Psalm 19 is but one of over 140 Psalms in the Bible. But within it is some of the greatest truths about the Bible that can be found anywhere in the whole of Scripture. So here today, I intend to share with you some of my observations on this particular Psalm, may God watch over my work, and keep me from error! Amen!
The first part of this Psalm is well known for proclaiming God's glory in creation, His general revelation, or, in layman's terms: The part of God that everyone can see, the world around us, nature and all its workings that are beyond our understanding, the heavens and the billion stars that we will never reach.
All of these things declare God's glory, even if some try to ignore it, or pass it off as mere chance or a lie, they cannot deny the simple fact that the world around us is amazing and beautiful, and that only a Good, and Awesome Creator could have brought it into existence, and if the world's complexities are out of our reach, then His complexities must be all the more unfathomable, and glorious.
Psalm 19:1-4 says this: "The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world..."
Such is the manifold glory of our God in His creation! He "sets a tent for the sun" (verse 4) and it rises according to His will! Day and night are His, and the stars as well as the earth are in His hands!
So then, why do some still ignore this glory? Only the nefariousness of sin can have wrought this in the human heart, especially considering that we were created to not only revel in this Glory, but give God the glory for How awesome He is! So, now that sin stains human hearts and causes them to abandon their truest purpose for existence, God made another way, a way to return to knowing Him. He gave us His Law, His Word. (And this Word is manifest now through Jesus Christ, His Son John 1:1-18)
Psalm 19:7-9 "The
law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether."
So, this is God's Way, His way to reach us through the darkness of sin, a specific revelation, His Word, the Holy Scriptures, and while some may be tempted to doubt their truth, it cannot be denied, and this Psalm gives the truth to those who will hear it.
The Law of the Lord is perfect:What does this mean? Perfect is a word to describe flawlessness, meaning that God's Word has no fault that any can find, it has no weakness to exploit, it is as smooth as the surface of a perfectly cut precious stone, and beautiful in its flawlessness. And it revives the soul, it brings back the knowledge of God (again, through His Son, Jesus Christ, the Living Word), thus bringing the dead heart back to life, and refreshing the soul that follows Him already, enabling that soul to continue through any hardship to be with God in eternity.
The Testimony of the Lord is sure: This word "sure" seems simple, but I believe we misuse it often. It is a strong word, a word that symbolizes absolute, and resolute conviction of a certain truth. A certainty that goes beyond mere conjecture, and a rock-hard, steadyness of belief. So if this testimony of our Lord is so sure a footing, than we can stand upon it, though all the legions of hell array against us, and all the world attempts to shake our foundation, this testimony cannot be shaken. And it makes the simple wise, wise to the knowledge of God, and wise in life as well, returning the sin-delirious mind to its proper state, a sharp tool used for the glory of its Creator God.
"Hammer away, ye hostile hands, your hammer breaks, God's anvil stands!" (Unknown author)
The Precepts of the Lord are right: Found with this Word are precepts, rules by how we ought to live, and sin bids us rebel against these precepts, saying in a lying tongue: "how can these be right, for they seem to take away your joy?" Such lies from the pit!
For when we follow these precepts we live as we were always meant to, but this means denying ourselves many pleasures, treasures, and supposed rights to follow God's Way. But we find, in following this Way, that we indeed find real joy, true joy in living according to God's precepts, for He does not keep us back from good things, only things that He knows will hurt us, though we are often too stubborn to see this. His precepts rejoice our hearts, because true joy is found when we walk on the path, as sure-footing is only found on a path through a bog.
The Commandment of the Lord is pure: Purity is a word similar to perfect, but with a different bent. Pure is meant to evoke an inwardness of perfection, it means to be spotless, and without blemish. So that no one can point to a single thing in God's Word and say: "that is not right" or, "that is not good". For if God Himself is absolutely pure in every way, so then, is His given Word. And this Commandment enlightens the eyes blurred by sin, it shows where the lines of good and evil fall, and call wayward hearts to the light of God's purity.
The Fear of the Lord is clean: The Fear of the Lord is something that is expounded on in the Proverbs, but its basic meaning is to hate evil. To fear the Lord is to hate evil, for evil is anything that is opposed to God, any sin, lust, greed, anger, envy, laziness, and the like. To be allied with God (through the blood of Christ) we must love His Word, and hate evil, we must fear God, and keep His commandments, for anyone who fears the Lord rightly, will desire nothing beyond pleasing Him, for to do anything else would be to make oneself any enemy of the Almighty, who can throw both body and soul into hell (Matthew 10:28). This is what it is to be clean before God, to follow His Words means to abandon any evil pursuits, and this cleanliness endures forever.
The Rules of the Lord are true: Truth is the antithesis to a lie, and there are many lies about us, what this verse says is that everything written before it, every bit of God's Word is true. To fight the lies that this world will try to force on us, and that our sinful hearts will try and feed us, we must have a real truth to fall back on, and the truth of the Holy Scriptures are our final standing ground in the fight against the lies, and it is our final authority for any decision, so that we are not deceived by fallen men. These rules, these truths are righteous altogether, every word, every dot was put there for God's righteous purpose, and it will never return to Him without accomplishing His purpose.
So now we see, I pray, with clearer eyes the book many of you now hold, or will sometime in this day, what this Word is, what it is for, and Who gave it to us. But now we must turn to the climax, before we reach the conclusion. What are we to do with this Word, how are we to react?
The Scriptures have a ready answer: Psalm 19:10-11 "More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward."
We must desire to know God through His Word more than gold, more than anything that seems to have great value, for in truth in pales in comparison to God's revelation, and these truths are to be considered sweeter to the soul than honey is to the mouth, for these promises and precepts sustain us through the harshest trials in this fallen world. And then we see one of the most precious promises of Scripture, for the Psalmist says: "By them your servant is warned;" so we know that God intended for us to follow His law faithfully (which we are enabled to do because of Christ's death for our salvation) and that "in keeping them there is great reward."
So then, we do not follow without reason, for we are promised great reward in keeping true to God's Word, and this reward is simply that to know God more means more joy, more peace, more satisfaction for our souls than we will ever want or need.
But we must be diligent in keeping them, and we cannot do this of our own accord, so let the final words of this wonderful Psalm ring in your ears as I hope you pray the same for your soul:
Psalm 19:12-14 "Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer."
Delighting in the Law of my Lord,
--The Scribe
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