Lord Of All
Creation
I've been
privileged my whole adult life to work in science across various
disciplines like engineering. One of the things that has always
amazed me is how you can look out into the world—creation and
nature—and not see that there is an intelligent designer behind
it. After decades of observation, I conclude that those who
don't believe in a Creator choose not to.
One of the
greatest Psalms, the 104th Psalm, is about God being the Lord of
all creation. Psalm 104 is thrilling; it essentially follows
creation week, highlighting God's creation and showing His power
and majesty. After reading, studying, and examining this Psalm,
you really feel a sense of wonder and praise for God as our
Creator.
I divided it
into three sections. The first section, in verses 1 through 13,
I call "God Creates the Heavens and the Earth." We begin with
day one. Notice verses one and two of Psalm 104: "Bless the
Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, you are very great; you are
clothed with honor and majesty, covering yourself with light as
with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a curtain."
First, the
psalmist in Psalm 104 worships Jehovah as his God, which is an
excellent point. It might seem kind of minor, but notice he
says, "O Lord my God." It's not just an impersonal deity; the
psalmist emphasizes it's his God—my God, my Lord, my creator. I
think that's how we need to think about God: as my God, my
creator, my Lord.
The majesty and
honor of Jehovah are clearly seen, much like a person's
clothing. Notice how he uses the phrase, "you are clothed with
honor and majesty." The universe is, in a sense, God's garment.
That’s how we should perceive it. When we look at the universe,
we see God's power, majesty, and honor. The more we study the
universe and everything in it, the more we see God's power and
majesty.
He says, "You
cover yourself with light." We know the Bible talks about God
being light, and Paul mentions in 1 Timothy 6:16 that God dwells
in unapproachable light. When did God create light? On day
one—"Let there be light," and it was created. Light is vital to
life, and here we see God's power at the very beginning as the
one who created the vast heavens. He is the one who stretched
out the heavens like a curtain. He did that.
He moves on in
verses three and four. We still see God creating the heavens and
the earth. He lays the beams of his upper chambers in the
waters, who makes the clouds his chariot, who walks on the wings
of the wind, who makes his angels spirits, his ministers a
flaming fire. Here, we see God enthroned; he's on his throne
above the waters of the firmament. That's why we say God dwells
in heaven. That's his home; that's his throne.
These verses
reveal two key points: God's involvement in the world and His
separation from it. Let's take a moment to look at Amos,
specifically chapter 9, verse 6. This verse is significant as it
parallels what the psalmist expresses in Psalm 104. Amos 9:6
states that the Lord God builds His layers in the sky and is
found in His strata on the earth; He calls for the waters of the
sea and pours them out on the earth's surface. The Lord is His
name—who accomplished all this? It was God.
These verses in
Psalm say that God is the one that controls the clouds. Why are
there a few clouds in the sky today? God determined; he's the
one that controls them. He controls this world; he controls
nature. I hate it when people studying the sciences discuss what
nature did. Nature doesn't do anything. Nature describes how the
world operates; nature has no power. It's God who does this. God
is the one; he's the one that controls the world, the one that
controls the sky, and the one that drives the clouds. He's the
one that is in control of them. He walks on the wings of the
wind, it says. Again, it expresses his power over nature.
Jehovah even rules over angels; it says he makes his angels, who
are his angels. He's the one that controls them and then sends
them as he sees fit.
He goes on
talking about God creating the heavens and the Earth. Verse 5:
You who laid the earth's foundations so it should not be moved
forever. The waters stood above the mountains—that's your
review. They fled at the voice of your thunder. They went up
over the mountains and down to the valleys, to the place you
founded for them. You’ve set a boundary that they may not pass
over or return to cover the Earth. See, the psalmist is already
considering day one of creation, then day two of creation. What
does he do now? He considers day three the formation of land.
And it says it's not to be moved. What God built; He built well.
He did a good job; He knew what He was doing. He built it right,
and it won't be shaken until He decides to shake it, until He
decides to move it, until He decides this is the end of the
world.
Man is not
going to destroy this world. You know, you hear all the time
that the way people behave in this world will lead to the
destruction of our planet. But we can't destroy our planet; we
don't have the power to do that. Regardless of what we do, we
could set up all the nuclear bombs we wanted and everything
else, but we can't destroy this planet. God can do it, and God
will do it. God's going to annihilate this planet someday
completely, but He's the one who will do it. You and I don't
have the power; He will decide.
These verses
indicate that He is the one who separates the waters. He is the
one appointed to these places for the waters. It states that He
set a boundary for them in Job 38, aligning with what the
psalmist discusses. In Job 38, beginning in verse 8, this is how
the Lord answers Job out of the whirlwind. Job talks about what
he has done and what God may not have done, and then God
responds to him out of the whirlwind, starting in verse 4:
"Where were you when I laid the foundations of the Earth? Tell
me if you have understanding." Notice verse 8: "Or who shut in
the sea with doors when it burst forth and issued from the womb?
When I made the clouds, was it its garment and thick darkness
its swaddling band? When I fixed limits for it, set bars and
doors, and said, 'This far you may come, but no further; here
your proud waves must stop.'" That is what the psalmist is also
saying.
God has
appointed places for the waters and set a boundary for them.
They’re no threat to God, not at all. They threaten us because
we lack the power to control them—God does. He concludes this
first section. In verses 10-13, He sends the springs into the
valleys; they flow among the hills, providing drink to every
beast of the field. The wild donkeys quench their thirst there,
while the birds of the heavens have their homes, singing among
the branches. He waters the hills from His upper chambers; the
earth is satisfied with the fruit of Your works.
It's God who
provides the needs and moisture for the Earth. This shows God's
care—His great care—for His creation. He created the animals and
the plants; He's the one who sustains them. All the plants and
animals find their place in God's plan and order. What does the
water do? It supplies the birds' needs and supports the trees'
growth. What do the birds do in response? They express their
gratitude by singing in the branches. See, it's God who does
this. God's the one who taught the birds how to sing; they
didn't all evolve the ability. God gave them the ability to
sing. Well, the next section in our song I call "God's Wonderful
World of Nature."
Notice verses
14 and 15. He causes the grass to grow for the cattle and
vegetation for the service of man so that he may bring forth
food from the earth, wine that makes glad the heart of man, oil
to make his face shine, and bread that would strengthen man's
heart. God provides for people. He does it directly and
indirectly. He’s the one that feeds the cattle; he's the one
that supplies food to us.
No wonder the
disciples' prayer there in the Sermon on the Mount talks about
giving us this day our daily bread. We say we go out to earn our
bread, but we don't earn it at all; God gives it to us. More on
that later when he discusses how he provides for us. But God
designed the world this way—it’s how he set it up so mankind
could cultivate the land, work the land, and bring forth food.
Again, this is found in Genesis 1:29. This food is God's gift to
us, showcasing his goodness and power. In 1 Timothy 6:17, we
discussed the previous verse, 1 Timothy 6:16, which states that
he gives us these things to enjoy.
The next three
verses still discuss God's wonderful world of nature. The Lord's
trees are full of sap, and the cedars of Lebanon, which He
planted, are where the birds make their nests. The stork is home
in the fir trees, and the high hills are for the wild goats. The
cliffs are a refuge for the rock badgers.
God didn't just
create His creatures; He made homes for them—trees for birds,
places in the hills, and rocks for various creatures to live.
Why? because He loves His creation and takes care of it.
In verse 19, He
appointed the moon for seasons; the sun knows when it's going
down. You make darkness, and it becomes night, in which all the
beasts of the forest creep about. The young lions roar after
their prey, seeking their food from God. When the sun rises,
they come out of their dens; man goes out to his work and to his
labor until the evening. O Lord, how manifold are all Your
works! In wisdom, You have made them all; the earth is full of
Your possessions.
See the moon
and the sun—who made them? God did! And He didn't just place
them in the sky; He made them function as markers for days,
weeks, months, and years. That's what God has done for us; He
governs them.
There will come
a day—the last day—when God will no longer govern them because
He is going to destroy them all. That will be the end. But until
that time, He is governing how the moon and the sun operate.
You know, in
many ancient cultures, they worship the Moon and Sun gods. Of
course, there's no such thing. There's the God who sustains and
operates the Moon and the Sun. We know that many creatures seek
their food at night, just like he mentions. What does man do?
Man typically works during the day. Then, in the last two verses
of this section, we see this gray and vast sea in which
countless living things, both small and great, exist. There, the
ships sail about, and there is Leviathan, which you have made to
play there. The psalmist now turns his attention to the wonders
of the seas. We go back to Day Five of creation and observe the
vastness of the oceans. We're still amazed at how vast the
oceans are, and we're constantly discovering new creatures in
them. God wants to put them there, and I'm sure He's amazed and
amused when mankind finds some new creature that He has known
about since the beginning. But that's what we do.
One of them
mentions Leviathan. This is the same word that Job refers to in
Job 41. I love how he describes Leviathan as something you have
made to play there. Leviathan plays in the oceans. The third and
final section of this I call "Bob: God's Glory Endures,"
covering verses 27 through 30. These all wait for you to give
them their food in due season. Once you give it to them, they
gather it in. You open your hand, and they are filled with good.
When you hide your face, they are troubled. You take away their
breath; they perish and return to the dust. You send forth your
spirit, and they are created; you renew the face of the earth.
All creatures,
including us, depend on God. They live in reliance on Him.
Remember what Paul said in part of his sermon on Mars Hill in
Acts 17: 'All creatures live and move and have their being in
God.' If God decided that all life would be gone, it would be
gone—just that simple and quick. We live because God allows us
to live, and creatures live because God allows them to live. As
he mentioned, this is all done in due season; it happens
regularly. There’s a pattern to how God sustains us. The
psalmist emphasizes what the Lord does to sustain this world. He
feeds the animals and provides for them. But notice: once you
give them food, they gather it. God doesn't just put food in the
mouths of His creatures, nor does He do that for us. Consider
the manna in the Old Testament when the Israelites wandered in
the wilderness. God provided food for them, but did He put it
directly in their stomachs? Nope. They had to gather it every
day; that was their job. Of course, they had to gather twice as
much before the Sabbath, but they had to gather it. It was a
gift from God, but they had their job to do. These verses tell
us that if God expresses disfavor on His creation—maybe through
disease or drought or whatever—it's trouble. The verse says it's
true.
God preserves
and restores his creation. Each passing generation is replaced
by the next. After my generation is gone, if God decides, there
will be another generation. And that's true of animals, plants,
and everything else. It's all up to God whether there will be
another generation. It's not up to you, me, or everyone in the
world; it's up to God. He'll decide if this is the last
generation because there will be a last generation. Some
generation will be the last.
The last few
verses say, "May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the
Lord rejoice in his works." He looks on the earth and it
trembles; he touches the hills and they smoke. God takes
pleasure in his creation. Remember what he said after the
creation of each day? He saw that it was good, and even very
good. That's what he said. He looks on his creation: the waters,
the mountains, the animals, the birds—whatever they are—they all
declare the glory of God.
Verse 32 speaks
of the tremendous power of God, and then the final three verses
tell us three things that we need to do. That's how he ends this
song. "I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing
praise to my God while I have my being." There’s the first thing
I need to do: I need to sing songs of praise to him as the God
of creation. Not just talking about redemption or salvation, but
creation as well. Notice in this Psalm he never mentions
forgiveness, redemption, or salvation; he strictly talks about
creation. So, we need to praise God for the world he has made.
Verse 34 says,
"May my meditation be sweet to Him; I will be glad in the Lord."
I need to meditate and focus on who God is and what He has
done—the magnificent world He made and how it all works
together.
And then
lastly, at first glance, verse 35 may seem to be contrary to
what He’s been discussing, but it's not; it’s the final point
that kind of brings it all together.
May sinners be
consumed from the earth, and the wicked be no more. Bless the
Lord, O my soul; praise the Lord!
He says you
need to look forward to the time when you'll no longer have to
dwell with sinners again. Do you ever get tired of being around
sinners? I do all the time. I get tired of evil people; I get
tired of wicked people; I get tired of immoral people.
The psalmist
indicates here that there's coming a day when you won’t have to
do that anymore. You won't have to dwell with sinners
whatsoever. You know, we think about the last two chapters of
Revelation, 21 and 22, where all the wickedness will be gone.
There won't be any; we will dwell in the new heavens and the new
earth. There won't be any pain, won't be any sickness, won't be
any crying, won't be any death—the paradise of God. And He ends
by saying, "Bless the Lord, O my soul; praise the Lord!" It
means Hallelujah!
Hallelujah!
There won't be any sinners in heaven, nor will there be any sin,
pain, sickness, or death. Hallelujah, thank you! As we reflect
on this, He wants us to sing, praise God, and contemplate this
wonderful world of creation. Romans chapter 1 makes it very
clear that there will be no excuses for people not believing in
God.
No one will
ever be allowed to say on the day of judgment, "There just
wasn't enough reason for me to believe in you." God will simply
say, "Too bad. Too bad. There is plenty of reason to believe in
God and in this creation." Yes, a time is coming when we won't
have to dwell with sinners anymore. But we must first live a
faithful life. We need to become Christians by repenting and
being baptized, and then we must live faithfully so that one day
He will say, "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into
the joy of your Lord." So, as we reflect on these things, let us
stand and sing this invitation song.
March, 2025
Sermon prepared
by Bobby Stafford
Prepared by
Bobby Stafford
The church of
Christ at Granby, MO
Located at
516 East Pine St.
P.O. Box 664
Granby, Mo. 64844
(417) 472-7109
For more
lessons and Sermons, please visit
https://granbychurchofchrist.org/
https://granbychurchofchrist.com/
The
church of Christ
