When you were young, were you ever told to mind your manners? In that respect, “minding” is more like “remember” or “pay attention to.” It’s a matter of “keeping it in mind.” That is the type of minding we read in Psalm 19.

Psalm 19 reveals the God who is continually communicating with us through His works and through His Word. The psalm begins with a meditation on the works of God: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork.” As we “listen” to the heavens we hear God’s glory. They “continually declare” as they both worship the Creator with their praise and witness his glory to us. If you want proof, go outside on a clear night and just stare up into the sky for several minutes. Soak up the grandeur, majesty and vastness of the starry host-and then think: My God made all this. Nature is only a name for an effect, and the cause is God. The touch is his.

We are not to listen for literal speech, but there is real communication. Thus Paul sees all of us accountable to God because of creation. He writes in Romans 1:20 that “since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so they are without excuse.” God is not limited to words in His communication with us. He uses angels, visions, dreams, even impressions and mental pictures.

This psalm points out the two areas where God has chosen to reveal Himself: “the heaven” refers to what appears in the sky above; “the firmament” means the expanse of God’s creation. The entire universe testifies of the Creator and brilliantly displays the glory of God.

God has placed the sun (an object of worship among the pagans) in the heavens and is therefore supreme over it. The figures of the bridegroom and the runner picture the sun’s glory and power as it moves across the sky. Since it is so glorious, how much more glorious must the Creator be?

The words “testimonies,” “statutes,” “commandment,” and “judgments” are all synonyms for God’s law-the Bible. The connection between creation and God’s Word here is that as the sun is the centerpiece of creation, so must God’s Word be the centerpiece of believers’ lives.

The opening of Psalm 19 reveals the God who communicates His glory to us through His creation.  His continual communication is a witness to His desire to always be known and worshipped by us. He is also the universal God claiming all people for Himself. There is a problem. Sin has darkened our perception of Him. We have “erorrs, secret faults, and presumptuous sins.” We need more than the witness of creation. We need the Word of God so we can understand the works of God.

Psalm 19:7 tells us that “the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.” The function of the law is to convert us. Through it we are restored or returned to our Creator. The legislation in the Old Testament law reveals God’s holiness and our sin. It drives us to despair so that we may be driven to Christ.

God’s law helps us avoid sin and enjoy fellowship with Him. The law does not prevent enjoyment but encourages it. Above all, His laws show us great love, and His wonderful creation proves His existence.

Psalm 19 also talks about the testimony of the Lord. When God testifies about Himself, He tells the truth. We can throw our weight on God’s testimony, and it will hold us up. His testimony is ritually clean and morally right because it is given by the holy God.

The psalmist also tells us that “the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever.” In this case, fear does not mean being afraid of God. Instead, it means that we are to respect and obey God. Scripture is the essential guide and authority for determining Christian moral and ethical conduct. When God reveals His will, it is awesome. The law came from Mount Sinai with thunder, smoke, and fire. Also, God’s will is fearsome because of our sin. When God reveals Himself in His holiness, we cry out “Woe is me.” It is through God’s law that God establishes His justice and His judgment. God reveals what is true and right. We are accountable to that revelation on the Day of Judgment. To hear His Word and to do it is to build our house upon the rock. To see, to study, and to obey God’s Word is to labour with that which lasts.

God’s law is like a mirror that reveals our spiritual posture. There are corrections we can make once we are warned, but that only gets us so far. That’s why we need a Rock and Redeemer to revive our spiritual hearts.

In the Psalms, “keeping” the commandments resembles the way the whole of creation obeys God’s will. It’s simply a matter of doing what we’re meant to do by instinct. In the same way, God’s law teaches us the way to live in harmony with God’s will-with God’s justice, mercy, and love.

Verse 11 mentions that there is a great reward in obeying God’s law. The reward is threefold. First, there is the reward of doing God’s will. Second, it is the reward of living a fulfilled life-converted, wise, rejoicing, enlightened, enduring, true and righteous. The third reward is the assurance of being ready to stand before Christ’s judgment seat.

All of revelation, general and special, all of God’s streams of communication to us, have only one goal. God wants us to know Him, to worship Him, to love Him, to obey Him. All of the heavenly “mass media” and all of the biblical “special programming” are for us. By faith we must switch on the receiver. The God who made us by His almighty power offers to exercise that same power on our behalf to help us speak and think in a way that honours Him.

The way we can know God, worship God, love God and obey God is to meditate on God’s Word. Meditating on God’s Word is like the tune that lingers in your head all day. You whistle, sing and strum until your life is consumed with the song. Meditating is to have God’s Word of the day echo in every moment. Meditation is also like a cow chewing its cud. The beast munches, swallows, then brings it up for another chew, just to make sure it gets out all the nourishment.

The lesson from Psalm 19 is to be wise, fear God, turn away and spare ourselves the inevitable chastisement that will follow when we sin and do not repent. God’s grace in Christ Jesus is unconditional, eternal, and greater than sin, but when temptation strikes, look at the cross! Count the cost and ask, “How can I sin and presume that I will receive God’s grace in the face of such love? Who do I think I am? How can I deliberately sin and presume that God will forgive me later?” This psalm reminds us that when we fail to obey God’s laws, we must ask for forgiveness and seek to change our ways. The earth can only be healed when we turn from our selfish disregard of God’s glorious creation.

(An audio version of this message can be found at https://www.spreaker.com/episode/psalm-19-listen-to-god-and-his-creation–63894263)

Bibliography

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