The Works and the Word of God.
For the choir director. A Psalm of David.
19 The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.
2 Day to day pours forth speech,
And night to night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words;
Their voice is not heard.
4 Their [a]line has gone out through all the earth,
And their utterances to the end of the world.
In them He has placed a tent for the sun,
5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber;
It rejoices as a strong man to run his course.
6 Its rising is from [b]one end of the heavens,
And its circuit to the [c]other end of them;
And there is nothing hidden from its heat.7 The law of the Lord is [d]perfect, restoring the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
8 The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether.
10 They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.
11 Moreover, by them Your servant is warned;
In keeping them there is great reward.
12 Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults.
13 Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins;
Let them not rule over me;
Then I will be [e]blameless,
And I shall be acquitted of great transgression.
14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.
In the first part of this psalm, David laments that no one pays attention to the incredible things all around us. The very earth we live on, the wonders of the night sky, and the sun itself, are practically shouting the glory of God. Yet we look back to ourselves and say, “Oh, it’s just a big ball of burning gas…”
Yet in the second half, David seems to have changed course, saying the law of the Lord is perfect, sure, right, and pure, and we nod and say, “yup, sure, you betcha, got it.” The next adjective is “clean”, and you might say this is just a fluke of translation, because of course that’s just another word for pure. But is it? Or does it bely the truth of what David is trying to emphasize.
Which is that even God’s law shows his glory and wisdom. It’s easy to dismiss the Old Testament law as outdated and archaic, but take another look. It’s practical, and useful, it protected the Israelites and yes, even kept them “clean”. Not just sparkly fresh, because we would have called them smelly and disgusting by our modern standards of hygiene. But the law of God literally contained instructions to help them avoid disease, from mold and mildew to yeast, bacteria, and even the dreaded leprosy.
Some four millennia before scientists would discover there might be such a thing as bacteria, God gave them the law. Not just to burden them with a ton of rules, but to keep them safe and to teach them the best way to live. Lets shift gears into the world of finance, and the best advice you could ever get, is still from the Old Testament writings. For all our fancy algorithms and get-rich-quick schemes, no one can beat God’s advice.
So yes, the world isn’t just telling us of about God, it’s screaming at the top of its lungs (if it had lungs). We would do well to stop, and listen. Take your eyes off yourself for five seconds, and see what is all around you. There’s an entire world that God built for us–not just to say, “My that’s pretty!”, but to show us who God is, to draw us to himself. The whole thing, the whole “show”, as you might say, is leading to one place, one glorious reveal, of the nature and glory of God himself.
And to think, in this world, we see only as “in a darkened mirror”, but someday we will see His face. Wow, just stop and think of that for a minute. Let God peel back the blinders of our life, let Him show you a glimpse of who He is, and let Him change your life and your world, forever.