Psalm 104

Well, thank you so much, Esther. And folks, let me encourage you to have that psalm open in front of you.

It's so important that we have God's Word open in front of us, because it's His voice that we want to hear today.

That's what the power is. And so let me just encourage you to have His Word open in front of you.

So, Psalm 104, let's dive straight in. Put your hands up this morning if you watch Netflix.

Watch Netflix. Okay, I don't know if you knew this.

But back in May, Netflix for the first time released a list of its most watched shows that month.

Now, just while we wait for the PowerPoint to come on, why don't you turn to your neighbour,

see if you can have a guess what the most watched show in May on Netflix was.

Okay, 10 seconds, and then we'll come back in.

Okay, so, the most... I don't know if these guys are laughing, I don't know what they said up there.

The most watched show on Netflix in May was Our Planet by David Attenborough.

Did anyone say that? A few of us said it?

Wonderful. Anyone watched it? Who's watched it?

Wonderful show. For those who don't know what I'm talking about,

Our Planet is the most recent David Attenborough documentary

that explores the different habitats and the different creatures of our world.

So, I googled it this week and The Guardian said about it

that this documentary leaves you boggling at the endless precision of the natural world.

There you go, Guardian readers. Worth a watch, according to The Guardian.

But it's not the first time, you might probably aware,

it's not the first time David Attenborough has won an award for his work.

Okay?

2017, his documentary, Blue Planet,

was officially the BBC's most watched show.

And last year, as the BBC celebrated its 96th birthday,

controversially, I think you'll agree with me,

that his programme, Planet Earth,

rivaled Match of the Day

for being voted the best BBC programme of all time.

But I find that fascinating, do you not?

I find it fascinating and extremely revealing

of something we all know to be true.

And it's that as human beings,

we have a love affair with this planet that we call home.

Right?

A love affair with this planet that we call home.

Its complexities, just think about it,

its complexities amaze us.

I love that they're still finding animals on these programmes in our year,

do you not?

Its complexities amazes,

its diversity captivates us,

and its beauty inspires us.

And we think to ourselves, to quote Louis Armstrong,

what a wonderful world.

What a wonderful world.

Well, it's this wonderful world that this psalm,

Psalm 104,

is going to get us to think about today.

And we're going to be asked to lift our eyes

and take in the world that we see around us.

But here's the thing.

The psalmist is going to go one step further

than David Attenborough.

So the psalmist isn't going to just ask us

to observe creation and take it in.

The psalmist is going to ask us to listen

to what creation is saying.

Okay, here's the central thrust of this psalm.

If you get one thing, get this, okay?

That creation is speaking.

Creation is speaking.

You see, as our wonderful world,

as it does its thing,

in all its beauty,

as it captivates us,

it's telling us something

about the God who made it.

You see, the God of the Bible

is not a silent God.

Okay?

He's a God who has made himself known.

And the Bible would say

that God has made himself known

in three ways.

Firstly, he's made himself known

in his words.

So we have the Bible.

We have it.

Amazingly, think about this.

We have it in our own language.

In our hands.

So we can read.

We can open the scriptures.

And we can know who this God is

for ourselves.

We can know what he's like.

We can know what he's done for us.

And amazingly,

we can hear him speak to us.

Secondly, he's revealed himself

most supremely

in the person of his son, Jesus.

In other words,

you want to know what God is like.

You look to the son,

who is,

as you probably heard

in that Colossians reading,

the exact representation

of God the Father.

So he's made himself known

in his word.

He's made himself known

in his son.

And thirdly,

he's made himself known

in this wonderful world,

in creation.

So as we look around

at our wonderful world,

as we take in its beauty,

we can understand something

of who this God is.

That's what we were just singing,

wasn't it?

If you remember the words

on the screen,

O Lord my God,

when I in awesome wonder

consider all

the worlds thy hands have made.

I see the stars.

I hear the rolling thunder,

the power throughout

the universe displayed.

Then sings my soul,

my saviour God to thee,

how great thou art,

how great thou art.

Have you ever wondered

where that hymn

gets its inspiration from?

It gets it from verse 1

of this psalm.

Look at it with me.

Okay?

Bless the Lord,

O my soul.

O Lord,

my God,

you are very great.

Do you see it?

And it's a sentiment

that carries over

straight on from verse 1

of Psalm 103.

My soul,

bless the Lord.

The psalmist looks up

and it's as if he's

saying to himself,

having a wee pep talk

with himself,

I do that now and again,

saying,

look at this.

Brain,

take this in

and celebrate

how good

my God is.

Notice the personal

pronoun there,

my God.

The psalmist rejoices

because he knows

the God

who has made

everything.

It's his God.

And you notice

that that God

is Israel's God.

Right?

The word Lord

there comes up

five times

in this psalm.

So the psalmist

is looking around

and he's exclaiming

to himself,

my God's done this.

Right?

My God's done this.

Creation speaking,

the psalmist

is singing.

The question

for us this morning,

whoever you are

here today,

whatever you think

about this God,

the question is,

are you joining?

Are you joining?

So creation speaking,

what's it telling us?

It's telling us

three things.

Firstly,

and these are

alliterating,

so you'll remember,

okay,

it's firstly telling us

about a mighty maker,

verses one to nine.

A mighty maker,

verses one to nine.

Come with me,

verses one to nine.

Look at how the Lord

is described to us here.

Let's glance over it.

What is he described

as being?

As being clothed

with splendor

and majesty.

Of wearing a garment

of light.

That's what we were

singing,

wasn't it?

Of the heavens

being his upper chambers,

of the clouds

being his chariots,

of the winds

being his messengers,

and of fire

being his servant.

This is the Lord.

And do you see

all the verbs?

All the verbs.

Still remember a verb

as being a doing word?

That's how you remembered

it in school,

wasn't it?

A verb.

Do you see all the verbs,

right?

He makes,

he rides,

he lays,

he stretched,

he covered,

he set,

he spoke,

he assigned,

he raised,

he sank,

he established.

That's a lot of verbs

in nine verses.

And it's a deliberate echo

of Genesis one.

We don't have time

to do that.

I would love to do that

comparison

between how Genesis one

goes and how this psalm

goes,

and you'll see the

connections if you want

to go home and do it

yourself.

But this is a deliberate

echo of Genesis one.

See what's going on?

The Lord has been

described to us

like a king.

Just feel the language,

like a king.

One who has

all the power

and one who has

all the wisdom.

And you have to say

what a beautiful

combination of

attributes that is.

and that we see

come gloriously

together

in the creation

of the world.

He did it.

God did it.

And he loves it.

He loves what he made.

It's the picture,

if you want to check it out,

that we get in the

Genesis account,

isn't it?

That God is like a

master artist who,

when he finished his

greatest work,

he sat back and he

surveyed what he made.

And if God was Scottish,

he would have gone,

yeah, beauty.

Right?

Yes.

What did he say?

He says it is very good.

Do you see how creation

brings God satisfaction

and glory?

This is very good.

So let me ask you here

today,

done that very quickly,

let me ask you here

today,

whoever you are,

what do you make

of all that?

There's a lot of

questions come up there,

isn't there,

about the creation

of the world.

But let me ask you,

how do you account

for the world?

You know,

comedian Frank Skinner,

who from what I can tell

has some kind of

belief in God.

There's a story that I

heard about him

recently,

about how he was

having a debate with

his friend who didn't

believe that God

created the world.

And so they had a bit

of back and forth chat,

went on for a long,

long time,

and his friend turned

to him and said,

Frank, listen,

do you want a cup of

tea?

And Frank said,

that would be lovely,

thank you.

So his friend went

to the kitchen

and put the kettle on.

And he was so engrossed

in this conversation

that his friend came

right back to see Frank,

came right back

into the conversation.

And the chat went

back and forth a bit,

bit more.

And then all of a sudden

in the kitchen,

the kettle goes,

and his friend says,

listen,

I need to go back

into the kitchen,

Frank,

because that cup of

tea won't make itself.

And Frank said,

why not?

Just think about it.

Think about it.

Why not?

You see,

the psalmist is saying

that God established

the earth,

that there's a first cause.

He did it.

He did it.

Our God,

he did this.

And what an

awe-inspiring thought

for the psalmist

and for the Lord's people

in this day

who would have been

surrounded by people

worshipping all sorts

of small g-gots,

worshipping the sun,

worshipping the moon,

worshipping the sea,

that the psalmist

can shout to the world

and say,

hey,

see our God.

He's the one

who made

the sun,

the moon,

and the sea.

And so when it comes

to any of you guys

challenging me

to a game of

BC God-top trumps,

let me tell you

that Yahweh,

let me tell you

that the Lord

is always going to win.

let me tell you

how this challenged

me this week.

As I try and

allow God's word

to shape my soul,

here's how it

challenged me this week.

I don't know if you

remember the

Duracell batteries

when we were young.

The type that you

squeeze at the top

and the bottom

and if you squeezed

hard enough

you could see

how much power

was left in the battery.

Do you remember them?

Yeah?

Well, I don't know

about you,

but over the past

season of life,

see if you'd

squeeze me,

right?

Squeeze me.

Friends,

you would have seen

that I was

extremely low in power.

And I don't know

if you find that

in your own life,

you've known that

over the last season

or you know that

right now,

that you're low in power.

But here's what

I've asked myself

this week,

in those times,

why is it,

friends,

that so often

we live our lives,

we run from

thing to thing,

we run from

job to job,

we run from

task to task

and not only do

we massively overrate

our own power

as creatures,

but we massively

underrate God.

Because if you think

about it,

if by faith

in Jesus Christ

that this mighty

maker is for us

and he's one

who we can call

incredibly

our good father,

then what a reason

we have

to run to him

and to trust

and to pray.

So as you go

home today,

I want to challenge

you,

just take a leaf

out of the

psalmist book.

Look at creation,

just look at creation

as you drive home,

as you walk home,

take it in.

As you go up

Blackford Hill,

as you walk up

Arthur's seat,

as you look on

the Pentlands,

as you drive over

the Fourth Road Bridge,

I know where you live,

right?

Take a minute

to take stock

of the fact

that our God

is not lacking

in power.

He's not lacking

in power.

Friends,

creation is speaking.

The question is,

are we listening?

Second thing

it tells us

is about

a perfect provider.

Now,

if you come with me

to verses 10 to 30,

this is where we see this.

Now,

there was an English

philosopher called

William Paley.

Some of you might

have heard of him.

He came up with this

analogy to describe

the creation of the world

and he said it was a bit

like coming across

a pocket watch

lying on the floor.

And he was saying

that logic would lead

you to believe

that that pocket watch

hadn't just come

out of nothing.

There must have been

someone that created it.

It's a pretty decent

stab at an analogy.

But what happened

is down the years

people took that analogy

and they used it

to promote

what is called

deism,

right?

So it's this idea

that God wound

the world up

like a watch

and then he stepped

back,

put it down

and he's just

let it run its course.

He's not involved

in the slightest.

But if you come

with me to these verses

this psalm is telling

us that the opposite

is true.

It is telling us

that the Lord

is intimately

and actively involved

day after day

after day

after day

in lovingly

caring for his creation.

Right?

Here is this God.

He is not just

the God of the big

picture of life.

He is the God

who cares about

the small details

of life.

Again,

see the present tense

verbs,

what does the Lord

do?

Present tense,

he causes.

Do you see it?

Verse 10 and 14.

He causes water

to flow

and the grass

to grow.

He waters

the mountains.

Verse 13.

He makes

both the sun

and the moon

rise and set.

Verse 14.

He gives food

to his creatures.

Verse 20.

Does this strike you

as a God

who isn't actively

involved in lovingly

caring for his creation?

Not a bit.

God cares.

And do you see

who benefits

from this loving care?

The birds,

verse 12.

The sea creatures,

verse 25.

Verse 11.

The beasts

of the field.

And here is my

favourite character

in this psalm.

If you check him out.

The wild donkey.

Do you see him?

The wild donkey.

Where is he?

I should have

written down there.

Verse 11.

The wild donkey.

Picture the wild donkey

in your head.

Right?

He's away out

on the wilderness

on his own.

He is undomesticated.

He is scruffy.

He is filthy.

No kids running up

to their mum

saying mum, mum, mum, mum.

Can we please, please,

please, please, please,

please have a wild donkey

as a pet?

He's not making it

onto Blue Planet.

There's no funfair

about this wild donkey.

And yet do you see

that God provides

even for him?

The animals benefit

from God's care

and this is where

we come in.

Man does.

Verse 14.

The crops that we are

able to grow,

the ground that we are

able to cultivate

in verses 22 and 23.

Think about this one

tomorrow morning.

The work that we are

able to do

because the sun comes up.

All of that

finds its original source

from the Lord's

good hand.

You know,

our little girl Grace

is dairy intolerant.

And because of that,

almost for the first time

in my life,

what I've started doing

is checking the ingredients

on the back of packets.

I was doing it this week

with a psalm in my mind

and saying,

thank you, Lord,

for providing the sun

and the rain

and for giving the farmer

the skills that he needs

to cultivate that land

so that we can have

sunflower seed oil

that could go in

that flora tub

that I could put

on my little girl's toast

and she could eat it.

Tracing things

all the way back,

aren't we,

to our first source,

first cause.

This is what the psalm

is asking us to do.

I was challenged

this week as well

to develop my theology

of grass cutting.

Went to cut the grass

on Thursday night.

I haven't done it for weeks

and it was so long.

Why was it so long?

Because it rained

and rained

and rained

and rained

over the past few weeks

and every time I went

to cut it,

I couldn't

because it rained again.

But the rain fell

and the sun came out

and boy did that grass grow

and I cut it

and I filled two

wheelie bins

worth of grass.

But God made

that grass grow.

It is testimony

to the fact

that he lovingly cares

for his creation.

It's challenges,

doesn't it,

it's the everyday things

that we do in life.

How often does grace

around the dinner table

saying thanks

just become a routine

thing for us?

We all fall into that,

don't we?

It gets stale

at giving thanks.

Friends,

every glass of wine

that you enjoy,

every potato peeling

that you scrape

into the bin,

parents,

every nappy

that you change

is telling you something

about the God

who provides

for the creatures

of his world.

In the book of Acts,

you see Paul,

he's speaking to the people

of this little town

in Lystra

who don't know

about the God

of the Bible.

What does he do?

He appeals to creation.

Getting them to think

about the how

and the why

that all the things happen.

He says this,

God has not left himself

without witness.

He has shown kindness

by giving you rain

from heaven

and crops in their seasons.

He provides you

with plenty of food

and fills your hearts

with joy.

In other words,

Paul is saying

if you look up,

you'll understand

that the God

of creation

is one who provides

all the things

that you need.

It comes from his hand.

Would you understand?

Take stock,

stop in your life

and think about

what this is telling you.

Friends,

bring those wonderful

two truths together.

Mighty maker,

perfect provider.

This is who this God is.

Incomparable power

and incomparable love.

And of course,

we see both of these

fully

in the person

of the Lord Jesus,

don't we?

who stilled the seas.

Do you see it?

This blew my mind

this week

and then I realized

it wasn't my thought.

It was in my ESV study Bible

but I thought it was mine.

What does the psalmist

write of God?

Verse 7,

that God did what?

He rebuked the water

and it fled.

And what does Mark

write about Jesus

as he was in the boat

with his disciples?

What did he do?

He rebuked

the seas,

the wind and the waves

and the still.

Same words.

Mark helping us see

that God is in the boat.

This is who Jesus is.

He's one of all power.

And what do we see Jesus

doing for the hungry crowd

as he has compassion on them

as they gather

to hear him preach?

He miraculously provides

bread for them to eat.

Do you see in Jesus

we have one

who is a mighty maker

and we have one

who is this perfect provider.

And as we read in Colossians,

he is the one

through whom all things

were created.

And he is the one

who sustains all things

with a word of his power.

What a big Christ we have.

Friends,

creation speaking,

the question is

are we listening thirdly

and finally?

Creation is telling us

about a tragic truth.

Verses 31 to 35,

because in light of everything

that we've seen,

what does this God deserve?

What does the Lord deserve?

The God who made everything,

who provides everything

and who rejoices

in his work

as he gains satisfaction

from it,

as it displays

his majesty.

What does he deserve?

Do you see the words?

He deserves glory.

He deserves glory

from every creature.

All creatures

of our God and King

lift up their voice

and with us sing

hallelujah.

All of creation

is supposed to praise

this God,

this holy God.

And so that

our soul

and creation's soul

were singing praises

to this God.

That is what the psalmist

is doing.

Do you see verse 33?

I will sing to the Lord.

He's adding his voice

to this.

I will sing to the Lord

all my life.

I will sing praise

to my God

as long as I live.

May my meditation

be pleasing to him

as I rejoice in the Lord.

This is why we were made.

This was the creator's

intention for all of us

is his creatures.

We would join in

with the hallelujah chorus

giving him glory

and sharing

in his glory.

But here's the tragedy

of verse 34.

What does the psalmist

see and know?

He knows that despite

of what is obvious

to them

many people

have willfully

turned away

from this God

and will not

recognize him

as their creator.

It was a tragic

truth then

it's a tragic

truth now

it's a tragic

truth today.

Paul writes this

in Romans 1.

for what could be

known about God

is plain to them

because God

has shown it to them.

Hear what he's saying.

For God's 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.

So they are

without

excuse.

For although

they knew God

they did not

honor him as God

or give thanks

to him

but became futile

in their thinking

and their foolish

hearts were darkened

claiming to be wise

they became fools

and they exchanged

the glory

of the immortal

God for images

resembling

mortal man

and birds

and animals

and creeping things.

And here is where

we kick in

on the screen.

Therefore

God gave them up

in the lusts

of their hearts

to impurity

to the dishonoring

of their bodies

among themselves

because

they exchanged

the truth

about God

for a lie

and worshipped

and served

the creature

rather than

the creator.

There is the

tragedy

that man

the creature

willfully wants

to worship

creation

rather than

the creator.

Now the thing

is the gods

of our day

they might have

different faces

to those of the

first century

fame, success,

comfort, sex,

money, career

you take your pick

but they represent

the same defiant

heart attitude

that says

I don't want

anything to do

with God.

And friends

the thing is

that God's

righteous anger

is hanging over

all of us

who have bought

into that bad

exchange

and who are

ignoring the truth

about God

and have chosen

to buy

the lie

that he's not there.

And it's a

tragic truth

and it's a

serious problem.

But let me

tell you about

another kind

of exchange.

Let me

tell you about

God the Son

let me tell you

about Jesus

who exchanged

heaven's praises

for birth

in a stable

who stepped

into this

creation

who became

a creature

and who was

crucified

by the very

creatures

that he had

made

the utter

humiliation

of that

and who hung

on a cross

who took

God's anger

on himself

that defiant

creatures like

you and me

deserve making

a way for you

and I by faith

in him to be

perfectly right

with our creator

and by doing

so joining in

this glorious

harmony

as creation

and creature

join in the

worship of

their creator.

French creation

is speaking

the psalmist

is singing

the world

is displaying

the question

is are we

joining?

Just as we

close there

was a man

called Thomas

Chisholm

some of you

might have

heard of him

he lived in

New Jersey

and he became

a Christian

when he was

27

he suffered

ill health

most of his

life

starting when

he was 36

in fact he

had to come

out of the

Christian ministry

that he entered

for one year

because of his

ill health

and he spent

the rest of

his life

working a

desk job

selling life

insurance

I love that

thought

helping people

make financial

plans on the

one hand

and telling

them about

the God

who created

all things

and sustains

all things

and provides

all things

on the other

hand

and he's the

man who's

famous for

writing the

hymn

Great is thy

faithfulness

as he reflected

on God's

loving care

his glory

displayed in the

world but his

loving care for

him

friends I

thought we

would just

close by

singing it

together I

know the

time is

marching on

but just

singing this

together it's

a great way

isn't it we

did this a few

weeks ago and

so many of you

came up to me

and said it

was it was so

potent just a

way of allowing

God's word to

dwell among us

richly as we

reflect on these

truths so we'll

give this a shot

and as we always

say if it flies

great and if it

doesn't we'll never

talk about it again

okay but think

about what these

words are saying

to you this hymn

that was written

reflecting the

God who provides

all these things

okay

how countless

are your works

Lord in wisdom

you have made

them all

heavenly father

thank you so much

that you are this

kind of God

thank you so much

and that we

perfectly see that

you are a mighty

maker and you're a

perfect provider we

see it ultimately

in your son

Jesus Christ

and so father I

pray that you would

help us as creatures

to be those who

look to our creator

would you help us

to find our all in

all in Jesus Christ

in whose name we

pray amen