God created the world to be inhabited (Isaiah 45:18 NASB). And from His throne, He watches over all the world as creator and caretaker. Some claim God is like a watchmaker, who created the time piece, winds the machine, and then steps back and observes it tick. But this cannot be.
Psalm 104 declares that God not only “established” (v.5) and “set” (v.9) in creation, but He also “causes” (v.14), “give[s]” (v.28), and “take[s]” (v.29) in preservation. These verbs are rendered in present tense, not past.
God looks over and cares for His creation in the present. And not only this, but He cares for all matters under the sun, from the greatest geopolitical issues to the subatomic world unseen. There is no matter too great or too small for this God, who is all in all (1 Cor 15:28). All, from greatest to least, is for His glory in creation, preservation, and salvation (Ps 104:27-35). And, this includes you. Did you know that?
Psalm 104 tells us that the animals all “seek their food from God” (Ps 104:21). And that, He “give[s] them their food in due season” so that they may “gather it up” (Ps 104:27f).
So, why do we act differently? We, the pinnacle of creation, who have been created in the image of God and not in the image of an animal, who have been graciously endowed with both a mind and reason, that we may know our God and Creator personally and rationally, why do we of all creation act differently? Why do we, who have been blessed by God with a nearness to the Creator that the animal kingdom will never know, act like we have a lesser relationship with Him who supplies all things for all His creatures? Why? The answer is: sin.
There are but two roads in this yellow wood (Robert Frost’s “The Road not Taken.”) Psalm 104 tells of two roads, the road to righteousness and the road to ruin (vv. 34, 35). Turn to God in repentance of sin. Ask Him to forgive and save you from the destruction of the last verse of this psalm, this road to ruin. And He will. He will set you on the road of righteousness (Ps 23:3). He, himself, will personally guide you there (Ps 23:1). Choose this road, “the one less traveled by” and it will make all the difference (Frost).
(Jeremy Breland is a farmer in Ruffin and a M.Div. student at Southern Seminary. He can be reached at jbreland572@gmail.com.)
