Psalm 104:1-35
God Sustains Nature
1 Praise the LORD, O my soul.
O LORD my God, you are very great;
you are clothed with splendor and majesty.
2 He wraps himself in light as with a garment;
he stretches out the heavens like a tent
3 and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.
He makes the clouds his chariot
and rides on the wings of the wind.
4 He makes winds his messengers,
flames of fire his servants.
5 He set the earth on its foundations;
it can never be moved.
6 You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
7 But at your rebuke the waters fled,
at the sound of your thunder they took to flight;
8 they flowed over the mountains,
they went down into the valleys,
to the place you assigned for them.
9 You set a boundary they cannot cross;
never again will they cover the earth.
10 He makes springs pour water into the ravines;
it flows between the mountains.
11 They give water to all the beasts of the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12 The birds of the air nest by the waters;
they sing among the branches.
13 He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;
the earth is satisfied by the fruit of his work.
14 He makes grass grow for the cattle,
and plants for man to cultivate—
bringing forth food from the earth:
15 wine that gladdens the heart of man,
oil to make his face shine,
and bread that sustains his heart.
16 The trees of the LORD are well watered,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
17 There the birds make their nests;
the stork has its home in the pine trees.
18 The high mountains belong to the wild goats;
the crags are a refuge for the coneys.
19 The moon marks off the seasons,
and the sun knows when to go down.
20 You bring darkness, it becomes night,
and all the beasts of the forest prowl.
21 The lions roar for their prey
and seek their food from God.
22 The sun rises, and they steal away;
they return and lie down in their dens.
23 Then man goes out to his work,
to his labor until evening.
24 How many are your works, O LORD!
In wisdom you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
25 There is the sea, vast and spacious,
teeming with creatures beyond number—
living things both large and small.
26 There the ships go to and fro,
and the leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.
27 These all look to you
to give them their food at the proper time.
28 When you give it to them,
they gather it up;
when you open your hand,
they are satisfied with good things.
29 When you hide your face,
they are terrified;
when you take away their breath,
they die and return to the dust.
30 When you send your Spirit,
they are created,
and you renew the face of the earth.
31 May the glory of the LORD endure forever;
may the LORD rejoice in his works—
32 he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,
who touches the mountains, and they smoke.
33 I will sing to the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him,
as I rejoice in the LORD.
35 But may sinners vanish from the earth
and the wicked be no more.
Praise the LORD, O my soul.
Praise the LORD.
By the Word of God nature was created...Now, God sustains nature...Nature needs its Creator to live on and survive...Nature is the very work of our LORD...And nature is God's servant...
God is Light...He wraps Himself in light as His garment...He stretches out the Heavens like a tent...God gave the earth its foundations, and it never will be moved...He rides the clouds, and makes the winds His messengers...
God gives water to all the animals, beasts, and creatures of nature...God quenches the thirst of the donkey...He gives the birds, there nests and they sing...He makes the grass grow for the cattle...He gives the goats there mountain grazing...The trees are watered by Him...The lions roar for their food, and He abides...The sea is full of His creatures and they are sustained by Him...Nature seeks its water, its food, its shelter from God and He abides...
God created nature and He sustains it...Nature and its continuance reveals God's mighty wisdom...When the believer looks around He sees God in our nature, the plants, the animals, the trees, the moon, the sun, the oceans, and the seas...The believer can look around and in nature see God and turn to Him...They can as the Psalmist give thanks to the LORD, and call on His name...The believer can sing praise to Him for these very works of nature...The glory of God is seen in His creation of nature...
And while God works to sustain nature, it seems man sometimes knowing, and sometimes not knowing is harming nature...
To the nonbeliever, he sees nature and often turns from God...He can see pollution and a crumbling environment...And these things of pollution and a crumbling environment are true, but God did not create pollution and styrofoam cups, and plastic bags, and stainless steel that does not biodegrade and return to nature -we did...Any decline in nature comes from the fall of man...We are the ones causing harm to nature, not God...Nature, itself loves God and looks around as praises Him, as the bird builds her new nest each spring and then sings of His glory...A caring loving, nurturing, protecting, comforting mother tiger shouts out the Love of God...For God is all these things...We should watch nature and learn from it...
His Son understands all the things of nature...He can not only walk on water, but He can turn water into wine...And all the water and rain raging down on His disciples and Himself in the Sea of Galilee, He quieted the water, the waves, the storm by just saying "Quiet, be still", and it happened just that way...He sees the beauty of nature...He tells us that even though Solomon was the wisest and richest of his time, things that he had made and purchased compared nothing to the beauty of the lilies of the field, and all their splendor...