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Introduction

In this psalm, among many other truths, we see that the Holy Spirit of God is the one who gives all forms of life. “Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created” (v. 30).And in the Nicene Creed, which we recited today, we confessed that we believe “in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life.” He is the one who brooded over the face of the deep at the first creation, and He is the one who was poured out upon the first residents of the new creation at Pentecost. He is the giver of life, and the giver of new life. In this psalm we are invited to exult in the truths of creationand a detailed providence.

The Text

“Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lordmy God, thou art very great; Thou art clothed with honour and majesty. Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain: Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind: Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire: Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever (Ps. 104:1-35).

Summary of the Text

The psalmist summons up all his internal resources in order to bless the Lord, who is great, and honored, and majestic (v. 1). Jehovah puts on light as if it were a coat, and all the starry heavens are no more than a curtain to Him (v. 2). His beams are set in the waters above, the clouds are His chariot, and He walks on the wind (v. 3). His angels are both wind and fire (v. 4). He set the footings of the earth, making them immoveable (v. 5). He covered the earth with an ocean cloak, covering even the mountains (v. 6). But then He rebuked the waters and they retreated to their proper place (vv. 7-8), and He set the beach for a boundary (v. 9). God is the one who sets springs in the valleys of the hills (v. 10)—and He does this to quench the thirst of beasts (v. 11), the birds that sing (v. 12), and the hills that need watering (v. 13).

He does this so cattle might have grass, and men herbs (v. 14). God’s intention is for men to have wine for the heart, oil for the face, and bread for the heart (v. 15). The trees of the Lord are full of sap, which is referring to the resinous cedars, enormous giants. But it may be reapplied by you the next time you get an overly sentimental birthday card from a pious aunt. Jehovah grows trees so that the birds might have a place to live (v. 17). The high hills are for goats, and cliffs are for rock badgers (v. 18).

The moon marks the seasons, and the sun knows what to do (v. 19). God made the nighttime, and the nocturnal beasts come out (v. 20). Young lions trust in God for their meat (v. 21). The sun comes up and they all go back to their dens (v. 22), while men get up and go to theirtasks (v. 23).

The earth is crammed full of God’s riches (v. 24). Look at the ocean, which has innumerable creatures (v. 25). There are ships on the surface of that ocean, and Leviathan is in the deeps, just horsing around down there (v. 26). When it is time for dinner, they alllook to God (v. 27). They are blessed because God gives to all with an open hand (v. 28). If God turns away, they are unsettled; if God removes their breath from them, they return to the dust (v. 29). If God sends out His Spirit, these creatures come to life, and God renews the face of the earth (v. 30).

The glory of God is constant, and God rejoices in His own creative work (v. 31). He likeswhat He has done. If He looks at the earth, so solid to us, it shakes and trembles, and if He touches the mountains, they smoke (v. 32).

This requires music from us, and it is required as long as we live (v. 33). Our meditation of Him shall be sweet, and we will be glad (v. 34). Deal with the wicked, Lord—and soul? Bless the Lord, o my soul (v. 35).

A Creation Poem

The Septuagint credits this psalm to David, and we don’t have a good reason for disputing it. What we basically have here is a creative retelling of the creation of the world. The psalmist begins by singing of the light and the firmament (vv. 1-6), which is what was created the first and second days of creation. He then moves on to the separation of land and sea, the formation of creeks and rivers, the spread of vegetation, which is all appropriate for the third day (vv. 7-18). The fourth day is celebrated by his song of the sun and moon (vv. 19-23). In verses 24-30, he talks about the creatures that were created on the fifth and sixth day. The crowning achievement of the sixth day, the creation of man, is represented by the psalmist, the one singing about all of this. And we can see the Sabbath rest in the final words (vv. 31-35).

Praise Itemizes

This psalm, just like the previous one, is a praise sandwich (vv. 1, 35). “Bless the Lord, o my soul.” He begins and ends with an invitation to himself to bless God with everything that he has. And what does he do in between? The whole psalm is a mass of particular details. And what this should show us is that since the mentioned details only encompass less than one percent of what could be said, they are meant to make us think of the whole created order. But the cosmos is beyond enormous, and when God painted it, He didn’t use a roller. The entire thing was painted by an infinitely wise miniaturist, with the smallest of brushes. We can look at anything else in the created order, make a list of all sorts of things not mentioned in this psalm—sea lions and hummingbirds—and we will see the same exquisite attention to detail.

Did You Know . . .?

Did you know that whales and dolphins sleep one half of their brain at a time? Did you know that some birds do the same? Sentry birds on the ends of a row of birds? And then the sentries switch places so that the other half of the brain can get some shuteye? Did you know that one strand of your DNA unwound would be about 2 meters long? And because you have trillions of cells in your body, with each cell having one of those strands, if you put them all end to end, the resultant librarywould stretch to about twice the diameter of the Solar System. And did you know that, unlike the twenty foot extension cord in your garage, these strands don’t get tangled up?

The Issue of Glory

When the Darwinists seek to explain the world around us—a world that is just crawling with life—we must never forget that they are engaged in a flight from glory. God is very great. He is clothed with honor and majesty, and devotees of a blind purposelessness do not want to give Him that glory (Rom. 1:21). And it is axiomatic that when sinners do not want to give God glory, the reason is because they want to takeit. And wanting to take glory for ourselves is to sin, and to sin is to fall shortof glory.

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Introduction

In this most encouraging psalm, we have a plain statement of what our condition is apart from the grace of God, coupled with a clear testimony of the giving of that grace regardless. One of the worst things a man can be is an ingrate, and in this psalm we are catechized in the glorious discipline of not forgetting His benefits.

The Text

“Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies . . .” (Ps. 103:1-22).

Summary of the Text

The psalm begins with a blessing for God, and it is a blessing that comes from all his heart (v. 1). The blessing accompanies the grace of not forgetting His benefits (v. 2). He is the God who forgives iniquities, and who heals diseases (v. 3). He redeems us from destruction, and crowns us with lovingkindness and tender mercies (v. 4). He fills our mouths with good things—which would include these blessings of God—and renews our youth like the eagle’s (v. 5). The Lord is the one who delivers justice and judgment for all the oppressed (v. 6). He revealed His way of doing things to Moses, and to the children of Israel (v. 7). He is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, and abundant with mercy (v. 8). His anger is real, but He will not always chide (v. 9). His treatment of us has not be commensurate with what we actually deserve (v. 10). His mercy toward us is as high as heaven is above the earth (v. 11). How far has He removed our transgressions from us? As far as east is from west (v. 12). The Lord pities those who fear Him in the same way that an earthly father pities his children (v. 13). He knows our frame; He knows that we are dust (v. 14). Men dry up the way that grass in the field dries up when a scorching wind passes over (vv. 15-16). But the mercy of the Lord is forever, extending to one generation after another, to those who keep covenant (vv. 17-18). But keeping covenant here is not sinless perfection because remember that it is mercythat is shown. God’s throne is in heaven; He rules over all (v. 19). The psalmist calls upon the angels to do the same thing he has been doing, which is to bless the Lord (v. 20). He then calls upon His hosts to do the same thing (v. 21). And then he calls upon every work of God in every place to join in the chorus, and to bless the Lord (v. 22).

An Odd Expression

We should know that by definition the only one capable of blessing anyone is God. God is the ultimate source of every blessing enjoyed by any creature. This is blessing in the strict sense.

But Scripture uses the term for blessing in a reverse sense, as we find it here in this psalm. Like a kid who is given a dollar by his father so that he can go to the dollar store to buy his father a birthday present, so we also return the blessings that God has given to us back to Him. This psalm is saturated with this wonderful exercise.

The psalmist blesses the Lord twice in the first verse, and does it with everything he’s got (v. 1). That is insufficient, so he blesses Him again in the second verse, refusing to forget God’s benefits to Him (v. 2). That is the key note of this psalm, and he returns to it at the conclusion of the psalm. He tells the angels to bless the Lord (v. 20), he tells the starry host to bless the Lord (v. 21), and he tells the entire creation to bless the Lord (v. 22), and he caps it all off by telling his soul, once again, to bless the Lord (v. 22). Psalm 103 is a glorious sandwich, and creatures blessing the Lord are the two pieces of bread on either side. The meat in the middle is made up of all the countless reasons we should bless the Lord. He really does fill our mouths with good things (v. 5).

Before and After

According to this psalm, what condition were we in before the Lord’s kindness was poured over us? To begin with, we were iniquitous (v. 3), and we were diseased (v. 3). We were destined for the pit, and were careening there (v. 4). Although He is slow to anger, we deserved that anger regardless (vv. 8-9). We were most undeserving (v. 10). Even in the midst of our rebellions, we were but dust (v. 14)—at the peak of our strength, we were nothing but an August dust devil, the kind that lasts for ten minutes.

And what has God done for such miserable creatures? He has transformed us into worshipers (vv. 1, 22). He loads us with benefits (v. 2). Those previously mentioned iniquities are forgiven (v. 3), and those previously mentioned diseases, liquid with decay, have been completely healed (v. 3). He pulled us back from the lip of the abyss (v. 4). Having hauled us wretches away from the bottomless pit, He takes us off to a coronation—and crowns us with hesedand with love (v. 4). He fills up our mouth with everything delicious, including this psalm (v. 5). He shows us the path to walk (v. 7). He turns His just and holy anger away(vv. 9-10). He not only takes our transgressions away, He takes them farther away from us than the east is from the west (v. 12). If you want to find your sins again, you are going to have to travel the entire circumference of the circle, looking for the corner He put them in. There isno corner. He knows our frame; He knows what it is like to be as lame and pitiful as we are (v. 13), and He acts upon that understanding by loading us up with His mercy, and pours it out in such a way as to bury our grandchildren in that mercy (v. 17).

But How?

The kindness of God is plain and obvious throughout all Scripture, but it all comes to a crescendo in the death and resurrection of Jesus. And to use the short hand form, weare crowned with hesedbecause Hewas crowned with thorns.

In order to make new men out of the wreckage of the old, God established a new humanity through a new and sinless Adam, and invites all men to come to Him on that basis. So if your desire is to have as your possession that “before and after” picture described earlier, then what do you do?

The answer is that you look to Christ. You look to Christ in the womb, Christ in His mother’s arms, Christ in the manger, Christ at school, Christ at work, Christ at the Jordan being baptized, Christ at Matthew’s banquet, Christ casting out demons, Christ touching lepers, Christ rebuking Pharisees, Christ handing the sop to Judas, Christ praying in the Garden, Christ being arrested, Christ restoring the ear of Malchus, Christ flogged, Christ with the thorns jammed on His head, Christ nailed to the wood, Christ speared, Christ anointed and wrapped, Christ buried, Christ risen, Christ embraced by an overjoyed Magdalene, Christ in the upper room, and Christ ascended into the heavens. Look there, and every blessing mentioned in this psalm is yours.

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Introduction

We have in this psalm a prayer offered up in the midst of desperate affliction. The afflicted are those who feel most in need of answered prayer. They are those who feel like getting an answer is a true long shot. But affliction makes them eloquent anyhow, and it is the kind of eloquence that moves Jehovah. Moreover, the fact that the affliction could be the result of our own sin doesn’t really alter that. God loves the cry of the desolate.

The Text

“A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the Lord. Hear my prayer, O Lord, And let my cry come unto thee. Hide not thy face from me In the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me: In the day when I call answer me speedily. For my days are consumed like smoke, And my bones are burned as an hearth. My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; So that I forget to eat my bread . . .” (Ps. 102:1-28).

Summary of the Text

This is a psalm of affliction, and so it begins with the cry of the psalmist, asking that his plea come to God’s attention (v. 1). He asks that God not hide His face in this time of trouble (v. 2), and asks for swift intervention. His days are like smoke, and his bones are like cinders in a cold fireplace (v. 3). His heart has been cut down by a scythe, and withers on the ground (v. 4). He loses his appetite (v. 4). His skeleton has skin stretched over it (v. 5). He is lonely and deserted, like an owl in the ruins (v. 6), and he is like a solitary bird on the roof line (v 7). His enemies won’t let up (v. 8), and his food and drink are ashes and tears (v. 9). His enemies do this to him, but Godis behind it all (v. 10). His days are a lengthening shadow, and he is like crisp brown grass (v. 11).

The psalmist is in deep trouble, and he knows he is praying to a God who isn’tin deep trouble. God will endure, and He will be remembered always (v. 12). Because Jehovah is forever, the restoration of Zion is inevitable (v. 13). God’s servants love her very bricks, and show honor to the dust of her streets (v. 14). Not only will Zion be restored, the heathen and their kings will notice His glory there (vv. 15-16). God will regard the prayer of the desperate (v. 17). This is goingto happen, and God’s people will praise Him for it (v. 18). God peers over the balcony of the very highest heaven, and what does He regard down here? He sees the groaning of the ones in the dungeons (vv. 19-20). These are the ones who, when delivered, will declare the name of God (v. 21), and all together they will praise Him (v. 22).

God is the one who brought in this time of great weakness (v. 23), and the prayer is that God not cut him off in the midst of his work (v. 24). God’s work is forever (v. 24), and He is the one who created all things (v. 25). What He created will perish, while the Creator Himself will not (v. 26). Creation will wear out like a pair of old jeans, while God is constantly the same (v. 27). And because God is constant in this way, the children of His servants will be like Him, and not like the created order which will necessarily wear out (v. 28).

The Grace of Affliction

Scripture teaches us that God brings affliction into our lives—affliction being defined here as something that you are overwhelmed by, something that you do not honestly believe you can handle—in order to teach us how small we are. He gives us particular things we cannot handle to teach us the important lesson that we cannot really handle anything.

Why does God do this kind of thing to us? Because we desperately need it. Our troubles are hand-stitched for us, and they fit the outline of our lives perfectly. “But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead” (2 Cor. 1:9). This is it in a nutshell. “That we should not trust in ourselves.”But if we cease trusting in our own abilities (because we know that in our own ability we cannot rise from the dead), what must we do? We must trust in someone else—one who canraise the dead.

Faithful Logic in Affliction

The psalmist here is at the bottom of all his troubles. He is under a pile, which he describes in exquisite detail. He is a flitting shadow. But he then turns to describe God (v. 12). “But thou, O Lord, shalt endure for ever . . .” Here is the logic, running on a straight line. 1. I am a little wisp of smoke (v. 3). 2. God is eternal (v. 12). 3. Because His character is constant, Zion will be restored (v. 13). 4. When Zion is restored, God will regard the prayer of the destitute (v. 17). 5. I am among the destitute; do not take me away in the middle of this trouble of mine (v. 24).

Luther once wrote that “much religion lies in the pronouns.” This is myGod, and so this is mypromise.

Of the Son He Says

The first chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews seeks to show that the Son of God is much greater than the angels. God says things to Him that He never says to angels (Heb. 1:5-6). He declares that the angels are simply ministering spirits (Heb. 1:7). But of the Son He says . . . “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: The sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre” (Ps. 45:6). In addition, God speaks these words, from this psalm, to the Son. God says to the Son, “Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth . . .” God says of the Son that He is the Creator of all things. Although the creation will grow threadbare, the Son is the same, “yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8).

And while we believe the doctrine of covenantal succession (the doctrine that Christian parents are invited to believe God for the salvation of their children), let us never forget that this doctrine finds its fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ—as do all life-giving doctrines. Who is God talking to? To the Son. And what does He say to Him? “The children of thyservants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee” (v. 28). Everything coheres in Christ, and outside of Him, all things come apart in your hands.

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