If you are a fan of courtroom dramas, you recognize the phrase “circumstantial evidence.” While the direct evidence of an eyewitness account or the forensic evidence of a DNA match are stronger in proving a case, circumstantial evidence is an effort to offer one or more facts from which a jury can infer the truth. When multiple facts are proven, this evidence can also find the answer if the argument is sufficient enough to help the jury connect the dots.

Psalm 104 reads like a presentation of circumstantial evidence, proving the truth of Genesis 1 about creation and the Creator. There are no eyewitnesses to creation. No forensic evidence can prove that God was there. Yet we see God in everything around us; the waters that flow and nourish the land, and the land that then grows to provide grass, plants, and food for humanity. We can connect the dots and easily prove that God created all of this for us as our sovereign Provider.

Psalm 104 (Common English Bible)

You put gushing springs into dry riverbeds.
    They flow between the mountains,
¹¹         providing water for every wild animal—
        the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
¹² Overhead, the birds in the sky make their home,
    chirping loudly in the trees.
¹³ From your lofty house, you water the mountains.
    The earth is filled full by the fruit of what you’ve done.
¹⁴ You make grass grow for cattle;
    you make plants for human farming
        in order to get food from the ground,
¹⁵         and wine, which cheers people’s hearts,
        along with oil, which makes the face shine,
        and bread, which sustains the human heart.

In God’s good, harmonious world, the wild and thirsty donkey can drink freely of good clean water. This fellow lives in the most desolate part of the wilderness, yet he is well taken care of by God. The birds sing their praise from the high, healthy trees and flourish on earth. Cows eat clean grass and humanity feasts on oil, bread, and wine. All is right in God’s world.

This passage challenges us on two levels. We can’t help but notice the perfection of God’s creation. What have we done? We have polluted and destroyed much of what we’ve been given. We have turned over pristine lands to development and forced God’s creatures out of their habitats. We have allowed greed to triumph over ecological balance and turned our backs on God’s desire that we would be good stewards of all of creation. We have squandered our gift.

On a happier note, this also challenges our routine, or lack thereof, of praising God. Psalm 104 was written by David as a praise song. Verse 12 tells us that the birds nest by the waters and sing among the branches. If even the birds know to praise God, why can’t we? 

If your life of daily praise, weekly worship, and constant caretaking of God’s creation was offered as circumstantial evidence of your Christianity, would there be enough proof to convict you of being a Christ-follower?

We’ve got to do better. It is our job to be constantly vigilant and relentlessly grateful for what we have been entrusted with. What do you need to do to change your ways so that your life is a reflection of your gratitude for all that God has given you?

Flow Between the Mountains by Becca Ziegler