DUNCAN/The eyes of all hope in thee

If you have a Bible, please turn to Psalm 104. Psalm 104 focuses on the greatness of God, especially as it is revealed in His creation and in His providence over creation. The psalmist is telling you that when you reflect on God’s creation of this world, it leads you back to the praise of the invisible God. And I want to look at three things with you today: God’s greatness, God’s providence, and the gospel as it connects to creation.

I. God’s Greatness

The first thing that we see in this Psalm is His greatness. Now the bulk of the Psalm, if you look from verses 1 – 30, looks at aspects of God’s creation that display His greatness. We don’t have time to do justice to all the things that the Psalmist says but look for a moment at two things in particular.

First, if you look at verses 10 – 13, you will see the psalmist talking about God’s irrigation system for the world. If you have studied foreign history, or if you visited parts of Europe where the Romans occupied back in the days of the Empire, perhaps you have seen the remnants of the aqueducts. Or perhaps you’ve seen the aqueducts on the internet or in books and you’ve been amazed at how the Romans with the technology available to them two thousand years ago could move water to provide for a whole city. It’s amazing what the Romans were able to do. Well, the psalmist is looking at the way God provides water for the world, and he’s absolutely astonished at God’s irrigation system. He says, “This is amazing, Lord! This is so complex, and it’s so intricate, and it’s so purposeful, and it all works together.”

And then look at verses 19 – 23. He points us up to the stars, to the moon, and to the sun, and he says, “Lord, the sun and the moon even order our time! You have ordered our very time and our lives according to these astronomical bodies that You have placed into the heavens.” And the psalmist ponders the size and the complexity and the function of creation, and he says, “If creation is great, then surely the Creator is greater.” In other words, he draws a line from the greatness of the creation back to the greatness of the Creator, and he says, “This stirs my heart to worship God!”

But in our day and age, people look at the created order and they are amazed to the point of having almost a religious experience about their reflection upon creation, but they worship the creation, not the One who made it. And the psalmist says, “I’m not going to make that mistake.” When we look at creation, we need to break forth in praise like in verse 24 and say, “O Lord, how manifold Your works!” The greatness of creation leads the psalmist back to the greatness of the Creator and stirs his heart to worship God. 

II. God’s Providence 

The second thing we see is providence. Look especially at verses 27 – 28: “These all look to You, to give them their food in due season. When You give it to them, they gather it up; When You open Your hand, they are filled with good things.” The psalmist is pointing us to God’s providence over the animals. And then he makes this deduction: If God cares for the animals, won’t He care for you also?

That’s exactly what Jesus does in the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 6, Jesus says to His disciples, “Look at the birds of the air. They don’t have a house, they don’t have clothes, they don’t build barns to gather their food in the winter and store it up and eat until the harvest comes in next year. And yet the Lord provides for them.” And then Jesus asks the almost comical question to His disciples: “Don’t you think that you’re just a little bit more important to God than birds?” And He begins to teach His disciples about the way that God cares for His people. In other words, Jesus points them to the birds and to God’s providence for the birds, and then draws a line back to the fact that God will provide for them. It’s so important that you understand that God lacks no supply, and He will supply your every need. And in light of God’s providence in creation, what ought we to do? Worship Him.

III. Creation and the Gospel 

But one last thing. The psalmist also connects for us creation and the gospel. The psalmist does it in a most surprising way. Look at verses 35: “Let sinners be consumed from the earth.” Wait a minute! Where did sinners come in here? For 34 verses we’ve been talking about creation. Where did sinners come in here?

Well, the psalmist says that God’s creation of us establishes an obligation to Him. We’re accountable to God. If God made me, I’m accountable to Him. If God created me, I’m obligated to Him. And one of the things I’m obligated to do is to praise Him for His greatness as it’s displayed in creation. But we so often resist that, don’t we? God’s greatness in creation cries out for our acknowledgement of His greatness, and yet so often we don’t give the praise to the One who made it all. And that is not simply intellectual foolishness, it’s moral rebellion. Because we know that God has brought this world into being. We look at this huge, intricate, complex, purposeful creation in which everything makes sense and in which everything is so mutually interdependent. It’s so complex that not even the greatest scientists understand it all. The created order testifies that there is a God who made us to whom we are accountable, but we have worshiped ourselves and creation instead of Him.

That is why we need the gospel, because all of us have fallen short of the glory of God so powerfully displayed in creation, and by our sin we have brought upon ourselves the wages of death, the condemnation and judgment due to our rebellion against God. But God in His mercy, while we were yet sinners, sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us, so that if we would trust in Him we would not perish, but would spend the rest of our lives praising Him for His greatness.

Where you are today? Do you see the greatness of creation around you, but don’t give praise to God? Then there’s only one hope for you: fleeing to Christ by faith. Christian, do you study the created order with the purpose of reflecting upon its glory and having that stir you up to worship and praise? How does the greatness of God in creation serve the interest of your worship? Because it is a way that God displays His majesty to you, to evoke from your heart willing and generous praise.

Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III is Chancellor & CEO of Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) in Jackson.