Psalm 104
is a praise to God
and a celebration of the
works of God.
This Psalm
proclaims
the wondrous works of God.
I will meditate on the glorious splendor of
Your majesty,
And on Your wondrous works.
Psalm 145:5 NKJV
Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty.
This verse tells us - commands us - to bless the Lord.
Let us respond to God with enthusiasm!
In response to verse 1,
I present a prayer to bless the Lord.
-
Will you join me in prayer?
Dear Lord,
In this prayer, I will bless you with proclamations of love:
Blessed be the Lord who gives me life.
Blessed be the Lord who guides me with his Word.
Blessed be the Lord who protects me and provides for me.
Blessed be the Lord who loves me.
Amen!
Copyright © 2015 Beth McLendon of Inspirational - Prayers.com
Thou art clothed with honour and majesty.
Those red words above
are a beautiful description of God.
Psalm 93 also has a beautiful description of God.
It say:
"The Lord reigneth,
he is clothed with majesty;
the Lord is clothed with strength.
Psalm 93:1a
In Conclusion:
Psalm 104 verse 1
describes God with Kingly majesty
and as one
who is worthy of our undivided attention.
Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment:
Verse 2a
To see God would be to see light.
There is no darkness in him or on him.
In this psalm, God is revealing himself as great, clothed with honour and majesty, and covered with light.
who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain:
Verse 2b
THIS AWESOME GOD,
who is described in this psalm,
created ALL.
-
Our Powerful God
can even stretch out the heavens as if it were a curtain.
The Hebrew word "curtain" or "tent" curtain is
יְרִיעָה
We see that Hebrew word
used in
Exodus chapter 26
multiple times
to describe the tent that they called
The Tabernacle of God
where God dwelt with them in the wilderness.
That word is used in chapter 26 in every verse except verse 11.
And many times it is used multiple times in a verse.
Below we can see
a type of tent
we use today that could be referred to as
the top and sides are spread out over the bottom
like God spreading the heavens out over the earth.
The letters of this Hebrew Word could be seen to tell a story.
If you are interested
in learning a little Hebrew,
then the rest of this section (in Blue) is for you.
If not, scroll down to verses 3-6 in the next section.
This Hebrew word has 5 letters.
(It is pronounced yer-ee-aw)
Hebrew is read right to left.
The little Hebrew I know tells me that
there are two letter "yods" in this word.
The first letter and the third letter are "yod."
Interestingly, in Hebrew, the word picture
for the letter yod is a hand.
So a person reading this word in Hebrew might notice
that the two yods
could represent the two "hands" of God
that spread out the heavens.
-
The second letter is resh.
The word picture for resh stands for
"a person's head or
someone who is the head of something."
Well, God is THE head of everything.
So the Head of everything took his "two hands" and
spread out the heavens.
-
The fourth letter is ayin.
The word picture is an "eye."
-
The last letter is "Hey."
The word picture is a person with his hands up in worship or hands up
beholding something.
Here many who teach Hebrew tell us
that the idea of the letter "hey" is
"Behold!"
It makes me think of "Ta Da!"
Many times
we see people
put their hands up and out and say,
"Ta Da!"
So the word picture for the word
"Curtain" or "Tent"
could be said to be:
The Head of everything,
took his "two hands" and spread out the heavens, and
he looked with his "eyes" and said,
"Behold!"
3 Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind:
4 Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire:
5 Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever.
6 Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains.
Here we see some of the wondrous works of God.
Pondering them
will leave us with awe.
These verses
(including part of verse 2)
talk about God as Creator.
7 At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away.
8 They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them.
9 Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth.
Thou hast set all the borders of the earth.
Psalm 74:17a
We see the power of God as he
speaks, directs, and sets boundaries.
God's Voice
The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
Psalm 29:4
Check out our devotional about
God's Voice.
Psalm 104 verses 7- 9 talk about God as
Powerful and as Sovereign.
10 He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills.
11 They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild asses quench their thirst.
This verse talks of God's authority
and his care for living things.
12 By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches.
13 He watereth the hills from his chambers: the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works.
14 He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth;
15 And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart.
These verses talk of God as provider.
By God's power he causeth:
The Hebrew word translated "herb" means vegetation or green plants.
Verse 15 has such a beautiful way of talking about the goodness of God. It is saying: By using his creation, we are able to make wine and oil and bread.
A Land of Milk and Honey
When Moses was leading the people through the wilderness, the Bible tells us that God was going to give them a land flowing with milk and honey.
I believe:
Milk
represents the things we need.
Milk and bread in the Bible represent things we need -
because those were vital to the diet of the people of Bible times.
In this psalm, bread represents the things we need.
Honey
represents things
we don't absolutely need - but things we enjoy.
In this psalm, wine represents the things we don't need.
So God was saying,
"I am going to give you a land full of things
you need and things you will enjoy."
16 The trees of the Lord are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted;
17 Where the birds make their nests: as for the stork, the fir trees are her house.
18 The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats; and the rocks for the conies.
19 He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down.
20 Thou makest darkness, and it is night: wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth.
21 The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God.
22 The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together, and lay them down in their dens.
23 Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening.
These verses talk of God as one who prepares
and equips
nature and us
for life.
God talks about giving us the things all living creatures need in this life.
God draws our attention to: the trees for the birds, the hills for the goats, the moon for us to mark months, the sun to give light and heat, etc.
24 O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.
The 24th verse really sums up
the main idea of this psalm:
This
psalm is written to praise God
and cause us reflect on
all the wonderful works of God.
~
It was by his wisdom
that the earth is full of its wondrous riches.
Psalm 40:5 NKJV says:
Many, O Lord my God are Your wonderful works
Which You have done;
And Your thoughts toward us
Cannot be recounted to You in order;
If I would declare and speak of them,
They are more than can be numbered.
25 So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts.
God gives us delightful creatures to enjoy.
His creativity made them amazingly unique.
Psalm 104 verse 25 speaks of the
vastness and variety
of God's creation.
In thinking about God's creatures, each of us has favorites.
I am a fan of dolphins. At one point, I had a video on this site that featured a small cat playing with a dolphin.
(It is no longer available.)
The cat walked onto a dock that was jutting out into the ocean.
The cat stood on the edge of the dock and the dolphin swam right up to the cat. The dolphin took his snout and nudged the cat while the cat took his paw and touched the dolphin's "face."
Delightful!
God has filled our world with fascinating and sometimes amusing creatures.
Prayer
Celebrating our AMAZING God
Almighty, Infinite Creator,
Lord of my Heart,
When I ponder you,
you leave me astonished!
Lord, I will spend more time pondering you!
Amen!
Copyright © 2015 Beth McLendon of Inspirational-Prayers.com
26 There go the ships: there is that leviathan**, whom thou hast made to play therein.
27 These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season.
28 That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good.
29 Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.
30 Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.
These verses talk of God as sovereign
over everything
including life and death.
**Leviathan
Many people wonder about what Leviathan looked like.
The creature called "Leviathan" is mentioned in Psalm 74:14, Isaiah 27:1, Job 3:8, Job chapter 41, and here in Psalm 104.
The Hebrew word translated "Leviathan" is Strong's Hebrew Word 3882. It means:
1) leviathan, sea monster, dragon
1a) large aquatic animal
1b) perhaps the extinct dinosaur, plesiosaurus, exact meaning unknown
++++
Some think this to be a crocodile but from the description in
Job 41:1-34 this is patently absurd. It appears to be a large fire
breathing animal of some sort. Just as the bomardier beetle has an explosion producing mechanism, so the great sea dragon may have an explosive producing mechanism to enable it to be a real fire breathing dragon
The above was taken from:
http://www.apostolic-churches.net/bible/strongs/ref/?stgh=hebrew&stnm=03882
31 The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever: the Lord shall rejoice in his works.
32 He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth: he toucheth the hills, and they smoke.
These two verses talk about...
The Glory of God and the
Power of God.
33 I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
As we read this psalm,
we see that God is teaching us to say,
"I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live."
God enjoys hearing us sing to him.
God enjoys hearing us sing,
AND
we were created to need to sing to our Maker.
God knows we need to praise him.
Our minds and emotions do not work
at their optimal capacity
if we do not regularly praise God.
So God teaches us to say,
"I will sing praise to my God while I have my being."
Psalm 104 verse 33
reveals
the emotions of God
and gives us clues to the way God made us.
34 My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the Lord.
The Lord wants my thoughts of him
to be sweet and pleasant.
So... I want my thoughts of God to be sweet and pleasant.
My Father,
who art in Heaven,
I will cooperate with you
and
create sweet times of communion
with you this day.
Amen
Copyright © 2015 Beth McLendon of Inspirational - Prayers.com
Dear Lord,
I want my thoughts to be pleasing to you.
I will intentionally guide my thoughts.
I want my thoughts about you and my words about you to be sweet and honoring and respectful.
I will speak out-loud your Scriptures and find delight in them.
I will be glad in the Lord.
Amen
Copyright © 2015 Beth McLendon of Inspirational - Prayers.com
Psalm 119 God tells us that he wants us to say:
"How sweet are Your words to my taste,
Sweeter than honey to my mouth."
Psalm 119:103 NKJV
Psalm 104 verse 34
reveals
my proper response to God.
35 Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more.
In this psalm, God teaches us to say, "Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more."
Here God is guiding us
to realize how dangerous it is
to live
as a rebellious sinner with no thought to our Maker.
This verse is God's response
to those who
will not open their heart to God
and follow him.
The sinner referred to here is one who is not seeking to follow God's commands.
The verse refers to one who is
hard-hearted, hard-headed, stiff-necked
and will not respond
in repentance to the Lord's conviction
of his present sins.
As we read this verse,
may we dedicate ourselves
to being ever mindful of
how important it is to stay right with God
so that our heart doesn't slowly become hard against Him.
- - -
May we begin to notice how easily
most people live
with no regard to their Creator.
As we read this verse,
may we
feel the stirring of the Holy Spirit
to
Pray fervently
that
those we love will get right with God
and
start following his Word.
- - -
May those we love
feel the urgency
that
they need in order to give
respectful attention to their Maker
and surrender to the One who
Holds the Key to Heaven in his hand.
Consider visiting our:
Daily Prayers for loved ones who aren't right with God
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When we realize the love of God,
it should
draw us to him
and cause us to follow him closely.
-
We see this idea expressed in
Ephesians chapter 5
"Follow God's example in everything you do
just as
a much loved child imitates his father.
Be full of love for others,
following
the example of Christ
who loved you and gave himself to God
as a sacrifice
to take away your sins.
Ephesians 5:1-2 TLB
- But -
Some people only come to God
when they are reminded
of the
terrible consequences
of never surrendering their life
to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
- Hell -
The famous Christian author, C.S. Lewis,
was one who had to face
the truth of hell
in order to choose heaven.
Hearing about the goodness of God just wasn't enough
to draw him.
The Bible warns us:
Seek the Lord while he may be found.
Isaiah 55:6
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And lastly,
this psalm ends
as it began
in praise:
Bless thou the Lord, O my soul.
Praise ye the Lord.
Psalm 104 verse 35b
Lord of Heaven and earth,
Marvelous is your creation.
Miraculous are your deeds.
Magnificent are your names.
Meaningful, mighty, and moving are your words.
And
Matchless is your position in my heart.
Amen
Copyright © 2015 Beth McLendon of Inspirational-Prayers.com
Christmas
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