The author of this psalm is not identified; however, it may have been David. First, the Old and New Testaments did not have chapter and/or verse divisions as we know them today; the divisions into chapters happened in 1227 A.D. by Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury. Second, this psalm starts just like Psalm 103, “Let all that I am Praise the Lord.” Based on these facts, I will assume Psalm 104 was also written by David.
In this psalm, David praised God for His creation of this world. He attributed the work of nature to be in God’s control. In verse 5, he wrote, “You placed the world on its foundation so it would never be moved.” David described the creation in poetic language in verses 2-4, but, when we compare it with Hebrews 1:7, we find it to be about the Lord Jesus Christ. John 1:1-3 states that God the Father used God the Son (Jesus) to create everything.
In verses 6-12, we find reference to the creation of today’s world. There are differences of opinion among today’s Christian conservatives; some believe in an old earth creation that was originally destroyed accounting for a gap of time between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. This theory came about in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s when Christian geologists discovered sites that pre-dated the 4004 B.C. timeline for creation proposed by Bishop Ussher. Other conservatives believe in a new creation date eliminating the gap theory from Genesis 1. They believe God created the world to appear older than it actually was. Both groups believe generally in the account described in Genesis; however, there are variant views among other Christians. There are some things we really can’t prove one way or the other; the apostle Paul described it as looking through a dirty window, but, he said one day we will know because we will see our Savior face to face.
But these resources God has provided are for our benefit. In our discoveries of some of these resources, we have created messes to our environment, but, as we have learned the consequences of our actions, we have produced technologies to stop the harm. We need to be good stewards of the resources God has given us, and we need to praise God as David did for His care for us.