Psalm 19- The Heavens Declare

Psalm 19- The Heavens Declare

Psalms 19:1-7

1 For the music director; a psalm of David.

The heavens declare the glory of God;

the sky displays his handiwork.

2 Day after day it speaks out;

night after night it reveals his greatness.

3 There is no actual speech or word,

nor is its voice literally heard.

4 t its voice echoes throughout the earth;

its words carry to the distant horizon.

In the sky he has pitched a tent for the sun.

5 Like a bridegroom it emerges from its chamber;

like a strong man it enjoys running its course.

6 It emerges from the distant horizon,

and goes from one end of the sky to the other;

nothing can escape its heat.

7 The law of the LORD is perfect

and preserves oneʼs life.

The rules set down by the LORD are reliable

and impart wisdom to the inexperienced.

Psalms 19:14

May my words and my thoughts

be acceptable in your sight,

O LORD, my sheltering rock and my redeemer.

Romans 1:18

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

Romans 1:22

Professing to be wise, they became fools,

I was educated as a scientist, so this psalm has special meaning to me. It has been my life work to understand how things work and to bring order out of chaos. A scientist investigates the physical world, proposes theories of of how things logically work, and then tests these theories against reality with experiments. This is the scientific method (loosely described). in order to make sense out of the world, a true scientist must start with the faith that the world makes sense, that things happen with a precise mathematical order. Otherwise there is only chaos and no theory or mathematical formula can describe it. (setting aside chaos theory for the time being!)

The psalmist tells us that this is so because the heavens declare the glory of God. The order in the heavens does not declare an uncaring chaos, though some would say they believe that without ever explaining how such beautiful order can come out of chaos by chance. Darwin was desperate to prove that there can be an orderly world without God, so he came up with his theory of evolution. Scientists have embraced this theory and have expanded it ever since, but they still can not answer the question of why life should randomly come out of a chaotic soup of chemicals or what came before the big bang and why was suddenly everything created out of nothing! Only faith in a creator can explain why there is order in the universe and why everything in the environment of the Earth is optimized for human life. Of course the scientist would respond that science cannot answer “Why” questions, only “How”, so we will leave that for now.

The psalmist tells us that the heavens declare the glory of God. The Apostle Paul amplified this in Romans saying that it should be evident to everyone that God has made His invisible attributes visible in creation. Creation makes sense and has an order about it because it was created by a loving and all wise God. The heavens themselves speak to us about the glory God if we but listen. He even concludes that if you can’t see this, you may profess yourself to her wise, but you are a fool! Paul was not one to mince words.

In verse 7, the psalmist goes from talking about the world to talking about God’s law. It is the scientist job to discover and quantify the laws of nature. No one questions the law of gravity and they are not surprised that when they fall they hit the ground. But God created not only the physical world but also the spiritual. Why then are we surprised that the spiritual world also has laws and why do men so fiercely rebel against obeying God’s spiritual laws? It only makes sense that if you want to design an airplane, you need to understand the laws of gravity and aerodynamics. So why then do people try to fly through life without regard to the laws of God? It’s not logical!

The psalmist concludes the matter with a statement of the benefits of obeying the laws of God. He states that in keeping them there is great reward. His benediction to this psalm is a prayer that his words and thoughts would be acceptable to that he could be blessed.

Psalms 19:14

May my words and my thoughts

be acceptable in your sight,

O LORD, my sheltering rock and my redeemer.

I could go on and on about this topic, but for now, I just pray that you will look to the heavens and listen for the voice of God in creation. You will be blessed if you comprehend and follow the laws physical and spiritual laws of God.