Psalm 19 is similar to Psalm 8 in its beginning. But, where Psalm 8 turns to discuss man as another of God’s great creations, Psalm 19 switches to discuss the other source of God’s revelation, the written word (Ps. 19:7-11). C.H. Spurgeon wrote:
“He is wisest who reads both the world-book and the Word-book as two volumes of the same work, and feels concerning them, ‘My Father wrote them both.’ ”
Just as life on earth cannot occur without the sun and the solar system (the speechless book of Psalm 19:1-6), neither can life on earth occur without the written revelation of God’s word (the written revelation of Psalm 19:7-14). But, just like both the sun and the written revelation can bring the light and warmth needed for life, they can also both bring the exposing spotlight of judgment and the fiery heat of destruction/purification.
C. S. Lewis wrote concerning Psalm 19:
“I take this to be the greatest poem in the Psalter and one of the greatest lyrics in the world.”
The subscript of the title says that Psalm 19 was written by David “for the director of music” which indicates the words of Psalm 19 were originally lyrics set to be sung along with the sound of Hebrew music current in 1000 BC.
The created solar system has been a testimony to God the creator since the beginning. Paul expresses this thought in Romans 1:20:
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”
The heavens are in a continuous state of declaring God’s existence, power, wisdom and character. The endless expanse presents our best image of infinity. Divine wisdom begins to be perceived when considering the symphonic precision of the orbits of the planets, galaxies and unmeasurable universes. A demonstration of the omnipotent-power is declared in the brightness, size and the harnessed weight of the celestial bodies. If for no other reason the expanding vastness of the universe serves one purpose: To declare the glory of God!
Psalm 19 says literally that “no speech, no words, their voice is not heard.” This means to say that the glorious images portrayed by these unfathomable creations successfully communicate without words and without speech to man in every language, in every generation and in every location simply through the physical senses that perceive by sight and feel. |
