Psalm 104:27














These wait all upon thee, that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. All vegetable and animal life depends on appropriate food; and though sometimes the food is at the creature's hand, it usually has to be sought. God has arranged the economy of nature so that each creature is skilled to find its own food. The dependence of creation on the Creator may be made effective to an audience by an illustrative instance such as the following: The fox has sly and skilful movements; but it is not always noticed how God helps the fox apart from his cunning. The red colour of his coat is found to have a strangely paralyzing effect on his prey, so that they are quite unable to flee from him. The psalmist, in trying to raise high and adoring thoughts of the eternal King by examination of his kingdom, is especially impressed with the signs of the King's presence, interest, care, and providing everywhere. It is not a creation set going, and left to go; it is sustained, provided for, continually.

I. FOR LIFE WE ARE DEPENDENT ON GOD. God. wakens us from nightly sleep, and sets new time upon our store.

II. FOR RENEWED POWERS WE ARE DEPENDENT ON GOD. Yet how seldom we thank God for our sound minds!

III. FOR HEALTH WE ARE DEPENDENT ON GOD. Modern discoveries concerning the germs of disease that float around us and thrive within us, make us wonder that health is retained so well and so long.

IV. FOR FOOD WE ARE DEPENDENT ON GOD. Since he gives us the means to get it, and provides it for us, year by year, as the harvest of his earth. Visiting the Zoological Gardens, and noticing the variety of creatures, and the variety of food required to meet the needs and daily conditions of each one, we were set wondering over the Divine response to the dependence of all living things, he giveth "them," each one, "their meat" - that which is precisely suitable for each one - in due season, or whenever the need of each one really rises into a cry. "Our sufficiency is of God." Dependence on him meets with response from him, which claims our thankfulness and our service. - R.T.

These wait all upon Thee; that Thou mayest give them their meat in due season.
Often the poet, rather than the scientist, is the true interpreter of nature. Mystic links which the scientist kens not, bind the universe to God. The devout poet hears God in the thunder; sees His touch on the smoking volcano; beholds His glory in sun and stars; hears the trees clapping their hands before Him: and, listening to the sounds of want and woe rising from a travailing creation, catches the accents of a universal prayer; while, in the provision made for every living thing he sees the bountiful answer from the opened hand of Deity.

I. UNIVERSAL DEPENDENCE. "These all wait upon Thee," etc. We are dependent for life and all the good of life upon circumstances beyond our control. Earth, air, water, warmth, light, all so necessary, may all become destructive. They are all under law; but God Himself made and enforces their laws. The universe is an embodied thought of Deity, the product of His will: it runs its course sustained by the power which called it into being. The Creator is the Sustainer; the Alpha is the Omega of existence.

II. UNIVERSAL PRAYER. "The eyes of all wait upon Thee," etc. Want looks up into the face of fulness. The sight of want and woe is a prayer to the bountiful. A drooping plant, a pining cat, or a crying babe, appeals to us all the more powerfully, because the appeal is inarticulate. Now, God is intimately connected with all forms of life, and perfectly understands the language of all His creatures. He sees the thirsty earth pining for rain; He hears the cry of the young ravens and roar of the lions (Jonah 3:7, 8; Jonah 4:11). But it is reserved to man as the high priest of Nature, to understand both his own wants and those of the lower creation; and to voice those needs in the heaven-taught prayer, "Our Father, give us this day our daily bread."

III. UNIVERSAL SUPPLY. Thou openest Thy hand — the hand of infinite power, wisdom, benevolence, love — and the rain falls, the sun shines, the earth yields her fruit, "the pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered over with corn," and the desire of every living thing is satisfied. How pleasantly He prepares the table in our sight. He spreads His cloth of green: He decks it with the bloom of innumerable flowers: He permits us to watch, while His servants, the Laws of Nature, gather out of the dewdrop, the sunbeam, the atmosphere and the earth, the raw material which they compound into living food. Gradually earth is laden with the bounty of heaven. Food and decoration are here in rich profusion and golden glory. Man and beast alike are satisfied with the hospitality dispensed by the great Father of all. So also has He spread and richly furnished the Gospel table in our sight; so that we may in His Word trace the whole process of preparation: and now, for our soul's needs it is our privilege to gather what He has given.

(C. O. EIdridge, B.A.)

I. HIS MUNIFICENCE TO HIS CREATURES IS GENERAL. Consider —

1. How large a family He provides for.

2. The variety of the provisions which He makes.

3. The regularity with which all is provided.

4. The abundance which He provides for all.

5. The ease with which tie distributes the provisions.

6. He does all this gratuitously.

II. HIS SPECIAL GENEROSITY TO MAN. This is seen —

1. In His preparing the earth to bring forth fruit to the service of man.

2. In His unremitting supervision of the earth.

3. In that all the gifts bestowed upon others are intended for man's benefit.

4. In that He makes provision for man's soul.

(D. Roberts, D.D.)

On the pampas, whenever grasshoppers, mice, frogs, or crickets become excessively abundant, we confidently look for the appearance of multitudes of the birds that prey on them... It is plain that these birds have been drawn from over an immense area to one spot; and the question is how have they been drawn? Many large birds possessing great powers of flight are, when not occupied with the business of propagation, incessantly wandering from place to place in search of food. They are not, as a rule, regular migrants, for their wanderings begin and end irrespective of seasons, and where they find abundance they remain the whole year. They fly at a very great height, and traverse immense distances. When the favourite food of any one of these species is plentiful in any particular region all the individuals that discover it remain, and attract to them all of their kind passing overhead. This happens on the pampas with the stork, the short-eared owl, the hooded gull, and the dominican or black-backed gull — the leading species among the feathered nomads: a few first appear like harbingers; these are presently joined by newcomers in considerable numbers, and before long they are in myriads.

(Hudson.)

After a world of hungry men have fed upon Christ, He remains inexhaustible as at the beginning; like the bread in His own miracles, of which the pieces that were broken and ready to be given to the eaters were more than the original stock as it appeared when the meal began. Or like the fabled meal in the Norse Walhalla, which the gods sat down to to-day, and to-morrow there it is, all on the board, as abundant and full as ever.

(A. Maclaren, D.D.)

So manifold are the aspects of God's infinite sufficiency, that every soul, in every possible variety of circumstance, will find there just what will suit it. That deep fountain is like some of those fabled springs which gave forth whatsoever precious draught any thirsty lips asked.

(A. Maclaren, D. D.)

People
Psalmist
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Due, Mayest, Meat, Season, Wait, Waiting
Outline
1. A meditation upon the mighty power
7. And wonderful providence of God
31. God's glory is eternal
33. The prophet vows perpetually to praise God

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Psalm 104:27

     4017   life, animal and plant

Psalm 104:1-35

     4007   creation, and God
     8662   meditation

Psalm 104:14-27

     4065   orderliness

Psalm 104:19-27

     1305   God, activity of

Psalm 104:27-28

     1330   God, the provider
     1355   providence
     5167   mouth
     5341   hunger

Library
The Glory of the Trinity
Eversley, 1868. St Mary's Chester, 1871. Trinity Sunday. Psalm civ. 31, 33. "The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever: The Lord shall rejoice in his works. I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being." This is Trinity Sunday, on which we think especially of the name of God. A day which, to a wise man, may well be one of the most solemn, and the most humiliating days of the whole year. For is it not humiliating to look stedfastly,
Charles Kingsley—All Saints' Day and Other Sermons

A Whitsun Sermon
PSALM civ. 24, 27-30. O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches. . . . These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good. Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.
Charles Kingsley—Discipline and Other Sermons

Of Good Angels
"Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" Heb. 1:14. 1. Many of the ancient Heathens had (probably from tradition) some notion of good and evil angels. They had some conception of a superior order of beings, between men and God, whom the Greeks generally termed demons, (knowing ones,) and the Romans, genii. Some of these they supposed to be kind and benevolent, delighting in doing good; others, to be malicious and cruel, delighting in
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

Lessons from Nature
This prejudice against the beauties of the material universe reminds me of the lingering love to Judaism, which acted like a spell upon Peter of old. When the sheet knit at the four corners descended before him, and the voice said, "Rise, Peter; kill, and eat," he replied that he had not eaten anything that was common or unclean. He needed that the voice should speak to him from heaven again and again before he would fully learn the lesson, "What God hath cleansed that call not thou common." The
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871

Meditation on God
NOTE: This edition of this sermon is taken from an earlier published edition of Spurgeon's 1858 message. The sermon that appears in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vol. 46, was edited and abbreviated somewhat. For edition we have restored the fuller text of the earlier published edition, while retaining a few of the editorial refinements of the Met Tab edition. "My meditation of him shall be sweet."--Psalm 104:34. DAVID, certainly, was not a melancholy man. Eminent as he was for his piety and
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 46: 1900

Seventh Sunday after Trinity. O Lord, How Manifold are Thy Works; in Wisdom Hast Thou Made them All; the Earth is Full of Thy Riches.
O Lord, how manifold are Thy works; in wisdom hast Thou made them all; the earth is full of Thy riches. Geh aus, mein Herz, und suche Freud [104]Paul Gerhardt. 1659. trans. by Catherine Winkworth, 1855 Go forth, my heart, and seek delight In all the gifts of God's great might, These pleasant summer hours: Look how the plains for thee and me Have decked themselves most fair to see, All bright and sweet with flowers. The trees stand thick and dark with leaves, And earth o'er all here dust now weaves
Catherine Winkworth—Lyra Germanica: The Christian Year

The Confessions of St. Augustin Index of Subjects
Abraham's bosom, 131 and note, [1]192 (note) Academics Augustin has a leaning towards the philosophy of the, [2]86 they doubted everything, [3]86, [4]88 Academies, the three, [5]86 (note) Actions of the patriarchs, [6]65 Adam averted death by partaking of the tree of life, [7]73 (note) the first and second, [8]162 (note) Adeodatus, Augustin's son helps his father in writing The Master, [9]134 and note he is baptized by Ambrose, [10]134 (note) Adversity the blessing of the New Testament, prosperity
St. Augustine—The Confessions and Letters of St

O Worship the King, all Glorious Above
[978]Hanover: William Croft, 1708 Psalm 104 Robert Grant, 1833 O Worship the King, all glorious above! O gratefully sing his power and his love! Our shield and defender, the Ancient of days, Pavilioned in splendor, and girded with praise. O tell of his might! O sing of his grace! Whose robe is the light, whose canopy space. His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form, And dark is his path on the wings of the storm. The earth, with its store of wonders untold, Almighty, thy power hath founded
Various—The Hymnal of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the USA

The Knowledge of God Conspicuous in the Creation, and Continual Government of the World.
1. The invisible and incomprehensible essence of God, to a certain extent, made visible in his works. 2. This declared by the first class of works--viz. the admirable motions of the heavens and the earth, the symmetry of the human body, and the connection of its parts; in short, the various objects which are presented to every eye. 3. This more especially manifested in the structure of the human body. 4. The shameful ingratitude of disregarding God, who, in such a variety of ways, is manifested within
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

How to Use the Present Life, and the Comforts of It.
The divisions of this chapter are,--I. The necessity and usefulness of this doctrine. Extremes to be avoided, if we would rightly use the present life and its comforts, sec. 1, 2. II. One of these extremes, viz, the intemperance of the flesh, to be carefully avoided. Four methods of doing so described in order, sec. 3-6. 1. BY such rudiments we are at the same time well instructed by Scripture in the proper use of earthly blessings, a subject which, in forming a scheme of life, is by no mean to be
Archpriest John Iliytch Sergieff—On the Christian Life

The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit as Revealed in his Names.
At least twenty-five different names are used in the Old and New Testaments in speaking of the Holy Spirit. There is the deepest significance in these names. By the careful study of them, we find a wonderful revelation of the Person and work of the Holy Spirit. I. The Spirit. The simplest name by which the Holy Spirit is mentioned in the Bible is that which stands at the head of this paragraph--"The Spirit." This name is also used as the basis of other names, so we begin our study with this.
R. A. Torrey—The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit

The Creaturely Man.
"The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life."-- Job xxxiii. 4. The Eternal and Ever-blessed God comes into vital touch with the creature by an act proceeding not from the Father nor from the Son, but from the Holy Spirit. Translated by sovereign grace from death unto life, God's children are conscious of this divine fellowship; they know that it consists not in inward agreement of disposition or inclination, but in the mysterious touch of God upon their spiritual
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Of Confirmation.
It is surprising that it should have entered any one's mind to make a Sacrament of Confirmation out of that laying on of hands which Christ applied to little children, and by which the apostles bestowed the Holy Spirit, ordained presbyters, and healed the sick; as the Apostle writes to Timothy: "Lay hands suddenly on no man." (1 Tim. v. 22.) Why not also make a confirmation out of the sacrament of bread, because it is written: "And when he had received meat, he was strengthened" (Acts ix. 19); or
Martin Luther—First Principles of the Reformation

The Christian's Peace and the Christian's Consistency
PHILIPPIANS i. 21-30 He will be spared to them--Spiritual wealth of the paragraph--Adolphe Monod's exposition--Charles Simeon's testimony--The equilibrium and its secret--The intermediate bliss--He longs for their full consistency--The "gift" of suffering Ver. 21. +For to me, to live is Christ+; the consciousness and experiences of living, in the body, are so full of Christ, my supreme Interest, that CHRIST sums them all up; +and to die+, the act of dying,[1] +is gain+, for it will usher me in
Handley C. G. Moule—Philippian Studies

The Principle of Life in the Creature.
"By His Spirit He hath garnished the heavens; His hand hath formed the crooked serpent."-- Job xxvi. 13. We have seen that the work of the Holy Spirit consists in leading all creation to its destiny, the final purpose of which is the glory of God. However, God's glory in creation appears in various degrees and ways. An insect and a star, the mildew on the wall and the cedar on Lebanon, a common laborer and a man like Augustine, are all the creatures of God; yet how dissimilar they are, and how varied
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Epistle xvii. To Felix, Bishop of Messana.
To Felix, Bishop of Messana. To our most reverend brother, the Bishop Felix, Gregory, servant of the servants of God [246] . Our Head, which is Christ, to this end has willed us to be His members, that through His large charity and faithfulness He might make us one body in Himself, to whom it befits us so to cling that, since without Him we can do nothing, through Him we may be enabled to be what we are called. From the citadel of the Head let nothing divide us, lest, if we refuse to be His members,
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

The Host of Heaven and of Earth.
"The Spirit of God hath made me."--Job xxxiii. 4. Understanding somewhat the characteristic note of the work of the Holy Spirit, let us see what this work was and is and shall be. The Father brings forth, the Son disposes and arranges, the Holy Spirit perfects. There is one God and Father of whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ through whom are all things; but what does the Scripture say of the special work the Holy Spirit did in creation and is still doing? For the sake of order we examine
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Blessed are the Poor in Spirit
Having spoken of the general notion of blessedness, I come next to consider the subjects of this blessedness, and these our Saviour has deciphered to be the poor in spirit, the mourners, etc. But before I touch upon these, I shall attempt a little preface or paraphrase upon this sermon of the beatitudes. 1 Observe the divinity in this sermon, which goes beyond all philosophy. The philosophers use to say that one contrary expels another; but here one contrary begets another. Poverty is wont to expel
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

The Work of the Holy Spirit in the Material Universe.
There are many who think of the work of the Holy Spirit as limited to man. But God reveals to us in His Word that the Holy Spirit's work has a far wider scope than this. We are taught in the Bible that the Holy Spirit has a threefold work in the material universe. I. The creation of the material universe and of man is effected through the agency of the Holy Spirit. We read in Ps. xxxiii. 6, "By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth." We
R. A. Torrey—The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit

How those are to be Admonished with whom Everything Succeeds According to their Wish, and those with whom Nothing Does.
(Admonition 27.) Differently to be admonished are those who prosper in what they desire in temporal matters, and those who covet indeed the things that are of this world, but yet are wearied with the labour of adversity. For those who prosper in what they desire in temporal matters are to be admonished, when all things answer to their wishes, lest, through fixing their heart on what is given, they neglect to seek the giver; lest they love their pilgrimage instead of their country; lest they turn
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

The Deity of the Holy Spirit.
In the preceding chapter we have seen clearly that the Holy Spirit is a Person. But what sort of a Person is He? Is He a finite person or an infinite person? Is He God? This question also is plainly answered in the Bible. There are in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments five distinct and decisive lines of proof of the Deity of the Holy Spirit. I. Each of the four distinctively Divine attributes is ascribed to the Holy Spirit. What are the distinctively Divine attributes? Eternity, omnipresence,
R. A. Torrey—The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit

The Wisdom of God
The next attribute is God's wisdom, which is one of the brightest beams of the Godhead. He is wise in heart.' Job 9:9. The heart is the seat of wisdom. Cor in Hebraeo sumitur pro judicio. Pineda. Among the Hebrews, the heart is put for wisdom.' Let men of understanding tell me:' Job 34:44: in the Hebrew, Let men of heart tell me.' God is wise in heart, that is, he is most wise. God only is wise; he solely and wholly possesses all wisdom; therefore he is called, the only wise God.' I Tim 1:17. All
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

On the Symbols of the Essence' and Coessential. '
We must look at the sense not the wording. The offence excited is at the sense; meaning of the Symbols; the question of their not being in Scripture. Those who hesitate only at coessential,' not to be considered Arians. Reasons why coessential' is better than like-in-essence,' yet the latter may be interpreted in a good sense. Explanation of the rejection of coessential' by the Council which condemned the Samosatene; use of the word by Dionysius of Alexandria; parallel variation in the use of Unoriginate;
Athanasius—Select Works and Letters or Athanasius

Covenanting Enforced by the Grant of Covenant Signs and Seals.
To declare emphatically that the people of God are a covenant people, various signs were in sovereignty vouchsafed. The lights in the firmament of heaven were appointed to be for signs, affording direction to the mariner, the husbandman, and others. Miracles wrought on memorable occasions, were constituted signs or tokens of God's universal government. The gracious grant of covenant signs was made in order to proclaim the truth of the existence of God's covenant with his people, to urge the performance
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

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