The Foundation Work of Creation
February 23, 2021
Commentary
This Psalm details the Lord’s glory in creation while revealing the fall of man and the cursed earth. This section of the Psalm (vv. 1-13) approximates the first 3 days of creation (Gen. 1:1-13). The Creator is greater than the creation and he is to be worshiped and not the creation (vv. 1-2). The waters in the creation were above the heavens (v. 3). The earth is built on God’s foundations (v. 5). These foundations established the boundaries of the sea’s reach (vv. 5-8) and the boundaries of the sea’s rage (v. 9). Psalm 104 presents Him as a God of creation. The psalmist was evidently a man in love with nature’s author and creator. This psalm follows the plan of creation as follows:
l. Days one and two – (vv. 1-4)
2. Day three (first half – vv. 5-13) / (second half – vv. 14-18)
3. Days four, five and six – (vv. 19-30)
4. Day seven – (vv. 3l-35)
As the psalmist views the creative work of God, in some respects it is even a more striking record than that of Genesis. The first thing God created was light (vv. 1-2). The psalmist speaks of God stretching out the heavens in light, His sovereign control of the deep, His adorning the earth as a dwelling place for man, His arranging night and day for life, and His preparing the sea for its life. The Lord formed all the heavenly elements including the clouds, the wind and fire (vv. 3-4). He founded the earth and covered it with the waters (vv. 5-6). The psalmist vividly portrays the Lord’s gathering the waters into rivers and oceans with a boundary line (vv. 7-9). God’s rebuking the waters suggests they were a chaotic force to be conquered (v. 7). In adorning this earth as a beautiful place to live, God placed springs in the valley as a place to water the animals (vv. 10-13).
Application
As stated in the beginning, the earth is built on God’s foundation. It can never be moved by anyone other than God. That is why I should never fret or worry but turn all my cares over to Him.
Psalms 104:1– 13 (NET)
1 Praise the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, you are magnificent. You are robed in splendor and majesty.
2 He covers himself with light as if it were a garment. He stretches out the skies like a tent curtain,
3 and lays the beams of the upper rooms of his palace on the rain clouds. He makes the clouds his chariot, and travels on the wings of the wind.
4 He makes the winds his messengers, and the flaming fire his attendant.
5 He established the earth on its foundations; it will never be moved.
6 The watery deep covered it like a garment; the waters reached above the mountains.
7 Your shout made the waters retreat; at the sound of your thunderous voice they hurried off—
8 as the mountains rose up, and the valleys went down— to the place you appointed for them.
9 You set up a boundary for them that they could not cross, so that they would not cover the earth again.
10 He turns springs into streams; they flow between the mountains.
11 They provide water for all the animals in the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12 The birds of the sky live beside them; they chirp among the bushes.
13 He waters the mountains from the upper rooms of his palace; the earth is full of the fruit you cause to grow.