"Bless the Lord, O my soul!
O Lord my God, you are very great!
You are clothed with splendour and majesty,
2 covering yourself with light as with a garment,
stretching out the heavens like a tent.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
14 You cause the grass to grow for the livestock
and plants for man to cultivate,
that he may bring forth food from the earth
15 and wine to gladden the heart of man,
oil to make his face shine
and bread to strengthen man's heart.
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.
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.
22 When the sun rises, they steal away
and lie down in their dens.
23 Man goes out to his work
and to his labour until the evening.
24 O Lord, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom have you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
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.
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.
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, they are created,
and you renew the face of the ground.
31 May the glory of the Lord endure for ever;
may the Lord rejoice in his works,
32 who looks on the earth and it trembles,
who touches the mountains and they smoke!
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!"
Psalm 104
In some ways this Psalm stands as a companion-piece to the previous one: both Psalms, as one commentator puts it, are 'exuberant in the praise of God', and both have the same opening and closing. The difference between them is that while Psalm103 celebrates the mercy of God revealed in His dealings with His people in faithfulness and love, Psalm 104 rejoices in the God of creation. As Maclaren says, 'The true lesson from it is that nature, when looked at by an eye that sees it to be full of God, yields material for devout gratitude no less than do His fatherly mercies to them that fear Him'. It is perhaps understandable that Christian minds should rejoice supremely in the wonder of God's redeeming love in Christ, but they should not on that account underplay the un- doubted emphasis in Scripture on the God of creation. Calvin used to say that creation is the 'theatre of God's glory'; and it is true that in the act of creation the invisible God has arrayed Himself in splendour and glory, making visible His inherent attributes. As another has said, 'The universe is the garment of God'. But we must be careful here in what we say. The garment of God - yes; as Paul puts it in Romans 1:20, 'His invisible nature, namely His eternal power and Deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made' (RSV). But they are perceived only by those with eyes to see. And it is a simple fact that many eyes do not see it, do not see the glory of God in creation. The words of the hymn are very true,
Something lives in every hue Christless eyes have never seen.
It is the eye of faith alone that sees this. And the Psalmist is speaking from the standpoint of faith. This is something faith sees, and rejoices in!