Psalm 104

As today begins May, we are going to begin a new study topic for our weekly devos. We will spend the month of May looking at different verses from the book of Psalms, and see what God has for us from this book of songs and poetry!

I don’t know about you guys, but as I look out my window today, all I see is rain. It started last night, and it’s supposed to continue through the majority of the week, possibly even in to the weekend. I’m a sunshine kind of girl, so I tend to get kind of blue, and mopey, and even a little lazy when the rain sets in for days at a time. It’s just harder to get out of bed and get myself going. We are also working on building a deck, and so the rain means a possible delay in our progress, if it’s not gone in time to let the ground dry out a bit before the weekend. So, while the rain is all I can see as I look outside, I’m really not a fan.

As I think about this rain, though, I’m also reminded of the fact that even though I don’t personally like it right now, we need it. Rain makes crops grow, rain gives us the water that we need to drink, and rain makes the earth function properly. If we never had rainy days, we would quickly be in trouble (like parts of the country have been in the not too recent past.)

Psalm 104 is a song that speaks to the wisdom and majesty of God displayed through creation. It’s basically a list of all that God made, including mountains, donkeys, birds, land, wine, oil, bread, trees, the moon, the sun….and the list goes on and on. The theme of this passage is not only the fact that God made this wonderfully diverse world, but that He cares for it. Some of my favorite verses from this passage are verses 16 and 27-28.

 16: “The trees of the Lord are well watered, the cedars of Lebanon that He planted,”

27-28: “All creatures look to you to give them food at the proper time. When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things.”

The passage continues to list the ways that God cares for creation, but I really like these two, especially today. We have rain today because the trees need it to grow, and because God will use that rain to provide the food that we need for our physical growth and health, as well. As adults, we all understand the life cycle, and that rain is necessary, even when we don’t enjoy it.

However, there are other circumstances that are more difficult. There are times when we aren’t able to as quickly explain why the trouble is present, why it’s necessary, and what good is going to come out of it. Rainy days are one thing, but sickness, loss, relationship problems, financial difficulty—those are something else.

The Bible tells over and over again that God loves us, that He has good gifts for us, and even that He can use bad circumstances for good purposes. So, while I believe that God isn’t causing bad things to happen to us, I do believe that He can take the dark and rainy days that we face and bring something good out of them. We look to the one who created us to take care of us, and He will do that. Even if we are walking through a circumstance right now that we are not enjoying, we can absolutely trust that God is aware, knows the outcome, and will work it out for the greater good, if we trust Him and allow Him to do so.

Psalm 104 begins coming to a close with verse 33, “I will sing to the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.” We can praise God because we can trust God. We can praise God because He takes care of His creation. We can praise God because the rainy days don’t last forever. We can praise God because He is worthy.