excused for taking time out to enjoy this verse. I mean it’s pretty straightforward, isn’t it? Birds nest where there is water, and they like to sing from the branches of trees. End of! Well, not quite. Firstly, note that they are referred to as the birds of the sky. These winged creatures are equipped to enter and inhabit a domain from which man is excluded. The previous verses have reminded us of the vault that separates the waters above the earth and those beneath. Man is very much rooted to the land, yes, we have aircraft today but as human beings we cannot fly. The waters above are therefore the sole habitat of the avian creation and in that sense, they have the unique ability to approach closer to the God of the heavens than we do, to bridge the gap between heaven and earth. Hence it is no surprise to learn that when skylarks rise up into the air in spring and summer, they sing songs of such

Psalm 104:10-11 He waters the earth This Psalm is an unfolding description of creation, but it is also a powerful reminder that our God is in control of all things. This is such a contrast, and a conflict, with the thinking of the wicked. The wisdom of man leaves everything to chance and coincidence, we are told that the whole of the universe was born as a consequence of a cosmic big bang, billions of years ago. We are here by accident rather than design, and we are unaccountable creatures who have to control our own fate. It seems that every government and leader of the civilised world believes this satanic propaganda and we educate our children to believe it too!  The Bible paints a very different picture, one that is so radically different that it separates believers completely from the theories of their unbelieving contemporaries. No wonder a number of New Testament writers describe us as strangers and aliens in this world!  In our world, and the world of the Psalmist, it is God wh

Psalm 104:8-9 The waters will never again cover the earth Do you remember the words that the Lord God spoke to Noah, after the flood?  “I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.”  Genesis 9:15. The rainbow was given as a sign of this for the rainbow tells us, emphatically and beautifully, that there are waters in the clouds and in the sky; without rain from the heavens there would be no rainbow! It is visible, scientific proof that the Lord God is keeping His word. We need to remember this when we see the next rainbow, it is far more than a pretty arch in the sky, it is irrefutable evidence that the atmosphere above us contains water.  Verse 8 here paints a beautiful picture of the waters on the planet receding at God’s command and as they did so, mountains and valleys appeared. Rivers and streams started to flow down to the seas and the world not only became accessible, but it

Psalm 104:6-7 The waters reconquered! It occurs to me that these verses are talking about the earth, after the Flood of Noah’s day. The later descriptions of waters pouring down on the mountains  “from His upper chambers”  does not fit the climatic conditions pre-flood when the earth was watered by springs! Genesis 2:6!  It seems that if all polar ice melted and all the clouds in the sky emptied their contents, the waters would cover even the highest mountain peaks! Such was the state of the earth before God intervened both pre-creation and pre-flood. Genesis 1:6-9 says,  “And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault “sky”.  ….. And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let the dry ground appear.” And it was so. God called the dry ground “land” and the gathered waters He called “seas.” And God

Psalm 104:5 The earth cannot be moved Psalm 96:10 tells us that the  “world is firmly established, it cannot be moved.”  Psalm 24:1-2 says,  “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for He founded it on the seas and established it on the waters.”  Psalm 93:1 promises,  “The world is established, firm and secure.”  The earth here refers to the “land” not to the whole planet. In other words, the seas will never again be able to flood over the land, there will always be dry ground and a separation from the oceans and waters that cover so much of the surface of the planet. We have discovered, in recent years, that our treatment of the land affects the seas in that the ice cap is melting and the sea levels are rising; powerful evidence, if any was needed, that if we ignore God then the seas grow in their influence over the land. “Climate change” is God’s way of showing mankind that we cannot live on this planet driven by greed and self-interest, if

Psalm 104:4 He makes winds His messengers At the end of Psalm 103 we looked briefly at some of the heavenly creatures and their various roles. We’ve also noted that cherubim are associated with divine transport and that these creatures have wings and can fly! Many commentators believe that the winds mentioned here in today’s verse are the squalls that come with thunderstorms and the fire refers to bolts of lightning. In other words, these powerful displays in the heavens are evidence of God’s power and glory. Interestingly Hebrews 1:7 tells us, “ In speaking of angels He says, “He makes His angels spirits, and His servants flames of fire. ””  I love to reflect on what happened on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came to that house in Jerusalem.  “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what appeared to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.”  Acts 2:2-3. It se

Psalm 104:3b Clouds, chariots, wings and wind The idea of the Lord God riding upon the clouds is not a new one in the Psalms.  “He parted the heaven and came down; dark clouds were under His feet. He mounted the cherubim and flew; He soared on the wings of the wind.”  Psalm 18:9-10.  “Sing to God, sing in praise of His name, extol Him who rides on the clouds, rejoice before Him – His name is the Lord.”  Psalm 68:4.  Many would say that this colourful language is just poetic and that the Lord does not ride around on clouds any more than we will – playing our harps! However, Israel had experience of God appearing and watching over them through a cloud. For instance, a pillar of cloud separated them from the Egyptians on the banks of the Red Sea. On one side it was dark and on the other it was light. A similar cloud guided the people on their wilderness journey for 40 years and they had no doubt that the Lord God was present in that cloud. When the Lord Jesus ascended from the earth to he