The King Over Creation

It’s good to be gathered together online. My name is Mike Kelsey, one of the pastors here at McLean Bible Church. Wherever you’re watching from, we’re glad you’re joining with us. If you are a middle school or high school student, I want to give you a shout out. Thank you for watching today. Try to make it through the whole sermon.

Psalm 104 teaches us about the goodness of God

I’m excited about the Psalm we’re going to study today. As we look at Psalm 104, I want to help us feel and see the goodness of God all around us. Here’s the reality, especially in a time like we’re in right now—things are difficult.

So often, not just in this particular situation but in lots of situations, we’re tempted to judge God based on the specific thing we want in the moment. “I don’t know if God is really good.” Why? “Because He hasn’t done this one particular thing yet.” That’s often how our emotions and logic work when it comes to thinking about and feeling the goodness of God. But the reality is God’s goodness is everywhere, and He’s constantly giving us opportunities for joy—if we’ll learn to see the world through the lens of God’s Word. That’s what we see here in Psalm 104.

Keep your Bible open as we read through this Psalm because there’s so much in it. We’re not going to be able to get to all of it, yet I want you to see all of it. I’m going to read Psalm 104—are you ready? Here we go.

Bless the LORD, O my soul!  O LORD my God, you are very great! You are clothed with splendor and majesty, covering yourself with light as with a garment,stretching out the heavens like a tent. He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters;  he makes the clouds his chariot; he rides on the wings of the wind; he makes his messengers winds, his ministers a flaming fire.

Then look at when God originally created the earth.

He set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be moved. You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. At your rebuke they fled; at the sound of your thunder they took to flight. The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them. You set a boundary that they may not pass so that they might not again cover the earth.

Then look at how God cares for His creation:

You make springs gush forth in the valleys, they flow between the hills; they give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell; they sing among the branches. From your lofty abode you water the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.

Look what He does with the plants:

You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen man’s heart. The trees of the LORD are watered abundantly the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.In them the birds build their nests; the stork has her home in the fir trees. The high mountains are for the wild goats; the rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers. He made the moon to mark the seasons;  the sun knows its time for setting. You make darkness, and it is night,  when all the beasts of the forest creep about. The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God. When the sun rises, they steal away and lie down in their dens. Man goes out to his work  and to his labor until the evening. O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. Here is the sea, great and wide, which teems with creatures innumerable, living things both small and great. There go the ships, and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it.These all look to you,  to give them their food in due season. When you give it to them, they gather it up;  when you open your hand, they are filled with good things. When you hide your face, they are dismayed;  when you take away their breath, they die  and return to their dust.

When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground. May the glory of the LORD endure forever;  may the LORD rejoice in his works, who looks on the earth and it trembles,  who touches the mountains and they smoke!

I will sing to the LORD as long as I live;  I will sing praise to my God while I have being. May my meditation be pleasing to him,  for I rejoice in the LORD. Let sinners be consumed from the earth,  and let the wicked be no more! Bless the LORD, O my soul! Praise the LORD!

Amen. Let’s pray.

Father, we pray that You would open our hearts as we open Your Word. Speak to us and work in us, we pray. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Psalm 104 is basically a celebration of science. Not science like we typically hear about it, but science as exploring and studying the work of God in creation. Let me give you the background to this Psalm. The Israelites were surrounded by cultures that looked at nature and gave credit to different gods. For example, the Canaanites worshiped Baal, the god who ruled the sky. In the 14th century B.C., there was an Egyptian poem called “Hymn to the Sun.” It’s basically an Egyptian king worshiping the sun god as the source and sustainer of life.

It seems like the biblical poet in this Psalm is looking at all of that, and essentially what he’s saying to God’s people is, “Don’t see the world like the pagan nations see it. They worship the sun, but we worship the One Who made the sun. They worship the creation, but we worship the Creator.” Throughout this Psalm, the writer is shooting these subtle shots at all of these so-called pagan gods. If you pay close attention to the Psalm, you begin to see very clearly that the writer is looking at the world through the lens of God’s Word.

In fact, he’s constantly drawing from the creation account in the book of Genesis. He even uses some of the same language. This is a person whose worldview has been shaped by God’s Word. He’s thinking about all these different aspects of nature, the beauty of it all and how it all works together. His heart bursts into praise and gratitude to God.

Here are four things we should think about when we look at nature and when we look at the world around us. These are four reasons to stop and give God praise. Whether you’re peering down into the Grand Canyon or eating a taco, here are four things you should think about.

Psalms 104 reminds us God is the King over all creation.

God is not just some generic “man upstairs.” The Creator and King of the universe is the God revealed to us in the Bible. This is not polytheism, where people believe there are many gods and each one of them controls some aspect of nature. This isn’t naturalism, where people believe nature is all there is. It came into being by itself and runs by itself. This is what we’re expected to believe in modern Western culture. This isn’t pantheism, where God is replaced by the universe—just some energy that animates nature. No, we don’t have to guess and make things up. God has revealed Himself to us.

There is one true God, a God Who offers covenant relationship to those who trust in Him—and this God is the King. He rules as King over His creation. That’s what this language is about in verses one through four. It’s not literal language. God is not up there wearing outfits, right? This is poetry. He says, “God, You’re clothed with splendor and majesty, covering Yourself with light as with a garment.” It’s just like I am wearing clothes right now. These clothes move when I move. You don’t see my body, but you know that there’s a person moving behind these garments. That’s why one writer said, “You’ve never seen God, but you’ve seen His garments.” God is working in nature.

Look at verse four. God is the King, the Founder and the CEO of the world. The sun, moon and stars that shine light all work for Him. The clouds work for Him. The wind works for Him. Lightning works for Him. I love verse three that says, “He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters.” He’s talking about the waters above the earth—earth’s atmosphere—and says, “Look up at the sky. What’s the highest place you can see? That’s just God’s basement.”

See, God isn’t limited to earth like we are. He dwells up in the penthouse suite over all His creation. I want you to think about a massive skyscraper hotel in New York City. Have you ever been in a really nice hotel that had a hundred floors? Your key card has gotten you up to your room, to the pool, maybe even to a free breakfast lounge. But after a couple days, you see those buttons in the elevator that say, “Floors 100-120.” It’s like a whole different section of buttons. Sometimes they really want to make you feel bad, so they put those buttons in a whole different section of the elevators. You get in the elevator with somebody, going to the fourth floor. Your room doesn’t even have windows. You push your fourth floor button, then the other person looks at you, swipes their key card while they’re looking at you. Then they push the button for the 112th floor. It makes you feel so basic. That’s the picture the psalmist is painting here. God is omnipresent, but the psalmist is using spatial language to make a theological point. He’s putting us in our place. We are not on God’s level. God is the King Who dwells over all His creation and God’s work in nature reveals His supreme splendor and unmatched majesty. Creation is God’s LinkedIn profile. Every animal, every species of flower, every star and solar system is a bullet point in the resumé of God’s power and His creativity.

The amazing thing is that God made all of this for us to enjoy. God made the earth secure for us (verse five). He made the earth orderly for us (verses six through nine). He even made a little canopy of lights to cover us, “stretching out the heavens like a tent” (verse two).

Students, listen. This is why we study astronomy and meteorology. The subjects you’re studying in school are teaching you about how great God is. Even if your teacher doesn’t believe in God, even if your textbooks don’t mention Him, when we learn about the world, we’re learning about the work of God. Every other ‘ology’ is a branch of theology because it all comes from God.

God is not just ruling over heaven, He is ruling over all creation—the spiritual and the physical. That’s why Abraham Kuyper, who was the prime minister of the Netherlands in the early 1900s, said, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, Who is sovereign over all, does not cry out, ‘Mine!’” He owns it all. God is the King over all creation.

This should fill us with so much worship and confidence, even in the midst of a viral pandemic. COVID-19 is not king. God is the King over every aspect of creation and this disease will not have the last word in God’s creation. He hates coronavirus and all the devastation that it’s causing. We’ll come back to that in a little bit.

We should praise God because He is the King over all creation.

Psalms 104 reminds us God is actively providing for His creation.

Look at the creativity and variety in God’s creation in verses 10-18. Donkeys, storks, goats, rock badgers, lions, sea creatures. Kids who are watching, I have an assignment for you. Tell your parents or older siblings to Google the animal kingdom later, then just look at the wonder of God’s creation.

He says even the Leviathan is created by God. The Leviathan was a sea creature that was so huge and terrifying to ancient cultures that it became a legend, like the Loch Ness monster. But the psalmist says, “That sea monster that’s so scary and mythical to you—it’s just one little piece of God’s creation, a fish playing in a pool.” Students, this is why we study zoology and marine biology. God has filled His world with all kinds of creatures that reveal His creativity.

And look at how God cares for all of them. The earth is this masterful ecosystem that God personally designed and actively sustains for His creatures to enjoy. He made the earth with a built-in sprinkler and irrigation system: rain, dew on the grass and mountain streams and rivers. Students, this is why we study the hydrologic cycle. Parents, you’ve all forgotten about that. It’s all God’s design. Look, the animals get thirsty and God is the One quenching their thirst. God provides shelter for them. In verses 19-22, He even manages our time by marking the seasons and distinguishing between day and night. All of this is why the Psalm says in verse 13, “The earth is satisfied…” In Hebrew, it’s to be fulfilled, to be overflowing “…with the fruit of your work.” Listen, God isn’t just good—He’s abundantly good. He’s over-the-top good. As gospel artist Jonathan McReynolds said, “He’s just too good to just be good.”

This is so helpful to remember because God is not in a recession. Our economy is in crisis, but God’s economy is not in crisis. Now listen—don’t be dumb. Go on and get that stimulus check, but ultimately, God is the One we look to for our provision. Let me show you something amazing in verses 14 and 15. God provides us with basic necessities like food. You see bread and fresh produce, then a word I love in verse 14: “livestock.” That’s farm animals. That’s goats, cows, sheep and oxen. That’s steak, lamb and curry goat and ox tails. Come on, can I get an amen? Even in your house.

I know, all you angry vegans are going to email me, “No! Those were pets. Those were work animals. We’re not going to kill animals in heaven.” Okay. We’ll find out one day when we see God face to face. In the meantime, I’m going to fire up my grill and enjoy the goodness of God. Don’t “@” me. God provides us with necessities to survive.

Now listen, He also provides us with luxuries to enjoy. Not just bread and vegetables and our God given birthright as carnivorous creatures, but look at verse 15: “Wine to gladden the heart of man…” The point there isn’t to emphasize wine; it’s to highlight the fact that God didn’t just give us water.

He wanted us to enjoy a variety of drinks. For you, that might be a cup of tea or some Rock Creek fruit punch or whatever your thing is. God forbid, maybe some unsweetened tea which makes no sense to me. That’s counterproductive. Whatever it is, God provided it.

In verse 15, God also provides “…oil to make [our] face shine…” God even wanted you to have face moisturizer, lotion, shea butter and coconut oil. Now, this might be a little more in the necessity category, depending on which racial group you’re a part of.

Listen, white brothers and sisters, the rest of us need some empathy. Ashiness hits different on pale skin, but for those of us with darker skin we need help. I’ve been washing my hands so much in all this coronavirus, these little ash pockets right here are relentless. I’ve got ash right here right now because I forgot to put on lotion. It’s real. But God said, “I don’t want you to be ashy.” He’s a good God.

God provides us with necessities to survive and luxuries to enjoy—beauty, flavors, building materials and beaches. Did you know the average person has 10,000 taste buds and they’re replaced every two years? Why? Because He’s not just good—He is abundantly good and He wants us to enjoy all these different flavors.

This whole world is pulsating with the goodness of God. God doesn’t just provide all this for people who believe in Him and obey Him. God provides this for everybody. The theological term for this is common grace. We all—even if you reject God—get to enjoy the goodness of God. He’s actively providing for all of His creation. The psalmist is thinking about all the ways God cares for His creation and he’s compelled to write this poem, this passionate song of praise.

This is how our lives are designed to work. It’s what I call “living in the rhythm of gratitude.” When we receive the goodness of creation, we respond with gratitude to the Creator. We receive God’s goodness in the world, then we respond to Him in gratitude and praise. This just continues over and over again. It’s a constant rhythm of receiving and responding, receiving and responding. This should be the rhythm of your whole life. Parents, it’s your responsibility to develop this instinct in your kids.

You know, we ain’t got nothin’ to do these days, so everybody is outside taking walks. While I was outside taking a walk with my kids the other day, my three-year-old started chasing some birds. I thought that was a good opportunity to bring him into this rhythm of gratitude. So I asked, “Jackson, who made the birds?” Then we just took a quick minute to thank God for the birds.

When you sit down to eat, individually or with your family or wherever, don’t just treat prayer like it’s a quick ritual. Help your children understand that we’re taking time to thank God for His goodness and provision. Maybe even switch it up sometimes, praying and thanking God after you’ve finished your meal—if the food was good. Creation doesn’t just reveal a God Who’s powerful. Creation reveals a God Who is good and Who cares about you.

I remember one day when my wife was struggling with post-partum depression and I went into full-pastor mode. I’ll be totally honest with you, I was thinking, “You need some fighter verses, some Scripture to do work on your heart. You need to spend some more time in prayer and rejoicing in the Lord.” Now listen, all those things are true and good, but then her dad came by and you know what he did? He took her to Starbucks, because he was wise enough to know that she doesn’t just have a soul, she has a body.

She needed some sunshine and a latte. These were good creation gifts from her father—and ultimately from her loving heavenly Father—to bring a smile to her face and lift up her heavy heart.

Listen, even in the midst of difficulty, God is still providing for you. Sometimes we just don’t see it that way. He cares about you and wants you to experience and enjoy His goodness. We see that when we read about His goodness in the Word and we receive His goodness in the world. It only makes sense to respond with gratitude and praise to Him, but it doesn’t stop there. God isn’t just providing for His creation.

Psalms 104 reminds us God partners with His creation.

Look at Psalm 104:14—15 again. This is crazy when you really take time to think about it. It will change everything. It will change the way you interact with your job and the work you do in your home. Think about this for a minute. God provides plants, but how do we get vegetables? Verse 14 says God causes plants to grow— why? “…[F]or man to cultivate…” This language goes all the way back to the job description God gave humanity in Genesis 2:15—to cultivate the earth. So think about this in Psalm 104:15. God gives wine to gladden a man’s heart and all these other things. God provides wine—how? By funneling it from the sky? Some of you wish that. You need help. No, it’s by somebody cultivating grapes in a vineyard. God provides oil—how? By dropping it into CVS on a shelf? No. By somebody extracting it from olives that grew on olive trees. God provides bread—how? By someone harvesting grain and Panera charging us $19 to put it in the toaster. God provides for us, but He uses people to do it.

This is part of how we bear the image of God. We cultivate God’s creation. He uses us to deliver His goodness through our work and creativity. We take plants and animals, turning them into cuisine. We take basic elements like sound waves and primary colors, turning them into music and art.

We turn sand into silicone and produce all kinds of technology. We use our brains to bring structure through engineering and healing through medicine. So you are not just employed by that tech company or that government agency or that school. You are employed by the King over all creation.

In the midst of this pandemic, I thank God for providing for us through so many different ways. We celebrate it right now. In New York City, every single day people open their windows and clap. Why? They may not be doing this consciously, but they are thanking God for providing for them.

If you’re a medical professional, a researcher or one of the teachers trying to figure out distance learning, God is providing right now in the midst of all this through so many people who are serving us. Even if you’re unemployed or retired or your work is primarily in your home with your family, we create good things because our Creator has given us good gifts. When we work, God is at work through us, providing for the people we serve.

We experience God’s provision in all these ways, but there’s a breakdown. We experience God’s provision like this through all these people, but then why doesn’t it always translate into gratitude and praise? Why do we receive all this goodness, but we don’t always feel thankful to God? Our hearts don’t explode in worship like this psalmist does in Psalm 104.

I think the breakdown is pretty simple. It’s amazing that God uses creation to provide for us and that God uses other people to provide for us. But that’s also part of the reason why we miss God. All we see are the instruments of God’s provision, but we so often miss the source.

Ladies, imagine a dude you like sends you some flowers. [Some of you are like, “May it be so, Lord Jesus. Send him.” All right, you keep praying.] But it’s COVID-19 season so we’re social distancing and he doesn’t show up to your door. Instead he orders them and a delivery guy shows up to your door.

Let me ask you something. How are you going to feel about the delivery guy? I mean, hopefully if you’re a nice person, you at least say, “Thank you.” You’re probably not inviting the delivery guy in for coffee. You got the flowers from him, but who’s going to be on your mind? The one who sent them to you as an expression of his love, or at least an indication of his interest in you.

The reality of the matter is God is sending us opportunities for joy all day every day. His mercies are new every single morning (Lamentations 3:22—24). But so often we do one of two things. We either grab God’s provision, slam the door and act like we made it ourselves. Or we just sit there and admire the delivery guy, not even thinking about the One Who sent His good gifts to us.

Listen, God provides for us by partnering with His creation in all of these different ways and through different industries and career fields. We almost take it for granted. God’s goodness is so faithful that it shows up every day in all these different ways. It’s so regular that it feels automatic and we take it for granted. But the psalmist doesn’t take it for granted.

In Psalm 104, he sees God providing through all of these partnerships with His creation, so he gives gratitude and praise to God. To receive the good things in creation as good gifts from your Creator is deliberate. You wouldn’t even be able to get through the day if you took time to think about every single good and perfect gift God allows you to enjoy.

This is where I wish we were together physically, so I could hear some people give God praise for His goodness. You woke up this morning—that was the goodness of God. Your lungs filled with oxygen— that was the goodness of God. You are saturated with the goodness of God all around you—all of these opportunities for joy even in the midst of your problems and challenges.

Now, if you’re like me you probably feel some tension in what I’ve been saying so far, in this Psalm and throughout this whole sermon. You might be thinking, “Okay, this is great, Mike, but the world isn’t all gumdrops and lollipops. You’re presenting an extremely edited version of reality, but what about all the death, disease and disaster in the world. I mean, seriously. Right now, thousands and thousands of people are dying because of a virus that God could stop at any moment—if He’s really King over all creation. As a matter of fact, if He’s really King over creation, then why is there coronavirus to begin with?”

Christianity isn’t naïve or dishonest about this tension. This world is not just full of good things. This world is also full of tragedy and hardship. God tells us why, right here in the same Bible that gives us Psalm 104. Death, disease and disaster are glitches in the system, signs that God’s good creation has been infected by sin. God promised this would happen if we turned from Him, so now we live in a fallen world. We live under the curse of sin.

That’s what Psalm 104:27—30 is about. In a fallen world under the curse of sin there is life and death. We live in a world that is feeling painful indicators that God’s judgment for sin is coming. It’s like foreshocks before the earthquake.

I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about it that way, but the breakdown in our bodies, our emotions and our relationships are all indicators of greater pain to come, indicators that God’s judgment is coming—and it will be exponentially worse than anything we experience in this life. God says to us in His Word that every single one of us—you and even me as a pastor—deserve this judgment. All of us have sinned right in God’s face. We have turned His creation into an idol. We take His blessings and reject His authority. And just like verse 35 says, all sinners—all those who disobey God—will be “…consumed from the earth…” They’ll be cut off from the goodness of God for all of eternity.

There’s nothing you can do in your own strength. You cannot escape God’s judgment through religious exercises. You can’t escape God’s judgment by trying to do more good works than you do bad works. We are incapable of paying the full penalty for our sin in a way that makes us innocent and not guilty in the eyes of Almighty God. You and I deserve His judgment. We will be cut off from His goodness and spend eternity in torment and pain, in the complete, absolute absence of anything good or beautiful.

But Jesus came with good news. He came to this world—God, stepping into His creation, putting on a human body—and He lived the perfectly righteous life we need in order to be accepted by God.

He allowed Himself to be killed on the cross, paying the penalty for our sin in our place. Then He rose from the grave to make it known in the seen and unseen realm that He is the One Who has authority to forgive sin. He died and He rose for you, so that anyone who turns from their sin and puts their trust in Jesus will be saved. They will be forgiven and rescued from the penalty and power of sin.

He died and rose from the dead because He came to give us forgiveness. But listen—this is good news. He didn’t just come to give us forgiveness. He is coming back to give us the eternal future all of us are longing for. This is when the good news gets even better. So often we think the hope of the afterlife is that our souls, our spirits, are just going to float away from earth for all eternity. But that’s not the hope of the New Testament. That’s not the ultimate hope of the gospel.

One day, God will completely renew His creation.

We see that God is the King over all creation, that God is actively providing for His creation and that God partners with His creation. But when Jesus returns one day, God will completely renew His creation. This is what Isaiah prophesied about in Isaiah 65. This is what Jesus called “the renewal of all things.” This is what Peter says in 2 Peter 3:13: “According to his promise we are waiting for new heavens.” Not “heaven” but “heavens.” It’s the stars and solar systems and skies. Also, “a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”

This is the vision John saw in Revelation 21. Listen to this description in verses one through four:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Listen, this is good news for us. It’s almost as if the pain in this world is so real that in the moment we see God face to face, we’ll still be overwhelmed by the pain of it all. But in that moment, God Himself will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more. The ultimate hope of the gospel is that the King over all creation will one day completely renew His creation. This is good news for us.

I was thinking this morning about an older woman in our church—Margaret Bond. She is a member of our church and honestly, of everybody in our church, she’s probably the most encouraging person. Every time I preach she sends me a text message to encourage me. I’ve spent time in her home, with her family. Mrs. Margaret is unable to come to church physically.

We’re kind of in her situation right now because none of us can gather physically. But even prior to this, because of her congestive heart failure and other medical issues that have gotten pretty bad, she’s unable to do a lot of things she used to be able to do. If she moves too fast or for too long, then her lungs can fill up with fluid and it’s a bad situation.

I was thinking about her because Mrs. Margaret is a planner. She knows the doctors haven’t been able to fix everything and they’ve told her, “At some point your heart is just going to stop beating.” So one day she shoots an email to me and one of our worship pastors here, asking us to come to her house. Do you know what she did? We sat down with her and her husband, then she handed us some documents and CDs.

Do you know what it was? She planned out her entire funeral. Scriptures and songs and who she wants to sing what. She even told me the sermon she wants me to preach. She’s a planner and is so aware that her body is deteriorating and one day it will just stop. All the things of this world ring hollow when we think about the other side of the grave if we don’t have our hope in Jesus.

If you were to talk to Mrs. Margaret or visit her, because her trust is in Jesus, because her hope is in the King over all creation, she rejoices even from her couch. She sings as loud as her lungs will allow her to, because she knows her hope doesn’t end in the grave. One day, that heart that is failing will be renewed. One day, those lungs that can fill up with liquid and cause her problems will be completely clear. One day, even though she’s not able to run and jump and do cartwheels now, she will be able to in the presence of God.

Let me ask, do you have that hope? Do you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that your joy will not just hit a brick wall when you die, but that you have something to look forward to beyond the grave? Jesus says you can. The God of all creation is with you right now. You don’t have to clean yourself up before you pray to Him and ask Him to come into your life. That’s precisely why He sent Jesus, because we can’t clean ourselves up.

Right now where you’re listening or where you’re sitting and watching, you can pray to the King over all creation. He promises that every single person who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. I want to give you an opportunity to do that right now. Don’t put it off. You don’t need to get all of your questions answered first. You know enough today to make a decision to put your trust in the Lord Jesus. I want you, and God wants you right now, to turn to Him and be rescued.

I’m going to pray and as I do, you can pray and ask God to forgive and save you. “God, King of all creation, I come to You. I know I have sinned against You. I know I don’t deserve anything good from You. But God, I’m asking You to save me. Please forgive me of my sins. I know forgiveness can only come through Jesus, so I trust His death and resurrection as a sufficient sacrifice to cover my sins.”

Father, You know the sincerity of our hearts. I pray for anybody who prayed that from a sincere heart, that You would be faithful to Your promise and save them right now. May today be the first day of the rest of their lives. Would You do the miracle of the new birth in their hearts right in this moment? Change their hearts, Lord God, and save them.

For those of us who know You, even if we’re going through difficulty right now, even if it’s wearing on us—all this social distancing and all the headlines—help us to see and feel Your goodness all around us. Help us to rejoice in You as the Giver of every good and perfect gift. We pray in the matchless name of Jesus. Amen.

How can we apply this passage to our lives?S

Question 1

Do your actions demonstrate a belief in God’s lordship over all creation?

Question 2

How does recognizing the eternal stability of God’s economy give you peace and hope during the  uncertainty of COVID-19?

Question 3

How does common grace display the goodness of God?

Question 4

Why do we often forget to live in a rhythm of gratitude?

Question 5

 

In the midst of pain and suffering, do you find it hard to believe that God will renew His creation?

What does the passage say?

Psalm 104

Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, you are very great! You are clothed with splendor and  majesty, covering yourself with light as with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a tent. He  lays the beams of his chambers on the waters; he makes the clouds his chariot; he rides on the wings  of the wind; he makes his messengers winds, his ministers a flaming fire. He set the earth on its  foundations, so that it should never be moved. You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the  waters stood above the mountains. At your rebuke they fled; at the sound of your thunder they took  to flight. The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them. You  set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth. You make  springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills; they give drink to every beast of the  field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell; they sing  among the branches. From your lofty abode you water the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the  fruit of your work. You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that  he may bring forth food from the earth and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face  shine and bread to strengthen man’s heart. The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly, the cedars  of Lebanon that he planted. In them the birds build their nests; the stork has her home in the fir trees.  The high mountains are for the wild goats; the rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers. He made the  moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows its time for setting. You make darkness, and it is night,  when all the beasts of the forest creep about. The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food  from God. When the sun rises, they steal away and lie down in their dens. Man goes out to his work  and to his labor until the evening. O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made  them all; the earth is full of your creatures. Here is the sea, great and wide, which teems with  creatures innumerable, living things both small and great. There go the ships, and Leviathan, which  you formed to play in it. These all look to you, to give them their food in due season. When you give  it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things. When you  hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.  When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground. May the  glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in his works, who looks on the earth and it  trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke! I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will  sing praise to my God while I have being. May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the  Lord. Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more! Bless the Lord, O my soul! Praise the Lord!

God is the king over all creation.

Psalm 104:1 – 2

You are clothed with splendor and majesty, covering yourself with light as with a garment…

Psalm 104:3

He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters…

God is actively providing for his creation.

Psalm 104:13

…the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.

Psalm 104:15

…wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine.

God partners with his creation.

Psalm 104:14

You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate…

Psalm 104:15

…and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen man’s  heart.

One day, God will completely renew his creation.

Psalm 104:33 – 34

I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being. May my  meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the Lord.