[This devotion is based on a sermon on Psalm 104 preached June 13, 2021. The audio is available here.]

Why did God create beautiful sunsets and majestic mountains? Why did He create the giant rings of Saturn and the tiny DNA double helix?

You might answer: So that in learning of them, we humans would learn of Him. So that we would see something of what He is like as we observe them.

Undoubtedly that is one reason for their creation: “The heaven are telling the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of His hands” (Psalm 19:1). “His invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made” (Romans 1:20).

But what about those parts of His creation that no man has ever seen – that no man ever will see?

Think of a planet orbiting a star in a galaxy millions of light years from our own. Now think of a sunset on that planet – the particular mix of colors and hues. What did God create those sunsets? That beauty?

Not for us. Possibly in part for angels – the Job 38:4-7 suggests that might be the case.

But surely for His joy, His delight.

In Psalm 104, the author meditates on Genesis 1, and in so doing brings out God’s purposes in creation marvelously – especially God’s joy, saying in Psalm 104:31, “May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works.”

Note that this is not only the glory and joy of God the Father; this is also the glory and joy of God the Son. The Son was intimately involved in creation (John 1:2-3, Hebrews 1:2). So the glory of the Father in creation is the glory of the Son; the joy of the Father in creation is the joy of the Son. Indeed, the joy of the Father in creation is closely related to the joy of the Father in the Son.

In this devotion we’ll speak primarily of God – but remember: the Father, the Son, and, indeed, the Spirit are all involved; all have the same joy in creation.

The psalm tells us that God orders creation, provides for His creatures, gives and takes away life, glorifies Himself before men in creation, and rejoices in creation. We’ll consider these actions in turn.

God Orders Creation

God puts everything in its place, exactly where He wants it to be. We see this particularly in Psalm 104:6-9, where the psalmist reflects on both Genesis 1, the creation, and Genesis 9, the flood.

In verse 6, God dresses the earth with water, like a garment, covering it – indeed, during the flood, the waters even cover the mountains. When He decides, however, the waters retreat according to His plan (Psalm 104:7). Then the waters “flowed over the mountains, they went down into the valleys, to the place you assigned for them” (Psalm 104:8 NIV). Psalm 104:9 then speaks of the boundaries the waters would never again cross, as promised in Genesis 9:11.

The point: God orders the waters and the land – and, by inference, everything. There is a place for everything, and everything is in its place. The mountains, the seas – as mighty and powerful as they are – are placed by Him where He pleases.

God Provides for His Creatures

Psalm 104:10-23 show that the placement of the waters is not arbitrary. God puts the waters in places where He can bring sustenance and joy to His creatures. Indeed, He arranges all things with their welfare in view:

• He provides streams of water for both domesticated and wild animals (Psalm 104:11)
• He provides trees and bushes next to the waters as places for birds to nest and sing (Psalm 104:12)
• Through rain, He causes grass to grow for livestock and crops to grow for mankind (Psalm 104:13-14)
• For man especially, He provides wine for joy, oil for our skin, and bread for strength (Psalm 104:15)
• He waters large trees in forests also, even those far from streams, providing nesting spots for different varieties of birds (Psalm 104:16-17)
• He provides dwelling places for wild animals (Psalm 104:18)
• As in the Genesis account, He separates night from day, light from darkness, using the moon and the sun (Psalm 104:19-23). Night in the psalmist’s day was for animals – and thus was a dangerous time for man. But even the most dangerous creatures, lions, “seek their food from God” (Psalm 104:21). And when God causes sun to rise, the lions retreat, while man – now safe from attacks – goes out to work (Psalm 104:22-23)

So God gives water, homes, food, night, day – and even joy to His creatures. Thus, there is not only a place for everything, with everything in its place, but there is provision for everything. All creation works harmoniously together as He wisely rules.

God Gives and Takes Away Life

The lions are not the only creatures who look to God for their food. He often provides food; they take it, and thus are “filled with good things” (Psalm 104:27-28). Recognizing His provision, we rightly thank Him before every meal.

But at other times God hides His face; His creatures then are dismayed or terrified – they panic (Psalm 104:29). Their lives depend solely on God: When He takes away their breath, they die; when He sends His spirit/breath, they are created (Psalm 104:30). As Jesus says, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.” (Matthew 10:29). Thus for all creatures, there is “a time to be born, and a time to die” (Ecclesiastes 3:2), and God sees to it that both events happen at exactly the right time.

Sometimes we speak correctly of a “right to life.” That phrase is strongly biblical when referring to the right not to have another human take your life, unless you’ve committed a capital offense or you’re a soldier in an opposing army. We – and unborn children – have a right to life in that sense.

But you and I have no right to life before God. Life is a gift from Him. He gives us life initially; He sustains our lives by His mercy and grace; but He is under no obligation to keep us alive. He has the right to take away our breath at any moment.

The life of every human, every animal, every bird, every insect is in His hand. He is God.

God Glorifies Himself Before Men in Creation

In the psalm’s opening verses, the main point is not a description of God, but our reaction to Him. While contemplating creation, the psalmist cries out: “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” (Psalm 104:1-2).

Psalm 104:24 highlights the psalmist being blown away as he thinks of all God’s creatures, many of which he can never see, and how God placed each in exactly in the right place: “O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures” (or ‘possessions’) (Psalm 104:24).

Verses 33-34 then summarize the psalmist’s reaction to creation: “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” (Psalm 104:33-34).

As mentioned, generating such delight, such praise is a key purpose of God in creation. We see His majesty, His greatness, His purity, His wisdom, His creativity, and so sing to Him every day – for all of our lives, glorifying Him by rejoicing in Him.

Do you do this?

When you look at the world around you, do you mainly notice its faults, its fallenness, its groaning? Or do you mainly see God’s glory?

There are many horrors in this world, many tragedies, many sorrows. Indeed, Jesus promises that we will have tribulation in this world. But the horrors of the world are not the essence of the world. At its essence, this entire creation is very good, as God declared in Genesis 1:31. We need to be able to delight in God’s creation, to delight in God through His creation, to see Him in the majesty and intricacy of what He has made. This psalm does not ignore the impact of the Fall, as we will see shortly. But the psalm looks past the fallenness, and sees the wisdom and power and glory of God.

We too must see that glory, must take note of that glory, must rejoice in that glory – as it exists today, thanking Him, even while we how much more glorious it will be when Jesus returns and redeems all things.

God Rejoices in Creation

God surely takes joy in revealing His wisdom and might to mankind through creation. But the psalmist speaks of another joy for God – perhaps a deeper joy: “Here is the sea, great and wide, which teems with creatures innumerable, living things both small and great” (Psalm. 104:25).

At the time of writing, there was no way for men to even know what is in the sea, leading to the question: Who do all those unseen sea creatures please?

The psalm continues: “There go the ships, and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it” (Psalm 104:26).

Think of Leviathan as a sea monster: dangerous, deadly to any ship traversing the sea. But what is God’s attitude toward Leviathan? He formed it to watch it play in the sea! He enjoys its frolics the way you or I might enjoy watching a black lab fetch sticks!

Earlier, the psalmist said: “He makes the clouds his chariot; he rides on the wings of the wind” (Psalm 104:3b).

God is not using the clouds or wind for transportation. Rather, He is pictured as riding on the wind as we might ride the roller coasters at Carowinds, or as a cyclist might be thrilled at hitting 40 miles per hour on a downhill.

The point is not that a pre-incarnate Jesus took human form and said “Whoopee!” while rushing along in the wind. This is a picture. Yet there is a clear and precious reality behind the picture: God takes great joy in His creation. He delights in His creation – not only because of what it communicates about Him, but also because He simply loves it. Creation – in all its intricacies, in all its abundance, in all its beauty –is a delight to God.

This picture lays the groundwork for verse 31: “May the glory of the LORD endure forever, may the LORD rejoice in His works” (Psalm 104:31, emphasis added).

The glory of the Lord should shine clearly through His creation. He should rejoice in His very good works. This is right and proper. Anything in creation that doesn’t give God joy does not belong.

What is that? What is out of place in the present creation?

All of creation is “very good” at the end of Genesis 1. But then Adam and Eve rebel against this good, merciful, loving God in Genesis 3. This rebellion stains mankind and the entire world, leading to the horrors we see throughout history to the present day. As Paul writes: “The creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now” (Romans 8:19-22).

In the marvelous word picture, anthropomorphized creation is groaning, eagerly straining forward to catch a glimpse of our future redemption, when creation itself will no longer be bound up with corruption.

And God Himself, naturally, hates this rebellion: “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men” (Romans 1:18).

So: God delights in creation when everything is fulfilling its purpose, and He hates the rebellion of mankind and its impact on creation. Thus the psalm concludes: “Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more! Bless the LORD, O my soul! Praise the LORD!” (Psalm 104:35).

To many of us today, this verse seems out of place: The psalmist is delighting in creation – why even say anything about sinners?

But this verse is central to the message of the psalm. Sin has no place in God’s very good creation! God must rejoice in the entirety of creation! So sinners must be consumed from the earth; the wicked must be no more. The present, fallen state of creation cannot continue forever. Instead, the glory of the Lord must endure forever; God must rejoice in all His works, in their entirety. All remaining mankind must sing praise to God while they have being.

Revelation 21:27 underlines this truth: Nothing unclean will ever enter New Jerusalem, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. That is: The ones to enter are those redeemed by the blood of Jesus by grace through faith, those conformed to His likeness by the power of the Holy Spirit, those who will praise His Name for all eternity in the new heavens and new earth, delighting with God in the vast intricacies of His creation, learning over millennia more of more of Who He is and What He has created, thus joining Him in rejoicing over all His works.

Conclusion: Should We Not Rejoice with God?

Thursday night, while a friend was over for dinner, a barred owl called out so loudly we knew he was close by. Over the years we’ve heard these owls frequently, but have rarely seen them. With the full foliage of June, there seemed little chance this would be one of those rare occasions. But I kept my eyes fixed in the direction of the calls – when suddenly, he took off and flew to the west. I only saw him for a split second through the leaves. But I was thrilled. The sighting was a gift of God. I’m so glad I kept looking.

Friends, join the psalmist in looking at creation, at noticing creation, at reflecting on the God who designed it so intricately. Open your eyes to see its beauty:

• Smell the honeysuckle
• Pick up a box turtle
• Get up early to watch the sunrise

Delight in the beauty of God’s creation, and thus deepen your delight in the Creator.

Remember: He is a God of joy. He delights in what you and I can’t see. And this God of joy will delight in you – when you cease your rebellion, when you come to Him through the sacrifice of Jesus, when you assume the place He designed for you in His perfected creation.

Come to Him. Fulfill your purpose.

May the Lord rejoice in all His works – including you.