The Revealing God of Psalm 19

I love reading through the Psalms. They are honest, real, and heartfelt. There is no sugar coating what the writer is feeling, either about the world around him, his emotions toward other people, or even how he feels about God at that moment. Music is often like that. It is a place to let our real selves burst out amid the rhythmic beats and consoling tempos. Music can be a place to relax, recharge, refocus, or just let go.

               And since the Psalms were originally songs, many set to music, I feel them.

               CS Lewis said that Psalm 19 is “the greatest poem in the Psalter, and one of the greatest lyrics in the world.” Let’s check out this song and see why one of the literary greats would give it such accolades. Go ahead and grab your Bible to read Psalm 19, I’ll wait right here…….

               Pretty awesome song, right?

               Here’s kind of how I see this song, it’s about some ways that God reveals Himself to us, some ways that He speaks to us. At Telford United Methodist Church where I serve as pastor, this has been our focus for all of 2014: that God does speak to us and we are attuning ourselves to listen to His voice.

               Read verses 1-6 again. This is God revealing Himself to us in His creation. To say the universe happened by chance is, well, in my opinion, absurd. As I look into the sky and see the sunsets, the rainbows, the stars in the clear sky at night, planets and clouds I see an artistic God who creates “good” things (Genesis 1).

               The Apostle Paul, in Romans 1:20, says that throughout history people have been able to see God through His creation. As you look at trees and oceans, sunsets and rainbows, children and the aged, you can see a glimpse into the love of God. If you’re looking and listening.

               Psalm 19 also show how God reveals Himself to us through Scripture (Verses 7-11).

               Rules are usually something that we don’t like. We often think that rules and regulations are holding us down, diminishing our creativity, or at least keeping us from doing what we want, something fun. But I guess the best thought no this I have heard came a few years ago while coaching rec league soccer in Jonesborough. I think it was an 8-9 year old team, and before every game we would take turns allowing players that wanted to pray to lead the team in a prayer before the game. We had one girl on the team who was just thankful for about everything. One day as she prayed she had thanked God for her parents, grandparents, siblings, school, house, car, soccer team, uniforms, soccer ball and cleats, shin guards (I knew the refs were getting anxious to start the game, but how do you stop an 8-year-old when she’s on a roll like this?), sunshine, grass to play soccer in, dirt to play other games in, and lines on the soccer field. Yep, lines on the soccer field. The end of her prayer, as best as I can remember, went something like this:

              
               “And Jesus, thank you for the white lines on our soccer field so we know where to play. If we didn’t have lines we might kick the ball in the road and get run over by a truck and get hurt. So thank you for lines to keep us safe”.

               Wow, that has always stuck with me. Perhaps if we viewed parts of Scripture as “lines to keep us safe” we would really appreciate the love behind them.

               The last three verses (12-14) show how God reveals Himself to us through forgiveness. Those things that we do that we fell we shouldn’t do (aka- sin), those things we do that we don’t even realize at the time are wrong or hurtful (aka-sin)—these are what the writer of Psalm asks God to forgive him of. It’s through asking for forgiveness of sins where we can begin again (or for the first time) to experience the love and grace and presence of God in our lives continually.

               The Lord is revealing Himself to us daily, speaking to us through creation, Scripture, and forgiveness as Psalm 19 shows, and through a myriad of other ways if we are just open and listening. So today just listen for God (warning-you might have to turn off the TV or log off from your social media preference), and you may be surprised in the ways He chooses to speak to you. Because God is good…all the time!