This morning we will read Psalm 19. This psalm breaks down into two (or sort of 3) main parts. They are related, and connected, but I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to pull them all together at the end. Or even how I'd do that. My plan, instead, is to approach this as two sort of mini-sermons. Which maybe isn't the best way to do it, but...(shrugs shoulders).
(19:1) Of/For the choir director. A psalm of/for David. [Hebrew numbering throughout]
(2) The heavens are declaring the glory of El/God,
while deeds of his hands, the expanse is reporting.
The heavens talk. A lot. And when they talk, it's about two main things. The first, is that God is glorious.
What does this mean? I think we kind of instinctively understand something of the force of this. We understand that God is impressive. Maybe we picture God seated on his heavenly throne (Psalm 11:4), shining so brightly no one can look at him. But we struggle to put the idea of "glory" into words.
Let's turn to two different places, to get a feel for what this word "glory" means. First, Deuteronomy 5:22-26.
What Moses says here, immediately follows his reminding them of God giving the people the ten commandments:
(22) These words Yahweh spoke to your whole assembly at the mountain from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, a great voice,
and he didn't add,
and he wrote them upon two tablets of stone,
and he gave them to me,
(23) and then, as soon as you heard the voice/sound from the midst of the darkness and the mountain burning with fire, you drew near to me-- all of the heads of your tribes and your elders--
(24) and you said,
"LOOK! Yahweh our Elohim has shown us his glory, and his greatness,
while his voice/sound we have heard from the midst of the fire.
This day we have seen that Elohim speaks to man, and he can still live,
(25) and so then, why should we die?
For this great fire shall consume us, if we still hear the voice of Yahweh our Elohim any longer,
and we shall die."
(26) For who of all living creatures that has heard the voice of the living Elohim speaking from the midst
of the fire, as we [have], and lived?
The people saw the visible, outward evidence of Yahweh's power and majesty-- they saw the fire, and thick darkness, and it was awe-inspiring, and terrifying. What they saw, was Yahweh's glory.
A second picture of "glory" is found in Psalm 49:16-17 (English numbering). This psalm talks about human glory, and its limitations:
(49:16) May you not fear when a man becomes rich,
when the glory of his house increases.
(17) For when he dies, he shall not take it, at all.
His glory shall not follow down after him.
So what is "glory"? Glory is the outward, visible splendor of a king, or rich person. It's what makes you notice them. It's what gives you that sense that the person you are seeing is better than you-- superior to you.
Picture a movie star getting out of her limousine for some fancy Hollywood party. She's got the car; she's rocking the dress, the jewelry, the hair, the heels, the makeup. All those things are her glory-- the outward, visible splendor that tells you that she's rich, and powerful, and influential.
What is glory? Glory is like your bling.
And what is God's glory? What is his bling? The heavens. When you look up at the heavens, what you see is his glory (Ps. 97:6). When you see the heavens-- God's bling-- you get a sense of God's wealth, and power, and importance.
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Goldingay: "The word suggests the visible splendor of a monarch or some other important person, glorious in an impressive array (24:7-10). The visible honor is then assumed to be an appropriate outward expression of the figure's intrinsic majesty-- though this may not always be so (49:16-17 [17-18])" (Psalms 1-41, 595).
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Let's reread Psalm 19:2:
(2) The heavens are declaring the glory of El/God,
while the deeds of his hands, the expanse is reporting.
How do the heavens declare God's glory? The second line helps explain (classic Hebrew poetry).
When you look up, and see the heavens, and hear them telling you about God's glory, what you are seeing is God's handiwork. The heavens themselves are impressive, right? The vast, blue sky. Enormous clouds passing by, majestically, over head. Or on a stormy day, it looks like the apocalypse. Like you'll be lucky to get home from work alive.
The heavens, by themselves, are glorious. They are impressive; they make you feel small. But the heavens point to their Creator. If the heavens are so amazing, what does that say about the One who Created them with his hands?
Verse 3-5:
(3) Day by day it gushes out speech,
while night by night it proclaims knowledge.
(4) There is no speech,
and there are no words,
without their sound being heard.
(5) In all the earth, their voice goes out,
while to/at the ends of the world, their speech.
So if you look up at the heavens, and stop, and listen, you should hear them talking to you. The heavens are chatty-- always talking. Some people, when you get them going, can talk for hours and hours. The heavens are like that. Speech gushes out of them, like a river (Proverbs 18:4). And it gushes out every single day, and every single night. But when the heavens talk, it's not just idle words they are saying. If you listen carefully, what you should hear is knowledge. The heavens are revealing truths about God to you.
The psalmist continues, by talking about the sun:
For the sun, He has placed a tent over them (them= heavens),
(6) and it is like a bridegroom coming out from his chamber (#swagger).
He/it rejoices as a warrior/strong man running on his road/path.
(7) From the end of the heavens, Its exit is,
while its circuit is over their ends,
and there is nothing being hidden from its heat.
There is nothing louder, that more impressively bears witness to God's glory, than the sun. It rises every morning with swagger, knowing it's all that, bursting in on the day in a way that won't be ignored. It leaves its tent, and says, "HELLO WORLD!"
And as it runs from one end of the heavens to the other, it does so rejoicing, tirelessly. Like a distance runner who eats miles, without getting short of breath or tired.
And the psalmist ends talking about the sun with this line:
"And there is nothing being hidden from its heat."
Even if you refuse to acknowledge the sun, or enjoy the rays, you can't really ignore it. Its heat hits you, hard.
Nothing is hidden from its heat.
Slow down, forget for a minute about all the things you have to do. Go outside, turn your face toward the sun, and close your eyes. Do this, and what should happen? As you enjoy the light, and the warmth, and the gentle breeze, you should understand that you are seeing and feeling God's bling.
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Let me talk about the first half of this psalm from two perspectives: evangelism, and worship.
(1) Evangelism.
My hope is that most of you spend time, on a regular basis, with people who aren't Christians. You work with non-Christians, you play with non-Christians. You hang out with non-Christians. For some of you, this may happen as a normal byproduct of life. For others, you have to work at it, and be intentional about it.
And when you hang out with non-Christians, you can't help but be aware that they don't know God in the way that you do. They need Jesus.
But how do you bridge that gap? How do you share the good news about Jesus with them?
Understand that when you rub shoulders with non-Christians, you aren't working from scratch. You don't have to prove to people that there is a Divine Being. They know. They may not be sure which God is real, and which isn't. They may not be sure that Jesus is the only way to the Creator. But they know someone is (more or less) right.
Why do they know all of this?
The heavens tell them about God's glory. They may be so caught up in everyday life they find it hard to listen, and focus, but they know that God is impressive. They know that a God who created the heavens must be majestic-- glorious. They can tell by God's bling, that he is quite the Superstar.
So when you try to reveal additional truths about God to them, understand that you aren't working from scratch.
There are very few atheists in the world, because atheism is idiotic.
To be an atheist, you have to deliberately cover your ears, and your eyes, to the heavens. You have to refuse to accept knowledge.
So when you share the good news with people, you can start by talking about Jesus. You don't need to start, by proving that God exists. Understand that God himself has done the groundwork, in preparing people for you to bring them to a deeper knowledge of Himself.
(2) Worship.
The heavens declare God's glory. This is their job; this is what they cannot help to do.
I think that most of us in the West struggle to listen to the heavens.
The Christian life is supposed to be lived in constant awareness of God's glory/honor. You should go through life, knowing that God is great, and God is here. And so you are in constant communion with God-- praising him, praying to him, being aware that God is with you. And to that end, the heavens help. You look up, and you should hear them reminding you of all of this.
And we look up, and we should realize that they are modeling how we should live. We live, to declare God's glory-- to make known God's handiwork. And, we are his handiwork. We give him glory.
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So that's part one. Let's do part 2. Starting in verse 8, the psalmist talks about the Torah. English Bibles will translate "torah" as "law." And when they do that, we, as Protestants, find ourselves thinking about Martin Luther, and how we died to the law, and we have this weird uneasy relationship to the law. And we read things like Psalm 19, and we aren't sure what to do with it.
I'm just going to sidestep all of that, and translate it as "instruction." So hopefully we can just read it, and appreciate it, and not make this complicated.
But the bottom line, going in, is this: God's instruction-- his torah-- is a good thing. It's a blessing. It's a grace
(John 1:16-17).
Verses 8-12:
(8) The Torah/Instruction of Yahweh is perfect/complete,
restoring the soul.
The testimony of Yahweh is trustworthy,
making wise the simple.
(9) The directions of Yahweh are upright,
causing the heart to rejoice.
The commandment of Yahweh is pure,
enlightening eyes.
(10) The fear/reverence of Yahweh is pure,
standing forever.
The judgments (=exercises of authority) of Yahweh are reliable,
they are righteous altogether.
(11) More desirable than gold,
than much pure gold,
and sweeter than honey,
and the drippings of the honey comb.
(12) What is more, your servant is warned by them,
in keeping them is great reward.
God's instructions are a grace. It's through his instructions-- through keeping them, I should say-- that we as humans are able to prosper. Our souls have a tendency to run down, and get down-- and God's instruction restores us. So if you find yourself getting burnt out, or struggling with life, what's the solution? You can distract yourself, and cope, through TV, or music, or sports. Or, you can open your Bibles, and be restored.
God's instruction also makes us wise. It gives light to our eyes, so we can see reality for how it actually is. It challenges us to revere God. It shows us how God responds to obedience, and to disobedience. We see how God responds rightly to both. As much fun as wealth is, and as desirable as it is, we know that God's instruction is far superior. We know it's more desirable than the greatest delicacies.
And even more importantly, we know that the Bible warns us. There are all kinds of terrible sins that we are tempted to commit. But the Bible is like a giant stop sign, warning us that we are about to do a really stupid, dangerous, costly thing. And on the flip side, keeping God's instructions leads to great reward. It's through obedience, that people are able to truly prosper (Psalm 1).
In verse 13, the tone of the psalm changes:
(13) Errors/mistakes, who can understand?
From hidden faults, cleanse me.
(14) What is more, from presumptuous/arrogant things [sins?], keep your servant back.
May they not have dominion over me.
Then, I shall be perfect/complete,
and I shall be innocent from great transgression.
In these two verses, the psalmist here reveals two important truths to us.
(1) The first is that Sin is deceptive. We can sin against God, and do so without realizing it. There have been times in my life, when I've suddenly been confronted with some sin I've been harboring for months, or years, without really thinking about it. My conscience maybe didn't bother me at all. But it was still sin.
Now, some Christians will tell you that it's important to dig through your past, and make sure you don't have any unconfessed sin you need to deal with. They'll take you through your life, person by person, area by area, year by year, until you've confessed everything you can possibly think of.
But the biblical pattern in this, looks more like Psalm 19. We can simply ask God to cleanse us from our hidden sins (Matthew 6:12)-- doing so out of a heart truly committed to God, but one that is blind to particular sins.
For some of you, this may be the most important thing you ever hear me say. You constantly feel guilty, dirty. You never feel like you are fully right with God. You don't feel clean. And maybe you aren't.
But the solution to this is not complicated. You just go to your Father, and ask for forgiveness. "Father, please cleanse me from my sins." Some of my sins I know, and I name. Others, I'm not even aware of. But either way, I confess, and I'm clean.
And hopefully, the day comes when you realize, that you have been washed, and sanctified, and are clean. And you can walk in fellowship with the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 13:14), intentionally living for God, head high. These constant feelings of guilt-- or maybe the actual constant guilt-- isn't necessary. God is happy to cleanse you, if you ask.
(2) The second truth is found in verse 14:
(14) What is more, from presumptuous/arrogant things [sins?], keep your servant back.
May they not have dominion over me.
Then, I shall be perfect/complete,
and I shall be innocent from great transgression.
The psalmist knows that life is spent in battle with Sin. And his prayer, to God, is that presumptions sins would not have dominion over him. He asks that God would keep him from sin. He knows he's vulnerable. He knows that when he is tested, or tempted, he sometimes gives in. And so he prays for help (Matthew 6:13).
Verse 15:
(15) May the words of my mouth be acceptable,
and the meditation of my heart, before you, O Yahweh, my Rock and my Deliverer.
It's quite possible you recognize this verse-- it's one that many pastors pray at the start of their sermons. And that's a good prayer.
But when the psalmist prays this, he means this in connection with his entire life. "Father, we pray that the words of our mouths, and the thoughts of our hearts, would be acceptable to you." May this be our focus, and our goal, and our prayer.
Translation
(19:1) Of/For the choir director. A psalm of/for David.
(2) The heavens are declaring the glory of El,
while deeds of his hands, the expanse is reporting.
(3) Day by day it gushes out speech,
while night by night it proclaims knowledge.
(4) There is no speech,
and there are no words,
without their sound being heard.
(5) In all the earth, their voice goes out,
while to/at the ends of the world, their speech.
For the sun, He has placed a tent over them,
(6) and it is like a bridegroom coming out from his chamber.
He/it rejoices as a warrior running on his road/path.
(7) From the end of the heavens, Its exit is,
while its circuit is over their ends,
and there is nothing being hidden from its heat.
(8) The Torah/Instruction of Yahweh is perfect/complete,
restoring the soul.
The testimony of Yahweh is trustworthy,
making wise the simple.
(9) The directions of Yahweh are upright,
causing the heart to rejoice.
The commandment of Yahweh is pure,
enlightening eyes.
(10) The fear/reverence of Yahweh is pure,
standing forever.
The judgments (=exercises of authority) of Yahweh are reliable,
they are righteous altogether.
(11) More desirable than gold,
than much pure gold,
and sweeter than honey,
and the drippings of the honey comb.
(12) What is more, your servant is warned by them,
in keeping them is great reward.
(13) Errors/mistakes, who can understand?
From hidden faults, cleanse me.
(14) What is more, from presumptuous/arrogant things/sins, keep your servant back.
May they not have dominion over me.
Then, I shall be perfect/complete,
and I shall be innocent from great transgression.
(15) May the words of my mouth be acceptable,
and the meditation of my heart, before you, O Yahweh, my Rock and my Deliverer.
