Psalm 104:24-26, 30-31

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. . .

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,[1]

Take a few minutes to pray silently and ask the Holy Spirit to cultivate the soil of your heart for truly hearing His words.  Then, read the above passage twice through slowly.  Before jumping into the description below, what is the Spirit “describing” in you?  What words or phrases stick out?  What does this metaphor stimulate in your imagination of God, of self, of the world? Ponder this first and offer it back to the Lord in prayer. 

In a seemingly strange reference, we see here the Psalmist describing the sneaky sea creature/monster Leviathan as playing in the sea.  We are used to this type of mythical reference in association with God’s victory over darkness and evil forces (Pharoah in Ezek 32:2, Psalm 74:13-15, Isaiah 27:1, Rev 12:7).  However, here, we have a seemingly sinister sea monster. . . restfully romping in the water?  Playing?  He is not being defeated or overcome.  He is a picture of creation peacefully enjoying God’s created order.  Look at our context, in a parallel nod to day 5 of God’s Genesis creation progression, the Psalmist turns to the sea.  However, this time he deliberately inserts ships into the picture. The dangerous waters of judgment acting as “barriers” to land’s grounded-connectedness, are now being crossed (tamed) as highways.  The dark and daunting creatures of drowning death below have apparently been formed to frolic- created by God’s Spirit to play!  It is here we see both a foreshadow and reflection of God’s rejoicing in his works of creation and the redemption and freedom of Christ and His coming kingdom (31).  It is play that cues our hearts towards God’s delight in His creation.  And if he delights so in the delight and play of even his “monsters” of the sea, how much more must He delight in you’all, as the apple of his eye (Ps 17:8, Zach 2:8, Prov 7:2)?

Prayerful pondering

  • How has Christ’s healing and victory freed me to play. . .even in the seemingly daunting and dangerous areas of my life? If you are still waiting for this freedom, pray into this? 
  • What are some works of God in your life that help you to marvel at/with God? Do you have space in your life to play in them? 
  • What image is the Spirit creating in your imagination around God’s invitation to join Him in His delight in you as His most marvelous work?

Incarnate/Embody

  • Are there daunting barriers (like the sea) that God may be calling you to sail across in order to experience more of Him? What Spirit-empowered steps could you take today towards this?  Are their barriers/limits (like the fruit of the tree) that God may be calling you to acknowledge and maybe even live within more completely. . . maybe a call to rest, resist, or refrain?  Ask the Spirit for the wisdom and courage to know the difference between the two. 

We generally think of play as “disorderly,” but here we have play as a signifier of God’s intended order of all creation.  What would orderly-play mean or look like for you and your closest family/community today and this week.  Make a plan to play it and pray it together!

 

[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ps 104:24–31.