Psalm 104:1–35 (ESV): O Lord My God, You Are Very Great
104 Bless the Lord, O my soul!
O Lord my God, you are very great!
You are clothed with splendor and majesty,
2 covering yourself with light as with a garment,
stretching out the heavens like a tent.
3 He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters;
he makes the clouds his chariot;
he rides on the wings of the wind;
4 he makes his messengers winds,
his ministers a flaming fire.
5 He set the earth on its foundations,
so that it should never be moved.
6 You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
7 At your rebuke they fled;
at the sound of your thunder they took to flight.
8 The mountains rose, the valleys sank down
to the place that you appointed for them.
9 You set a boundary that they may not pass,
so that they might not again cover the earth.
10 You make springs gush forth in the valleys;
they flow between the hills;
11 they give drink to every beast of the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12 Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell;
they sing among the branches.
13 From your lofty abode you water the mountains;
the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.
14 You cause the grass to grow for the livestock
and plants for man to cultivate,
that he may bring forth food from the earth
15 and wine to gladden the heart of man,
oil to make his face shine
and bread to strengthen man’s heart.
16 The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
17 In them the birds build their nests;
the stork has her home in the fir trees.
18 The high mountains are for the wild goats;
the rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.
19 He made the moon to mark the seasons;
the sun knows its time for setting.
20 You make darkness, and it is night,
when all the beasts of the forest creep about.
21 The young lions roar for their prey,
seeking their food from God.
22 When the sun rises, they steal away
and lie down in their dens.
23 Man goes out to his work
and to his labor until the evening.
24 O Lord, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom have you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
25 Here is the sea, great and wide,
which teems with creatures innumerable,
living things both small and great.
26 There go the ships,
and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it.
27 These all look to you,
to give them their food in due season.
28 When you give it to them, they gather it up;
when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
29 When you hide your face, they are dismayed;
when you take away their breath, they die
and return to their dust.
30 When you send forth your Spirit, they are created,
and you renew the face of the ground.
31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
may the Lord rejoice in his works,
32 who looks on the earth and it trembles,
who touches the mountains and they smoke!
33 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him,
for I rejoice in the Lord.
35 Let sinners be consumed from the earth,
and let the wicked be no more!
Bless the Lord, O my soul!
Praise the Lord!
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My meditation of Him shall be sweet!
(William Nicholson, “HEAVEN!” 1855) LISTEN to audio! Download audio
(You will find it helpful to listen to the audio above, as you read the text below.)
(William Bridge, “The Sweetness and Profitableness of Divine Meditation”)
“My meditation of Him shall be sweet!” Psalm 104:34
By meditation . . .
your knowledge is raised;
your memory is strengthened;
your hearts are warmed;
you will be freed from sinful thoughts;
your hearts will be tuned to every duty;
you will grow in grace;
you will fill up all the chinks and crevices of your lives, and know how to spend your spare time and improve that for God;
you will draw good out of evil;
you will converse with God, have communion with God, and enjoy God.
And I ask, is not here profit enough to sweeten the voyage of your thoughts in meditation?
As meditation is the sister of reading, so it is the mother of prayer. Though a man’s heart is much indisposed to prayer, yet if he can but fall into meditation on God and the things of God–his heart will soon come off to prayer.
Begin with reading;
go on with meditation;
and end in prayer.
Reading without meditation is unfruitful;
meditation without reading is hurtful.
To meditate and to read without prayer upon both, is without blessing.
“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” Psalm 1:1-2
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Abba,
What a glory and wonder these words are from Psalm 104! What a glory and wonder it reveals about you, your majesty and beauty!
Forgive us for so often missing it! The beauty of the temporal, the shine of the imminent outshining and distracting us from the true glory of that which we do not see in fullness yet.
Douse the lesser lights, the closer lights, the demanding strobing lights of fleshly appeal and direct our gaze to the steady, constant, and unwavering light of Psalm 104.
Let our hearts be more enraptured and aroused by your glory than by fleshly passions. Let our hearts be so full of your light that all others go out.
Let our hearts ruminate and meditate deeply on you!
What a rich reward comes from such careful and purposeful deliberations!
Truth is found!
The mind is fortified and built up!
Eternal passions are awakened!
The bonds of sin and flesh are severed!
Your passion becomes our passion!
Even as the passion of another becomes ours when they elucidate it’s wonders, awakening excitement in us through their exposition, so also when we behold and dwell in your beauty, your passion becomes our passion! YOU become our passion. No longer is it the vocalized passion of another, it becomes our own.
Our desire for you and our intimacy with you is enlivened as we meditate deeply on truth and the revelation of your glory and as Your Spirit comes to bear upon our hearts!
Through a deep pondering and the moving of your Spirit, deep communion awakes!
And erupts!
In praise!
And into Prayer!
Into discourse with the one who is both the object and source of such desire!
I love these words!
As meditation is the sister of reading, so it is the mother of prayer. Though a man’s heart is much indisposed to prayer, yet if he can but fall into meditation on God and the things of God–his heart will soon come off to prayer.
A meaningful meditation that draws near to God erupts in discourse.
It must!
One cannot stare at true beauty and not complete the enjoyment of that beauty through praise and prayer, through proclamation! Your true beauty and worth compels such a response.
Why is there so little praise and prayer? In part, because there is so little meditation.
Reading and learning is not enough
Abba, we need hearts that meditate and complete the cycle.
Read, meditate, prayer and praise!
Lead us once more to this act of fellowship and intimacy.
Awaken our hearts once more to your glory and may we dwell richly there!
May our meditations of your word increase our enjoyment of you and set a ablaze our hearts in intimate pursuit of you!
We love you, Abba!
A Singular Passion 