A God Worthy to be Praised: an Exposition of Psalm 104:1-9

The topic of praise is one that seems to always be on the tongues of men. People praising others on their wonderful contributions to music, people praising a certain method of child rearing as the best way to raise a child, sports fanatics praising the player they feel to be the one who really makes the team great, health food advocates praising the avocado for its marvelous health benefits. The list goes on and on. The act of praise is central to the human soul, and without thinking, praise easily comes to our lips. However, there is one area where men seem to fail to praise. We neglect the praise of our God.

            Psalm 104 addresses that very problem. The entire song is about the greatness of God, and all of His deeds, attributes, and provisions which make Him worthy of our praises.

1 Praise the LORD, O my soul.

            The call to praise is one that is common in the Psalter, but here, the writer of the psalm, (who, from this point forward, is to be referred to as the Psalmist) declares that the entire soul is to praise God. Not just with your lips, not just on Sundays, not only when you are with your Christian friends, not only when you’re sure you will not be bullied, or picked on, or martyred. The praise of God is something that should be an all the time thing, full of genuine love and gratefulness to our LORD.     

O LORD my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendor and majesty. 

            In the second half of this verse the psalmist tells us why God is so worthy of this unceasing praise and addresses God directly to His face, telling Him why the psalmist believes He is so beyond all our imagination. He is great, He is clothed with majesty.


           But not only is God a great God who is far beyond anything we lowly humans can fully comprehend, He is the psalmist’s God. Not only is He the most powerful and awesome creator of the world, but He is also the personal, loving Father of the psalmist. And as we sing, or read, or pray, or memorize this psalm, we are also able to call God ours; the psalmist was our praising predecessor, and through his words, we to are able to praise this great and glorious God.     

² He wraps himself in light as with a garment; He stretches out the heavens like a tent 

³ and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.

He makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind.

 ⁴ He makes winds his messengers, flames of fire his servants. 

⁵ He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved.

            Again the psalmist describes his God. He is so powerful, that the very light of the world obeys Him and surrounds Him like a cloak; the impossible task of creating the heavens is as simple to Him as is opening a curtain on a bright summer morning. The liquid sea becomes a firm foundation for His chamber, for at His command all things are made firm.

            The latter half of verse three may, at first read, seem rather odd. We are Americans living in the 21^st century. We don’t have chariots, and have no notion of the significance of riding on the wind. For the ancient world, when they would hear of something riding on the wind they would automatically think of Yahweh, or if it was a pagan nation, any one of them would think of any one of their gods. This same language is used in the New Testament when Matthew recounts Jesus speaking of His second coming.

Matthew 24: 30 At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of

the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and

great glory.     

            The end of verse five is a pledge to the feeble mortal who has no power whatsoever over any force of nature. This assurance is that the God who rides on the wind and who summons fire to do His bidding will not let the world be shaken by any. He is the one who established the world and will never let nefarious creatures of man utterly destroy it.

 ⁶ You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.   

⁷ But at your rebuke the waters fled, at the sound of your thunder they took to flight;   

⁸ they flowed over the mountains, they went down into the valleys, to the place you assigned for them. 

⁹ You set a boundary they cannot cross; never again will they cover the earth. 

            Another testament to God’s power, (and again, the psalmist is directing these words to God Himself) these verses loosely follow the creation account and briefly speak of the flood of Noah. The waters of the sea are personified, and are rebuked for moving beyond the appointed places God had ordained for them and are set within boundaries that they may never cross. The ordering of nature can be translated to personal life and experience today. Not only are these four verses speaking of the actual fact of creation and the flood, they can also be seen as a testimony to God’s amazing providence. God will never allow the flood waters of persecution, suffering, and human sinfulness to completely cover the earth, to run free and unchecked. He has the power to sustain our lives, to give us food from His own hand, and to bring us through any trial or suffering.

Romans 8:37-39 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For

I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the

future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to

separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.        

While Reading, Singing or Praying this Psalm:

• Acknowledge the blessings God has given you in your own life.
• Examine your heart and root out any traces of self-entitlement or greed. God didn’t need to give us any of the blessings He has, such as beautiful spring flowers or magnificent summer sunsets, and be grateful for what He has provided.
• Give glory to God for blessing creation with beauty and wonder.
• Recognize that there are others who do not see God revealing Himself through the creation, and endeavor to explain it to them.

Ask Yourself:

• Am I praising God, or am I praising man?
• How do I see God’s providence working in my life?
• Does God’s creation bring me joy and wonder?
• Do I rest in God’s unfailing love?