Psalm 19
It’s an interesting thing when you look at children and compare them to their parents. It could be the way they look, or the way that they act. I’m very thankful when I look at my girls that I see Jade. However, if you’ve been around my youngest, and you know me at all, you’ll know that she has inherited much of my personality, which to be quite honest with you, scares me a little bit. But you can observe my children and see glimpses of Jade and I in them. This is how it typically works with children and their parents.
One of the things that blows my mind the most when thinking about the Big Bang Theory is the idea that being out in creation, observing some of the most incredible aspects of it, the billions of stars in the sky on a clear night, the enormous mountain ranges and incredible depths of the oceans, the wildlife, humanity…it blows my mind that anyone can observe the natural world and not consider that all of it is begging for a Creator.
As we kick off our summer series in the Psalms, I want us all to just bask in the glory of the Lord. I want us to see the beauty of God in creation, and be moved to awe and praise. I want us to see how Scripture illuminates the nature of God, and how it restores and breathes life into us. This morning in Psalm 19 we are going to look at how God reveals Himself to us in His creation, as well as through His Word.
Read Psalm 19
Revelation in Creation (1-6)
There are a lot of things in life that I love, and I’ve shared a lot of that with you. One of the greatest things that captures my heart with the beauty of the Lord, besides my wife and children, is standing in the midst of God’s creation. It can be standing on a boat watching a glacier break apart into the sea, or even just a few weeks ago we were driving home and I was captured by the enormity of the moon. It appeared huge in the sky as the sun was retreating behind the trees. There’s this childlike wonder that I feel when I experience God’s creation. I don’t know if you’re like this or not, maybe that’s just one of the things that makes me weird, but there’s this awe that overwhelms me when I consider the truth of the creator and sustainer of everything I see.
This is what it seems that David was captured by looking into the sky and being moved by the beauty of His creator. Perhaps it was early in the morning and the sky was still dark, and David sat as the sun started peeking over the horizon, and in that moment he was moved to write a psalm of praise. Here’s what we see:
A. Creation Shouts Continually (2)
Day to day and night to night. In other words 24/7, nonstop, creation is pouring out speech and revealing knowledge. It is declaring and proclaiming. It is shouting. It isn’t a whisper. It isn’t a secret. But this isn’t a verbal message. Creation is not audibly speaking to us, like those wild folks that speak to the trees, but it is speaking to us. It’s saying something. It’s revealing something. Better yet, it’s revealing someone. And here’s the cool thing about this message.
B. The Message is Global (3-4)
There is nowhere that the message is not heard. This is what we call Natural Revelation (general revelation). This is God revealing Himself through His creation to all of humanity. The message goes out to all the world, vs. 4, to the end of the world!
Paul talks about this in Romans 1:18-20, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”
For example, the sun. What does a bridegroom make you think of? Joy? Anticipation? Radiance? The sun rises, joy, radiance, perhaps anticipation for the day ahead. And it runs its course with joy, like a strong man, with great strength. We know of course that it’s because of the Earth’s rotation that it appears the sun is moving across the sky, but the truth is that God set the sun in place, and like the faithfulness of God, we can count on the sun rising and setting every single day. We can count on it’s heat. We can feel it’s warmth. But the point David is making is that this is a universal truth. Everybody in the world has access to the sun. Whether short days or long day, the sun will rise and set at every point across the world. So what is it proclaiming? It is proclaiming the glory of God!
C. The Message is the Glory of God (1)
Creation is revealing the glory of God. Creation is proclaiming His handiwork. It reveals His power, His beauty, His faithfulness, His care, His imagination, His attention to detail, His creativity, His goodness, His wisdom, His sovereignty. Creation reveals Creator God. When we consider this, and slow down sometimes to take it in, it will speak to us, and the message it brings is about the glory of God. But this isn’t the only way that we can get to know God.
Revelation in His Word (7-10)
David transitions from talking about creation to talking about the Scriptures. At this point, David only would have had bits and pieces of the Pentateuch, the first 5 books of the Old Testament. He has the books of the Law. But what he says about the Scriptures translates to the entirety of Scripture. What he says is true of every word contained in this Word. Here’s what he says, followed by the benefit for the reader. In each of these I want Scripture to be a sufficient proof-text:
A. Perfect / Reviving the Soul
Jeremiah 31:25 - “For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.”
Matthew 11:28-30 - “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
B. Sure / Making Wise the Simple
James 1:5 - “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”
Proverbs 2:6-7 - “For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;”
C. Right / Rejoicing the Heart
Isaiah 61:10 - I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”
Psalm 33:21 - “For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name.”
D. Pure / Enlightening the Eyes
Ephesians 1:16-19 - “I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe…”
The benefits of Scripture are endless. This is just a small taste of God’s revelation through His Word, and its effect on us. It is perfect. It is sure. It is right. It is pure. It is true. It is righteous.
Our Response (10-14)
In reflecting on the goodness of God through His Scriptures, David is moved to express his longing for more. “I’d rather have the riches found in your truth than any amount of gold. I’d rather taste of your goodness than the sweet taste of honey, even straight off the honeycomb.” I mean David is just praising God, longing for God, desperate for more of God.
Once again he makes a turn and talks about another effect that Scripture has on him. It reveals his sin. And so he is pleading for forgiveness. “Forgive me Lord! Reveal even those hidden sins that I don’t even realize are there! Keep me from them. Protect me from them. I want to walk closely to you. God let my words, my meditations, my thoughts, please you, Lord!” In considering God as he observes creation and thinks on the Scriptures, David is brought to a humble position of praise. God I just want to please you. I just want my life to please you. I am looking at your power and beauty in creation. I am looking at your character and nature in Scripture. I am looking at the effects that this has on my life. Oh God I just want my life to please you. This should be our response as well.
Clyde Kilby's Resolutions
At least once every day I shall look steadily up at the sky and remember that I, a consciousness with a conscience, am on a planet traveling in space with wonderfully mysterious things above me and about me.
Instead of the accustomed idea of a mindless and endless evolutionary change to which we can neither add nor subtract, I shall suppose the universe guided by an Intelligence which, as Aristotle said of Greek drama, requires a beginning, a middle and an end. I think this will save me from the cynicism expressed by Bertrand Russell before his death, when he said: "There is darkness without and when I die there will be darkness within. There is no splendour, no vastness anywhere, only triviality for a moment, and then nothing."
I shall not fall into the falsehood that this day, or any day, is merely another ambiguous and plodding twenty-four hours, but rather a unique event filled, if I so wish, with worthy potentialities. I shall not be fool enough to suppose that trouble and pain are wholly evil parentheses in my existence but just as likely ladders to be climbed toward moral and spiritual manhood.
I shall not demean my own uniqueness by envy of others. I shall stop boring into myself to discover what psychological or social categories I might belong to.
I shall open my eyes and ears. Once every day I shall simply stare at a tree, a flower, a cloud, or a person. I shall not then be concerned at all to ask what they are but simply be glad that they are. I shall joyfully allow them the mystery of what Lewis calls their "divine, magical, terrifying and ecstatic" existence.
I shall sometimes look back at the freshness of vision I had in childhood and try, at least for a little while, to be, in the words of Lewis Carroll, the "child of the pure unclouded brow, and dreaming eyes of wonder."
I shall follow Darwin's advice and turn frequently to imaginative things such as good literature and good music, preferably, as Lewis suggests, an old book and timeless music.
I shall not allow the devilish onrush of this century to usurp all my energies but will instead, as Charles Williams suggested, "fulfill the moment as the moment." I shall try to live well just now because the only time that exists is just now.
If for nothing more than the sake of a change of view, I shall assume my ancestry to be from the heavens rather than from the caves.
Even if I turn out to be wrong, I shall bet my life in the assumption that this world is not idiotic, neither run by an absentee landlord, but that today, this very day, some stroke is being added to the cosmic canvas that in due course I shall understand with joy as a stroke made by the architect who calls Himself Alpha and Omega.
