These all look to you,
to give them their food in due season.
When you give it to them, they gather it up;
when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
When you hide your face, they are dismayed;
when you take away their breath, they die
and return to their dust.
When you send forth your Spirit, they are created,
and you renew the face of the ground.
Psalm 104:27-30
We see God's sovereignty in this psalm. The NICOT Commentary notes, "the entirety of creation... is ordered by the Creator God. Far from being a realm of chaos that falls outside of the Lord's providence, everything falls within the Lord's orderly creation... a trustworthy, discernible order in which food is provided in due season."
The psalmist rehearses the variety of God's creation, noting that all creation looks to God for its provision. All of His created order seems to understand that He is the provider of every good thing required. His open hand fills His creatures with good. Yet mankind so often seeks other resources to help in times of need.
I'm thankful for the many forms of practical help God has provided, but I'm also aware of the danger—and our propensity—to put our trust in something other than Him. We become accustomed to relying on the arm of the flesh and forget to look to the One who is the author and finisher of our lives.
We breathe by His breath. In verse 30, the Hebrew word translated “Spirit” is also the word used in the scriptures for “breath”.
“Then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature” (Genesis 2:7).
Every created thing has been made as God breathes out the word He speaks.
"For from Him everything comes,
Through Him everything lives,
And for Him everything exists."
Romans 11:36 (Williams Translation)
‘When you send forth your Spirit, they are created. ’ As we consider the work of the Holy Spirit, we cannot separate Him from the activity of God's breathing. At the very beginning of creation, in Genesis 1, we find the Spirit hovering over the face of the deep as God breathes out a word, creating. We find God breathing into the formed dust, and man becomes a living being. The conception of Jesus began with the Holy Spirit coming upon Mary. We learn from scripture that Jesus is the Spirit of Life.
Perhaps this is why the psalmist joins creation and renewal together. The breath of God is not only the source of life; it is the means by which He continually renews what He has made. The same Spirit who hovered over the waters, breathed life into Adam, and overshadowed Mary is still at work today, sustaining, renewing, and giving life. Every breath serves to remind us that we live in continual dependence upon Him.
May we never forget to look first to the One whose open hand provides every good gift and whose Spirit alone gives life.