This psalm is a poetic summary of God’s creation of the world as found in the first chapter of Genesis. What God created each day is mentioned by the psalmist as a reason to praise God (Genesis 1:1-31).
Verses 1-2 – Day 1: God created light.
Verses 2-3 – Day 2: God created the heavens and the waters.
Verses 6-18 – Day 3: God created land and vegetation.
Verses 19-23 – Day 4: God created the sun, moon and stars.
Verses 25-26 – Day 5: God created fish and birds.
Verses 21-30 – Day 6: God created animals and man, and food to sustain them.
The observant amongst you reading this blog will note that two verses seem out of place in this passage (please don’t feel bad if you didn’t spot them immediately as I failed to notice them at first).
The first one is verse 29:
“When you hide your face they are terrified; when you take away their breath they die and return to the dust.”
There is no mention of ‘death’ in the account of creation given by Moses (the author of Genesis). The reason for this is that death was not part of God’s original creation plan and as we know death came as a consequence of sin entering the world (Genesis 2:19). My failure to see this inconsistency initially was probably due to the fact that as we are so used to death we just accept it as the norm and part of the human condition.
Despite this psalm being a celebration of the wonders and magnificence of God’s creation, the psalmist mentions it to show that many people are arrogant enough to think they don’t need God, when in reality we depend on God for literally every breath we take.
The second one is verse 35:
“But may the sinners vanish from the earth and the wicked be no more.”
So who are these sinners?
Put quite simply, those who do not know God and have the position as outlined in verse 29. It is those who fail to acknowledge what God has done for them, and despite clearly being able to see the presence of God in his creation still put their head in the sand or simply shrug their shoulders and say so what.
This outlook is rather like the young man in Northern India who pushed a brand new BMW that his parents had brought him into a river as he wanted a Jaguar (BBC News 10th August 2019). This ungrateful and arrogant attitude is clearly ‘wicked’ and something that God finds totally unacceptable, and rightly so. Those acting in this way will never be able to be in God’s presence when their physical life concludes.
As Christians, we should also feel slightly uneasy at the conclusion of this psalm. If we are being honest with ourselves do we always want to “sing to the Lord all my life.” (verse 33) and how often is ‘my meditation be pleasing to him.” (verse 34)?
Think about how frequently we are ungrateful for what God has done for us, and how we take for granted the many blessings of God’s creation. It is very easy for us to slip into the mindset of those described as wicked and as a result potentially share their fate.
We need water and breath to sustain our physical existence, but we need a different type of water and breath to sustain our spiritual existence, thus preventing us from ‘vanishing from the earth’ when God passes his final judgement.
Jesus is the provider of both of these things ultimately as a result of his sacrifice for us on the cross. His blood, shed for us, is the water we need in order to obtain salvation and subsequently eternal life (John 4:14). His breath is the Holy Spirit given to us when we accept Jesus as our Lord and saviour. The Holy Spirit is God’s seal to show that we belong to him and his deposit guaranteeing that he will do what he has promised (Ephesians 1:13-14).
The psalm starts and concludes with the phrase ‘praise the Lord, O my soul’ and I would suggest there is more than enough evidence in this psalm to show why it is appropriate and right to do so......
Who can deny that our God is great!!!
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