Psalm 104: Fuel for Your Soul's Fire

(Image courtesy of istockphoto.com.)

I need this article probably more than you do.

For the past several years, I have slowly been feeling myself drift from the closeness I once felt with my Maker and Savior. I remember as a young, single bachelor singing my heart out to God, tears rolling down my face, as I dedicated my hours of loneliness and quiet to him. I had no wife or kids; my bills were minimal. I had time for God that I do not seem to have anymore. I felt more of my desperation, you might say. I have been looking forward to writing this article for some time because I hope to regain a sense of awe that I once had, but seem to have lost in the fast-paced world I am now living in with more responsibilities as a husband and father.

Do you feel like your world is moving faster?

My wife and I have considered many of the modern conveniences we have today. Running water, toaster ovens (or microwaves, if you like the radiation…), refrigerators, washing machines – you name it; there’s an appliance that exists to make everyday tasks faster. The trick is that while we think we’ll have more time for leisure, these appliances actually make us pack more tasks into our day because we have more time – or so it seems. But I think we’re often left feeling as tired as ever, and our brains struggle to keep up with the fast-paced way of living. As a cherry on top, add in the smart phone and we have an overloaded brain that struggles to manage the stress and anxiety of packing more into our days.

Before we go too far, however, the story of Mary and Martha helps us gain a greater perspective. Long before smart phones, Martha was busy, busy, busy with housework, and she was annoyed that her sister, Mary, wasn’t helping to relieve her load. Oddly enough, Jesus rebuked Martha, not Mary, by saying, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41-42). Truly, all humans since the fall have had to battle against anxiety and troubles. Each of us must choose between what is good and necessary and what is not.

Whether you relate more with Mary or Martha, I believe Psalm 104 provides great help for us who want to fan into flame the white-hot love for God that we deeply desire as followers of Christ.

Psalm 104 begins with the burning, soul-filled praise of our great God: “Bless the LORD, O my soul!” John MacArthur recently led a translation effort to publish the Legacy Standard Version (LSV) of the Bible. In it, the translators chose to actually write the Hebrew word for God that the all-caps “LORD” signifies. Psalm 104:1, then, reads like this in the LSV: “Bless Yahweh, O my soul!” (Yahweh in the original Hebrew is actually written YHWH.) I love this translation decision because the Lord God of the entire world, who chose to reveal his Name to Abraham and his descendants, is revealed by his Name Yahweh intimately and personally; this is a God we can know – by name.

The word “bless” means to “praise” or even “to kneel down.” Immediately we get a glimpse into the attitude of the psalmist. He is humble; he is low. Why? Because he is in the presence of someone much, much greater than himself.

My daughter thinks every girl in a wedding dress is the most beautiful girl in the world. She is mesmerized by the bride’s dress, make-up, and hair. In my daughter’s mind, she is in the presence of the most beautiful person on the planet at that moment. I imagine that she feels insignificant by comparison. Although my daughter hasn’t changed, she has realized that someone else is present who steals the show.

This is how I picture the psalmist in these opening verses. Yahweh is on display! Like every vision of God – whether to Moses, Isaiah, or the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration – men are always left with their faces in the dust. A visage had entered into their eye that was too wonderful to even gaze upon!

The psalmist sees Yahweh in this praiseworthy light: “you are very great,” he cries. “You are clothed with splendor and majesty.” This adornment completely covers him like a beautifully-made blanket. The magnitude and surpassing greatness of Yahweh’s worth is depicted by the psalmist when he says that the garment “stretch[es] out the heavens like a tent.”

But what led the psalmist to this place of humble praise of the Lord God? From where did his fuel come to praise and worship Yahweh in this way? The next thirty-something verses give us the answer.

Throughout the rest of the song, the writer gives reasons for his humble worship of Yahweh. Specifically, the psalmist speaks of God as creator and sustainer of all things.

By his word God created. His word is that powerful. We can read of his creative power in Genesis, but we can see his creative power when we open our eyes and ears. We will miss the creative power of God if we behave like Martha, however. In our anxiety and stresses, we tend to look down at our hands and what we’re busy doing, missing what God has done. We miss the “good portion” when we look at our own portion that we’re holding. Instead, the psalmist continually looks out at God’s creative power.

Not only this, but the writer marvels for many more verses about God’s sustaining power. Immediately, I am struck by this juxtaposition: I am so easily deceived into thinking that my hands have provided what I need. For instance, when I’m hungry, I take it for granted that I can go to the fridge. When the fridge is empty, I take it for granted that I can go to the store and buy what I need. With automatic deposit, I am confident I have money on my plastic card to buy what I need. Food is simply one example of the many things we take for granted. It is easy to live as if we are self-sustaining, forgetting that we have nothing apart from the Providence of God. Stopping to meditate on God’s sustaining power is one way in which we are forced to kneel down before the Lord, the God our Maker, and give him praise.

On the contrary, the psalmist writes that it is God who makes “springs gush forth in the valleys,” and that by direct causation “the wild donkeys quench their thirst.” Furthermore, it is Yahweh who causes “the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate.” Not only this, but it the same God who gives water, which grows the grass and crops, who gives “wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread to strengthen man’s heart.” What I find striking here is that God could have made our food and drink tasteless; instead, God created and then sustains all of his creation with the intent to satisfy us, to bring us gladness – all because of him and his works! This is cause for humble praise!

It would be very easy to move past these verses into my next point, but I want to elaborate. We must stop and read between the lines. How did the psalmist know that the wild donkeys quenched their thirst from the rain God provided? How did the psalmist know that it was God who grew the plants for man to harvest? How did the psalmist know that the fruit of the vine, the oil from the olive tree, and the bread from the oven all provided for the needs of man? Was he a seasoned farmer? Was he a donkey herdsman? Was he a horticulturist? What were his degrees? Today, our society seems to think that one cannot define what a man or a woman is apart from a biology degree; so, how did the psalmist (a musician without even an expensive art degree!) know all of these things?

The psalmist knew these things because he took time to observe these things. Again, he paused during his busy schedule to watch the wild donkeys drink from the creek of which God alone supplied; he saw and probably experienced firsthand what it was like to grow food, dependent completely on the sun and rain of which God was in control; he undoubtedly drank a little wine (for his stomach, of course), used a little oil after a bath, and ate a hearty piece of bread when he was hungry, all of which God caused to grow.

Furthermore, the psalmist did not say that he took out his smart phone and took a picture of his meal to post on his social media. He actually observed and experienced the things he wrote. This personal experience and meditation on the source of all that he observed is what fueled him to respond in worship to Yahweh!

Yesterday, with Psalm 104 on my mind, I decided to pause by a creek. It was only for a few minutes, but I watched the swallows zoom through the air, calling to one another and their babies. I watched the water gently flow through the creek bed. I heard a bullfrog croak from time-to-time. Then, suddenly, I saw a tall piece of grass on the other side of the creek begin to move like it was being shaken – not by the wind, but by an animal. I climbed up the bank and walked across the bridge to the other side. I looked down to see what I could see. At first, all I saw were rocks. I scanned back and forth looking intently. Finally, I could make out what was a large snapping turtle that I had previously mistaken for a rock. My first instinct was to reach for my cell phone to take a picture, but with Psalm 104 running through my mind, I stopped and watched him for a bit. I marveled at the handiwork of the turtle’s shell, his dinosaur-like tail, his stumpy legs, and his thick head. What a praiseworthy creature, extolling Yahweh’s creative glory! Then I took a picture.

How often do you and I miss moments to praise God for his creative power simply because we grab for our phones faster than we pause for worship?

As the psalmist continues to reflect on the mercies of God shown in creation, he erupts in verse 24: “O Yahweh, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.” If you and I were to really stop, look around, and observe all that God is still doing today – for he certainly still brings rain, still waters the wild donkeys, still produces grass and crops, still gives good, tasty food and drinks for us to enjoy – we would be filled with humble praise. Instead, our soul’s fire is quenched with anxieties and troubles because our focus is on what we don’t have or what there is still left to do.

How do we rip our attention away from our troubles and humbly gaze upon the acts of God? If we can’t produce within ourselves the fuel for praising God, then how can we get what we need?

I think the answer is quite simple, yet difficult for our flesh to practice.

We need to stop like the psalmist did. He observed all of these things in nature, and then he meditated on them: “May my meditation be pleasing to him…” (v. 34). People today are feeling like you and I are: busy and anxious. Yoga, mindfulness, and other forms of therapy are very popular right now. All of these practices teach that we must clear our minds of everything in order to reach a state of peace; but God’s Word teaches us to fill our minds with his thoughts. All worldly forms of meditation will never satisfy the way God does. We are to meditate and reflect on Yahweh and the works of his hands, and this means pausing what we’re so focused on and choosing what is better.

Or, to use the words of another songwriter, “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).

Summertime is busy. Every season is busy. Humans have been anxiously busy since the Fall. Let us, however, be still today, even right this very moment, and observe, meditate, and humbly praise the God whom we know – Yahweh – and the God who wants us to know him. Jesus wanted Martha to stop and receive the good portion that Mary was already getting. He wants you and me to do that, too.

It would be nice to stop there, but the final verse of this song is interesting: “Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more! Bless Yahweh, O my soul! Praise Yahweh!” (v. 35). Huh. What an interesting way to end a song of humble praise. Then again, isn’t this the culmination of God’s power? Yahweh will judge the wicked in righteousness and justice. He alone is great and worthy to judge them. This is immediately humbling. Such power is the cause for us to kneel before the King of kings and Lord of lords. All eyes will be on him. Like a bride in her wedding dress, so at the Day of Judgment will every eye be on him – “every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:5-11).

I pray that our souls would be fueled by the knowledge of Yahweh, seen in his Word, his creative and sustaining power, and his coming judgment, so that our hearts might blaze with white-hot, humble praise and worship.