Psalms 104:20,21

Psalms 104:20

I. Consider, with respect and admiration, the manful, cheerful view of pain and death, and indeed of the whole creation, which the psalmist has, because he has faith. There is in him no sentimentalism, no complaining of God, no impious, or at least weak and peevish, cry of "Why hast Thou made all things thus?" He sees the mystery of pain and death. He does not attempt to explain it, but he faces it faces it cheerfully and manfully, in the strength of his faith, saying, This, too, mysterious, painful, terrible, as it may seem, is as it should be, for it is of the law and will of God, from whom come all good things, of the God in whom is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. Therefore to the psalmist the earth is a noble sight, filled to his eyes with the fruit of God's works. What impresses his mind is just what would impress the mind of a modern poet, a modern man of science; namely, the wonderful variety, richness, and strangeness of its living things. He perceives, with the instinct of a true poet and a true philosopher, "These all wait upon Thee, O God, that Thou mayest give them meat in due season."

II. Then he goes further still. He has looked into the face of life innumerable. Now he looks into the face of innumerable death, and sees there too the spirit and the work of God. "Thou hidest Thy face; they are troubled. Thou takest away their breath; they die, and are turned again to their dust." The psalmist's God was not merely a strong God or a wise God, but a good God, and a gracious God, and a just God, likewise a God who not only made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that therein is, but who keepeth His promise for ever, who helpeth them to right who suffer wrong, and feedeth the hungry. It is this magnificent conception of God's living and actual goodness and justice which the psalmist had which made him trust God about all the strange and painful things which he saw in the world.

C. Kingsley, Westminster Sermons,p. 205.