Psalm 104:27–30 teach us that God is not the great Absent One, but the great Present One.
The author does not want to know about a closed worldview, in which everything happens without God’s involvement. On the contrary, all his creatures are entirely dependent on him.
Of course, they themselves must make an effort for this. Predators must leave their dens and hunt for prey, and birds must leave their nests to look for seeds and insects. However, all these activities do not minimize God’s continuing care. He lets predators find their prey. Birds discover where they can find insects. The grass grows in the fields, but in all of this, our God, as the heavenly Father of our earthly home is actively engaged with his creation (see Psalm 145:15, Psalm 147:9).
It is quite significant, that verse 28 ends with the word tob, which indicates that it is ”good” what God is doing here. He cares in a very fitting manner for all his creatures (compare with God’s reaction after the days of creation: Genesis 1:10, Genesis 1:12, Genesis 1:18, Genesis 1:21, Genesis 1:25, Genesis 1:31—it was good
).
Jesus surely had this in mind when he said, Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
(Matthew 6:26). God’s good care for his creation is, for us, proof that he will certainly take care of people and give them all they need.
27 These all look to you, to give them their food in due season.