Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray with Me”.
Psalm 104 opens with an amazing description of God:
The Lord wraps himself in light as with a garment;
he stretches out the heavens like a tent
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.
He makes the winds his messengers,
flames of fire his servants (vv. 2-4).
These striking pictures of God playing in his creation. He dresses himself up in light. The heavens are the tent he plays in. The upper story of his house goes right through the blue sky, with its joists fixed on the water above. He makes a chariot of the clouds and employs fire as his personal valet. He uses wind for the messaging app on his world wide web. God who created light, water, wind, clouds, and fire, now uses them for his clothes, transportation, servants, and messaging app.
Let’s pray some of the phrases from this psalm.
Our God, we have seen wildfires in California and Australia and Siberia, driven restlessly by wind, consuming the plains and forests, sending smoke to the heavens. You are the God who rides on the wings of the wind, whose servants are flames of fire.
The poet says:
You water the mountains from your upper chambers;
the land is satisfied by the fruit of your work.
You make grass grow for cattle,
and plants for people to cultivate.
The earth provides food:
wine that makes our hearts glad
oil that makes our faces shine,
bread that sustains our hearts (vv. 14-15).
You provide the necessities and luxuries of life: wine, oil, flour for bread. As Benjamin Franklin said, “Behold the rain which descends from heaven upon our vineyards, and which incorporates itself with the grapes to be changed into wine; a constant proof that God loves us, and loves to see us happy!”
The poet says,
All creatures look to you
to give them their food at the proper time. . . .
When you open your hand,
they are satisfied with good things.
When you hide your face,
they are terrified;
when you take away their breath,
they die and return to the dust.
When you send your breath,
they are created,
and you renew the face of the ground (vv. 27-30).
We, like all creatures, Lord, receive our food from your hand. When your hand is open, we are satisfied with good things. When you hide your face, we are terrified. When you take away our breath, we return to dust.
But when you send your spirit, we are born again, and you renew the face of the earth.
O Lord, this is the mystery of life. Our bodies come from the ground, and our food grows in the ground, and our lives end in the ground. But our breath, our spirit comes from you. We try to own the ground from which we come, and manage the clay bodies we live in, but it is you who sets the limits of our lives. You breathed into us when we were dust, you sustain us on this dusty earth, and one day our breath will return to you.
With the poet we pray,
May your glory be forever, Lord,
may you rejoice in the work of your hands (v. 31).
Let us sing to you, Lord, while we live,
let our hymn be of you as long as we have breath (v.33).
Amen.
I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”.
Pray with Me 