Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

104:31-35 May I Ever Rejoice in the Lord's Works Like He Does. The key to the final section is the repeated "rejoice": may the Lord rejoice in his works (v. 31; i.e., the works he does in caring for his creation), and I rejoice in the Lord (v. 34; i.e., who shows such abundant generosity in his works). This meditation on God's bounty will be pleasing to him if the singing congregation can learn from it to admire and trust the Creator and Ruler of all, and to sing praise to him from the heart. Verse 35 is the only mention of human sin in the entire psalm, though the curse on sin is alluded to in v. 29. Sinners and the wicked are, as generally in the psalms, those who reject God's gracious rule and dwell in their rebellion. Such a moral condition of hardness against God is a blemish on God's good world; the prayer that they be consumed from the earth will be answered in God's good time. The purpose of this prayer in this context is not to foster hatred of human sinners but instead hatred of all sorts of sin that so stains and defiles God's good creation. The faithful will not want to be identified with such people, and will want their own lives to be more and more in tune with the goodness of God.