WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.820 but it's not certain. It's been suggested by 00:00:04.820 --> 00:00:09.179 some that this psalm is to accompany the psalm 00:00:09.179 --> 00:00:12.560 that we just finished, Psalm 103. Again, it's 00:00:12.560 --> 00:00:16.000 hard to say. We really don't know. But regardless 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:19.179 of who wrote it or when it was written, it really 00:00:19.179 --> 00:00:24.570 just kind of recounts the creation. of god it 00:00:24.570 --> 00:00:27.629 recounts the creation that we see in genesis 00:00:27.629 --> 00:00:31.969 the psalmist here is praising the lord acknowledging 00:00:31.969 --> 00:00:35.509 the greatness of the lord that the lord has created 00:00:35.509 --> 00:00:38.549 everything and so it kind of follows that same 00:00:38.549 --> 00:00:42.710 that same pattern uh of creation and so we're 00:00:42.710 --> 00:00:44.710 just going to read through it it's it's poetry 00:00:44.710 --> 00:00:48.289 and so it's just uh uh we're not going to break 00:00:48.289 --> 00:00:49.909 it up we're just going to read through the whole 00:00:49.909 --> 00:00:53.200 song and then we'll talk about it just real briefly, 00:00:53.320 --> 00:00:55.899 one little part of it there at the end. So let's 00:00:55.899 --> 00:00:58.880 pray, and then we'll get started. Dear Lord, 00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:00.840 we come to you. We thank you for these words, 00:01:00.899 --> 00:01:03.039 and I pray that as we read them that we would 00:01:03.039 --> 00:01:05.920 rejoice in your creation, dear Lord, that it 00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:09.359 would be a reminder to us of how mighty and powerful 00:01:09.359 --> 00:01:12.079 you are, God, that everything that there is you 00:01:12.079 --> 00:01:16.060 have created, that there is nothing that occurs 00:01:16.060 --> 00:01:19.879 in this world. that occurs apart from you, dear 00:01:19.879 --> 00:01:22.640 Lord. You know everything that goes on. You are 00:01:22.640 --> 00:01:25.640 in control. You have the power to do or the power 00:01:25.640 --> 00:01:28.579 to not do anything that you desire, dear Lord. 00:01:28.719 --> 00:01:32.140 And so God, I pray that we rejoice in your greatness 00:01:32.140 --> 00:01:35.739 and just remember that you are God and you are 00:01:35.739 --> 00:01:38.060 on the throne, dear Lord. We have to remember 00:01:38.060 --> 00:01:40.060 that in this day and age where things are really 00:01:40.060 --> 00:01:44.340 tough. Our world is really tough. We just know, 00:01:44.420 --> 00:01:46.719 God, that... Even though things may not be good 00:01:46.719 --> 00:01:49.920 from what we can see, that everything that occurs, 00:01:50.239 --> 00:01:53.260 you know about it, dear Lord. And so let us just 00:01:53.260 --> 00:01:55.959 find some comfort in that. And I ask these things 00:01:55.959 --> 00:02:05.480 in Jesus' name. Amen. Psalm 104, verse 1. My 00:02:05.480 --> 00:02:10.979 soul prays Yahweh. Lord, my God, you are very 00:02:10.979 --> 00:02:15.569 great. You are clothed with majesty and splendor. 00:02:16.009 --> 00:02:19.830 He wraps himself in light as if it were a robe, 00:02:20.069 --> 00:02:24.389 spreading out the sky like a canopy, laying the 00:02:24.389 --> 00:02:28.550 beams of his palace on the waters above, making 00:02:28.550 --> 00:02:32.090 the clouds his chariot, walking on the wings 00:02:32.090 --> 00:02:35.969 of the wind, and making the winds his messengers, 00:02:36.050 --> 00:02:40.259 flames of fire his servants. He established the 00:02:40.259 --> 00:02:43.500 earth on its foundations. It will never be shaken. 00:02:44.199 --> 00:02:47.020 You covered it with the deep as if it were a 00:02:47.020 --> 00:02:50.039 garment. The water stood above the mountains. 00:02:50.719 --> 00:02:54.400 At your rebuke, the waters fled. At the sound 00:02:54.400 --> 00:02:57.759 of your thunder, they hurried away. Mountains 00:02:57.759 --> 00:03:01.620 rose and valleys sank to the place you established 00:03:01.620 --> 00:03:05.460 for them. You set a boundary they cannot cross. 00:03:06.830 --> 00:03:10.750 They will never cover the earth again. He causes 00:03:10.750 --> 00:03:14.250 the springs to gush into the valleys. They flow 00:03:14.250 --> 00:03:17.409 between the mountains. They supply water for 00:03:17.409 --> 00:03:21.030 every wild beast. The wild donkeys quench their 00:03:21.030 --> 00:03:25.949 thirst. The birds of the sky live beside the 00:03:25.949 --> 00:03:31.030 springs. They sing among the foliage. He waters 00:03:31.030 --> 00:03:35.150 the mountains from his palace. The earth is satisfied 00:03:35.150 --> 00:03:40.409 by the fruit. He causes grass to grow for the 00:03:40.409 --> 00:03:44.770 livestock and provides crops for man to cultivate, 00:03:44.930 --> 00:03:48.490 producing food from the earth, wine that makes 00:03:48.490 --> 00:03:52.009 man's heart glad, making his face shine with 00:03:52.009 --> 00:03:57.509 oil and bread that sustains man's heart. The 00:03:57.509 --> 00:04:01.270 trees of the Lord flourish, the cedars of Lebanon 00:04:01.270 --> 00:04:05.650 that he planted. There the birds make their nest. 00:04:06.199 --> 00:04:10.259 The stork makes its home in the pine trees. The 00:04:10.259 --> 00:04:12.719 high mountains are for the wild goats. The cliffs 00:04:12.719 --> 00:04:17.759 are a refuge for hyraxes. He made the moon to 00:04:17.759 --> 00:04:20.899 mark the festivals. The sun knows when to set. 00:04:22.040 --> 00:04:25.600 You bring darkness and it becomes night when 00:04:25.600 --> 00:04:29.800 all the forest animals stir. The young lion roars 00:04:29.800 --> 00:04:33.759 for their prey and seek their food from God. 00:04:33.959 --> 00:04:37.759 The sun rises. They go back and lie down in their 00:04:37.759 --> 00:04:42.220 dens. Man goes out to his work and to his labor 00:04:42.220 --> 00:04:46.579 until evening. How countless are your works, 00:04:46.600 --> 00:04:50.819 Lord! In wisdom you have made them all. The earth 00:04:50.819 --> 00:04:54.579 is full of your creatures. Here is the sea, vast 00:04:54.579 --> 00:04:58.040 and wide, teeming with creatures beyond number, 00:04:58.220 --> 00:05:03.060 living things both large and small. There the 00:05:03.060 --> 00:05:07.250 ships move about. And Leviathan, which you formed, 00:05:07.290 --> 00:05:11.430 play there. All of them wait for you to give 00:05:11.430 --> 00:05:14.670 them their food at the right time. When you give 00:05:14.670 --> 00:05:17.410 it to them, they gather it. When you open your 00:05:17.410 --> 00:05:21.209 hand, they are satisfied with good things. When 00:05:21.209 --> 00:05:24.329 you hide your face, they are terrified. When 00:05:24.329 --> 00:05:26.389 you take away their breath, they die and return 00:05:26.389 --> 00:05:29.829 to the dust. When you send your breath, they 00:05:29.829 --> 00:05:33.329 are created. And you renew the face of the earth. 00:05:34.480 --> 00:05:37.759 May the glory of the Lord endure forever. May 00:05:37.759 --> 00:05:41.259 the Lord rejoice in His works. He looks at the 00:05:41.259 --> 00:05:44.759 earth and it trembles. He touches the mountains 00:05:44.759 --> 00:05:48.860 and they pour out smoke. I will sing to the Lord 00:05:48.860 --> 00:05:53.000 all my life. I will sing praise to my God while 00:05:53.000 --> 00:05:56.899 I live. May my meditation be pleasing to Him. 00:05:57.360 --> 00:06:01.660 I will rejoice in the Lord. May sinners vanish 00:06:01.660 --> 00:06:04.670 from the earth. And wicked people be no more. 00:06:05.189 --> 00:06:11.110 My soul prays Yahweh. Hallelujah. Now this psalm 00:06:11.110 --> 00:06:16.209 is pretty basic. Just a basic praising of God. 00:06:16.370 --> 00:06:19.970 Just acknowledging what God created. The beauty 00:06:19.970 --> 00:06:23.329 of nature. The beauty of all the things we see. 00:06:23.389 --> 00:06:27.829 That you look at this planet. And you look at 00:06:27.829 --> 00:06:30.870 these huge mountains and these huge oceans and 00:06:30.870 --> 00:06:33.689 everything and all the animals that God has created 00:06:33.689 --> 00:06:37.029 and God made everything just the way it needs 00:06:37.029 --> 00:06:40.250 to be and he keeps everything in check and everything 00:06:40.250 --> 00:06:45.189 is dependent on God. God has created this world 00:06:45.189 --> 00:06:48.730 and it's God that sustains this world and all 00:06:48.730 --> 00:06:51.189 of creation is dependent on God and that includes 00:06:51.189 --> 00:06:54.850 you and I. And the psalmist here is just acknowledging 00:06:54.850 --> 00:06:58.259 and praising God. for the creation. And maybe 00:06:58.259 --> 00:07:00.040 that's something that we need to do from time 00:07:00.040 --> 00:07:02.939 to time. Maybe in our hustle and bustle, maybe 00:07:02.939 --> 00:07:05.579 we need to take a moment to just acknowledge 00:07:05.579 --> 00:07:08.560 the bigness of God. That was something we talked 00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:11.199 about at VBS last year. The bigness of God, just 00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:15.879 that we see that in the whole universe around 00:07:15.879 --> 00:07:19.600 us. And how many times do we stop to smell the 00:07:19.600 --> 00:07:21.879 roses, as the old saying is? Sometimes we're 00:07:21.879 --> 00:07:25.100 so busy, maybe we fail to stop and look into 00:07:25.100 --> 00:07:28.879 the sky. and look at the countless stars that 00:07:28.879 --> 00:07:32.740 are there. And to see the grandeur of a mountain, 00:07:32.980 --> 00:07:37.800 its peak extends into the clouds, or the vastness 00:07:37.800 --> 00:07:40.800 of the oceans, and all of the creatures that 00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:43.339 we see and their intricacies. It's unbelievable 00:07:43.339 --> 00:07:45.899 how many insects and how many creatures that 00:07:45.899 --> 00:07:48.319 there are. Things that you've never heard of 00:07:48.319 --> 00:07:51.120 before. Even here sometimes you may see something 00:07:51.120 --> 00:07:52.600 and you say, man, I've never seen a bug like 00:07:52.600 --> 00:07:55.240 that before. What is that? And you ask somebody 00:07:55.240 --> 00:07:56.480 and they say, oh yeah, them things have been 00:07:56.480 --> 00:07:58.779 here forever. And there are so many things that 00:07:58.779 --> 00:08:01.699 we've seen so much that God has done and we have 00:08:01.699 --> 00:08:04.480 only begun to scratch the surface of all the 00:08:04.480 --> 00:08:08.360 beauty that God has done. And do we rejoice in 00:08:08.360 --> 00:08:11.480 that? Well, we should. We should rejoice in the 00:08:11.480 --> 00:08:13.480 beauty of what the Lord has done. And that's 00:08:13.480 --> 00:08:16.259 what the psalmist is doing here. And what he 00:08:16.259 --> 00:08:18.740 says in verse 34, we're going to look at that 00:08:18.740 --> 00:08:22.350 for just a moment. He says, May my meditation 00:08:22.350 --> 00:08:26.569 be pleasing to him. I will rejoice in the Lord. 00:08:27.310 --> 00:08:31.129 May my meditation be pleasing to him. Meditation 00:08:31.129 --> 00:08:35.990 is just pausing and thinking on something. That's 00:08:35.990 --> 00:08:38.730 maybe another way to say it. I'm not talking 00:08:38.730 --> 00:08:40.610 about crossing your legs and doing your hands 00:08:40.610 --> 00:08:42.809 like this. I'm just talking about just sitting 00:08:42.809 --> 00:08:44.549 for a moment. Kind of like what we talked about 00:08:44.549 --> 00:08:47.350 Sunday morning. Just kind of sitting in the silence 00:08:47.350 --> 00:08:51.929 and just thinking. Like when we slow down, like 00:08:51.929 --> 00:08:55.429 where does our mind go? Like where do our thoughts 00:08:55.429 --> 00:08:59.110 go? Like what are the meditations of our mind? 00:08:59.210 --> 00:09:02.389 He says, may the meditation of my mind be pleasing 00:09:02.389 --> 00:09:05.850 to God. Okay, well that's a good prayer for us 00:09:05.850 --> 00:09:09.509 to consider too. Are the things that we meditate 00:09:09.509 --> 00:09:13.309 on, the things that we think about, are they 00:09:13.309 --> 00:09:17.289 pleasing to God? Maybe they are, maybe they're 00:09:17.289 --> 00:09:20.039 not. Maybe some of the things that we meditate 00:09:20.039 --> 00:09:23.580 on is stress and worry and work and things like 00:09:23.580 --> 00:09:26.340 that. Well, that takes up part of our time that 00:09:26.340 --> 00:09:29.480 we think on. But there are other things that 00:09:29.480 --> 00:09:33.919 take up our time. What do we think about? Maybe 00:09:33.919 --> 00:09:35.940 there's been something in your life that you 00:09:35.940 --> 00:09:38.639 really desired and you just thought of that. 00:09:38.759 --> 00:09:41.679 Your mind was on that all the time. You meditated 00:09:41.679 --> 00:09:45.500 on that day and night. Maybe one day you were 00:09:45.500 --> 00:09:48.539 in love. And that boy you were in love with, 00:09:48.600 --> 00:09:50.440 and that girl you were in love with, and oh, 00:09:50.620 --> 00:09:53.179 you just, you thought about them all the time, 00:09:53.200 --> 00:09:54.820 right? That's what you do. You think about them. 00:09:54.860 --> 00:09:57.019 And you can't wait to see them. And then when 00:09:57.019 --> 00:09:58.519 you see them, you don't want to leave them. And 00:09:58.519 --> 00:10:00.659 when you leave them, you just keep thinking about 00:10:00.659 --> 00:10:03.960 them. And you meditate on that. That consumes 00:10:03.960 --> 00:10:07.460 you. I remember when I was a teenager, I wanted 00:10:07.460 --> 00:10:10.320 a four -wheeler so bad, I just thought about 00:10:10.320 --> 00:10:12.840 that all the time. I just meditated on that. 00:10:12.940 --> 00:10:15.960 I had magazines with four -wheelers, and I would 00:10:15.960 --> 00:10:18.460 look at them, and I would dream at night that 00:10:18.460 --> 00:10:19.860 I would have a four -wheeler. And I would know 00:10:19.860 --> 00:10:21.659 I was dreaming, and I wouldn't want to wake up, 00:10:21.740 --> 00:10:23.519 because I knew if I did, I wouldn't have a four 00:10:23.519 --> 00:10:28.399 -wheeler. And that just consumed my mind. And 00:10:28.399 --> 00:10:30.080 maybe there are things like that for you guys. 00:10:30.200 --> 00:10:32.559 Maybe some of them are serious things that we 00:10:32.559 --> 00:10:35.460 ponder and think on. And maybe there are other 00:10:35.460 --> 00:10:37.580 things that kind of consume us that we meditate 00:10:37.580 --> 00:10:41.539 on that fights for our attention. And we spend 00:10:41.539 --> 00:10:45.779 way too much time meditating on things that aren't 00:10:45.779 --> 00:10:48.580 pleasing to the Lord. Things that may not necessarily 00:10:48.580 --> 00:10:51.919 be bad. However, they may be. There are some 00:10:51.919 --> 00:10:54.940 things that are on our mind that we desire and 00:10:54.940 --> 00:10:56.899 that we think about and we long for that are 00:10:56.899 --> 00:11:00.039 not good. There are other things that... that 00:11:00.039 --> 00:11:02.460 in and of themselves they aren't bad. Getting 00:11:02.460 --> 00:11:05.620 a four -wheeler is not bad, but, man, if it consumes 00:11:05.620 --> 00:11:08.000 you and that's all you think about all the time, 00:11:08.679 --> 00:11:11.700 well, that's not a good thing. I mean, some of 00:11:11.700 --> 00:11:14.220 our thoughts, maybe the majority of our thoughts, 00:11:14.240 --> 00:11:18.500 should be focused on the Lord. Like, how many 00:11:18.500 --> 00:11:21.320 times do we stop and think, is this pleasing 00:11:21.320 --> 00:11:23.580 to the Lord? Maybe you do that with every decision 00:11:23.580 --> 00:11:26.620 you make. Maybe you don't ever do that. Maybe 00:11:26.620 --> 00:11:29.059 we don't do that enough. Alright, I'm fixing 00:11:29.059 --> 00:11:31.100 to do this thing. I'm fixing to set out on this, 00:11:31.159 --> 00:11:35.139 whatever it is, on this endeavor. Is this going 00:11:35.139 --> 00:11:38.440 to please the Lord if I do this? Is this word 00:11:38.440 --> 00:11:41.120 that I'm about to say going to please the Lord? 00:11:44.139 --> 00:11:48.159 Maybe it is or maybe it isn't. Maybe we need 00:11:48.159 --> 00:11:51.919 to take a little more time to stop. Acknowledge 00:11:51.919 --> 00:11:55.289 who God is. He's pretty awesome. Very great, 00:11:55.389 --> 00:11:57.169 as the psalmist said at the very beginning of 00:11:57.169 --> 00:12:00.129 this psalm. God, I see that you are really great, 00:12:00.250 --> 00:12:02.950 God. You created all this stuff. That's pretty 00:12:02.950 --> 00:12:06.529 phenomenal. So if God created all this stuff, 00:12:06.710 --> 00:12:10.789 God created us, and God loved us enough to send 00:12:10.789 --> 00:12:14.929 Jesus to die for our sins, and God gives us his 00:12:14.929 --> 00:12:17.730 commands through Scripture and through the words 00:12:17.730 --> 00:12:21.129 and the teachings of Jesus, if that great God 00:12:21.129 --> 00:12:24.389 did all of that, then maybe he's worth a little 00:12:24.389 --> 00:12:29.330 bit of our time to focus on. We probably spend 00:12:29.330 --> 00:12:32.190 a lot of time meditating and thinking about all 00:12:32.190 --> 00:12:35.429 kinds of stuff. Probably spend a lot of time 00:12:35.429 --> 00:12:38.490 thinking about what other people say, listening 00:12:38.490 --> 00:12:41.029 to our favorite podcasts or our favorite news 00:12:41.029 --> 00:12:44.529 anchors. We may meditate on their words hours 00:12:44.529 --> 00:12:49.570 a day, but do we meditate on the Lord's words? 00:12:51.019 --> 00:12:55.039 And so the psalmist says, may my meditation be 00:12:55.039 --> 00:12:57.879 pleasing to him. Well, maybe that's a good prayer 00:12:57.879 --> 00:13:00.480 for us, that we would take a little moment throughout 00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:04.759 our day just to think about the Lord and think, 00:13:04.919 --> 00:13:06.879 hey, are the things that I'm focused on, are 00:13:06.879 --> 00:13:10.220 these things pleasing to God? Or are they just 00:13:10.220 --> 00:13:11.899 a distraction that's keeping me from hearing 00:13:11.899 --> 00:13:14.639 God? And sometimes we may find that that's the 00:13:14.639 --> 00:13:18.480 case. But the psalmist gives us a good instruction 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:22.480 here for us to follow. Let's pray. God, we come 00:13:22.480 --> 00:13:24.460 to you. I thank you for your greatness. I thank 00:13:24.460 --> 00:13:26.460 you for the beauty of all that you make. And 00:13:26.460 --> 00:13:30.600 help us all to just see your greatness through 00:13:30.600 --> 00:13:32.679 your creation, dear Lord. And just to rejoice 00:13:32.679 --> 00:13:35.419 in you, dear Lord. You're pretty awesome. And 00:13:35.419 --> 00:13:38.960 we just need to stop and acknowledge that sometimes, 00:13:39.240 --> 00:13:41.080 dear Lord. Maybe there are a lot of things that 00:13:41.080 --> 00:13:44.720 our mind focuses on that we just meditate on 00:13:44.720 --> 00:13:47.000 a lot of junk, dear Lord. We think about a lot 00:13:47.000 --> 00:13:50.940 of junk all day, every day. And I pray, dear 00:13:50.940 --> 00:13:53.620 Lord, that you just help us to take a step back, 00:13:53.679 --> 00:13:57.500 help us to fight for some of our brain space, 00:13:57.679 --> 00:14:00.759 dear Lord, to give you a little bit of that time 00:14:00.759 --> 00:14:05.320 to focus on you, dear Lord, to ask this same 00:14:05.320 --> 00:14:08.240 question, dear Lord, that we see in this song, 00:14:08.460 --> 00:14:11.659 to ask if our meditations are pleasing to you. 00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:14.120 Think about that, dear Lord. The things that 00:14:14.120 --> 00:14:15.740 we're doing, the things that we're thinking about, 00:14:15.799 --> 00:14:18.700 the things that we're focused on, are these things 00:14:18.700 --> 00:14:21.039 pleasing to you? Help us to see if they are, 00:14:21.080 --> 00:14:23.559 and if they're not, dear Lord, help us to see 00:14:23.559 --> 00:14:25.919 that as well. I pray that you would help us to 00:14:25.919 --> 00:14:28.600 see you, to seek you, to trust you, and to seek 00:14:28.600 --> 00:14:30.799 to please you in all we do. And I ask these things 00:14:30.799 --> 00:14:32.620 in Jesus' name. Amen.