It is not known for sure when David wrote the 19th Psalm, but it is thought by some to have been written while he was a shepherd boy, watching the flocks in the wilderness. This makes sense, because he would have had plenty of time to reflect on nature, and how it bears the unmistakable marks of an intelligent designer. This psalm is close kin to Psalm 8. In Psalm 19 David’s reflection on creation causes him to then reflect on the word of God and on his own sin, while in Psalm 8 his reflection on creation drives him to humility and praise. Let’s go ahead and dive in.
David begins with his reflection on nature. He states the heavens declare the glory or splendor of God: You cannot look at creation and all its awesomeness, and come away with the idea that it happened by chance, at least if we are honest with ourselves. Just a casual observation of creation bears the marks of intelligent design, and if there is intelligent design, then it naturally follows there has to have been an intelligent designer. The more you study science, you quickly realize how carefully designed creation really is. Everything is so precise that if things were altered slightly, life on Earth would be impossible. David stated the firmament is His handywork, which can be translated, a work of art. Again, just a casual observation of creation bears this out.
The heavens are personified as having the ability to speak: they are constantly speaking day and night of the glory and majesty of God. Their voice transcends all language and cultural barriers. No matter where we are on the planet, we can all look into the heavens to see God’s handywork. Paul wrote to the Romans that God’s invisible attributes are seen in creation, and as a result, man is left without excuse (Rom 1:18-20). Because of this witness of Himself in His creation, man is left without excuse on the day of judgment for his sin. He will not be able to stand before God and say he didn’t know better. Man sees the truth of God’s existence, and chooses to suppress it.
Next, David uses poetic language to describe the sun’s course through the sky. He has set a tabernacle or tent from which it comes out each day. It goes through the heavens like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber or a strong man to run a race. It goes from one end of heaven to the other, and there is no part of the planet that is not affected by its heat. Even the polar regions which receive no sunlight for several months during the year are still affected by the heat of the sun through winds that blow on different parts of the globe to help stabilize air pressure. Critics of the Bible like to point out passages like these since it refers to the sun rising and moving through the sky, but again David is clearly using figurative language to describe the sun’s course through the heavens. Interestingly enough however, the sun is actually moving through the heavens. According to NASA, the sun and our entire solar system are orbiting around the center of the Milky Way galaxy at a whopping velocity of 514,500 MPH. So, truly the sun is moving through the heavens like a strong man running a race. The Bible is not a science book, but when it speaks to science, it is always correct.
Next, David transitions from talking about the sun into talking about the word of God. This is quite a natural transition really, since both the sun and the Scriptures provide light to guide our way through life. There are many who claim not to need Church or the Scriptures, because they can connect with God simply by going out in nature. Although it is certainly true that we can connect with God through nature, if that is all we have, we will fall drastically short in our understanding of our creator. Creation reveals God to us, but the Scriptures reveal Him even more. David breaks the first five books of the Old Testament into different categories, and tells us how each section of God’s word is good for us.
First, he tells us that the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The law is the Torah, or it can also be used to refer to the 10 Commandments. It is without fault or blemish. Convert means to restore or revive. You may ask, how does the law convert the soul? Well, Paul tells us in Romans that the law stops every mouth and makes the whole world guilty before God. Also, it is by the law that we have the knowledge of sin. (Rom 3:19-20) Paul also told the Galatians that the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. So then, the job of the law is to reveal our sin and show us our need for Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. We are driven to Him who, through our faith in Him, revives our soul. Once our soul has been converted or revived, we then need to learn how to act right according to God’s will. The Scriptures tell us this as well.
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. Testimony means witness. The Scriptures bear witness of God, His character, and His ways. Most importantly, they bear witness of Jesus Christ, the only way to salvation. The Psalmist wrote, “Then I said, ‘Behold, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart.’” (Psa 40:6-8) The author of Hebrews attributes this to Jesus, so the totality of Scripture is about Him. John wrote in his Gospel, “And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” (Jn 20:30-31) To receive this testimony of God’s Son as true is wisdom and eternal life.
Statutes and commandments are similar, but with some differences. Commandments are the dos and the do nots, while the statutes are a specific type of commandment. God’s word rejoices our hearts and enlightens our eyes. Many of us have probably heard the saying, “Holiness leads to happiness,” and it is so true. Notice I didn’t say legalism, for holiness and legalism have gotten mixed up over the years. Holiness simply means to be set apart from sin, so if the Bible plainly teaches we should or should not do something, we will be blessed and enlightened for obeying what it says. Moses told the children of Israel, “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God. (Deut 28:1-2) James wrote, “But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” (James 1:25)
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. Fear can mean different things depending on the context. If you are outside of Christ, this is a terror and a dread of the wrath that is to come upon you for your sin. However, if we are inside Christ, we have no need to fear the wrath of God. For the believer, fear is a reverence and a respect for the God of the universe who takes mind of us and even calls us His friends if we do what He commands us (Jn 15:14). This fear naturally results in obedience. The Scriptures are full of admonishments to fear the Lord. Here are just a few: “Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him.” (Psa 34:9) And, “Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Who is the man who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” (Psa 34:11-14) Lastly, Peter writes, “Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.” (1 Pe 2:17)
God’s judgments are true and righteous altogether. Judgments are God’s verdict against sin. It includes the verdict, as well as the penalty for the wrong-doing. Unlike a human court in which a judge and jury can get it wrong, God never does. He will not acquit the guilty, nor does he punish the innocent. His judgments are always true, and they are always right. You might ask, what about us as believers, aren’t we the guilty who have been acquitted? The answer is, yes, but there was a price that was paid, there was justice that was administered. God poured out the wrath that you and I deserved on His only begotten Son who was a perfect sacrifice for our sin. This is how He can be just in forgiving us when we confess our sins to Him. In like manner, this is how He is just in judging the world, those who have rejected Christ, during the tribulation. After three of the seven of the bowls of God’s wrath had been poured out, one from the alter said, “Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.” Now that he has broken them down, David moves on to his love of the Word.
He said that the word of God was to be desired more than gold, even much fine gold. By the time David’s reign was coming to an end, he was a very wealthy man. However, he was known for his heart for God rather than his riches. In Psalm 119, the psalmist wrote, “The law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of coins of gold and silver.” (Psa 119:72) And, “Therefore I love Your commandments more than gold, yes, than fine gold!” (Psa 119:127) If we had reason to believe there was a million dollars of gold buried in our yard somewhere, we would be overturning every square inch of soil to try and find it. How much more the word of God which exceeds all the riches of the world? David also said the Word was sweeter than honey and the honeycomb. Not only is God’s word more valuable than earthly riches, it is more valuable than the experiences of the senses which can be powerful at times.
God’s word gives us warnings. The purpose of warnings is to alert us to consequences or danger that we are either not aware of or do not appreciate. As a parent, I have a better understanding of warnings. We love our children and don’t want to see them hurt from the consequences of sin or foolish behavior, so we warn them ahead of time. When my dad’s family moved to this area, there was no dam on the river just south of Brewster, and as a result, the Columbia was dangerous to swim in. So, parents would warn their children not to swim in the river. Jesus gave warnings: He talked more about Hell then He did about Heaven, and I believe He did so because He didn’t want anyone to go there.
In contrast, there is great reward for doing what is right. As we previously discussed, there is blessing in obeying the word of God. God is a loving Father, and as a result, He discourages bad behavior and encourages good behavior because He wants us to be blessed.
David has spent time reflecting on the glory of God in creation and the richness of His word, and this causes him to be mindful of his own sin. While this is certainly not our only response to the greatness of God, it is an important one. Although we do not lose our salvation by sinning, sin, especially when unconfessed, is a barrier to fellowship and a deeper walk with the Lord. David said, “who can understand his errors?” In other words, we don’t fully understand the depths of our own sinful state. It takes a revelation from the Lord through the conviction of the Holy Spirit to gain this understanding. He asked the Lord to cleanse him from secret faults, those sins he was not even aware of. In another Psalm he asked the Lord to search his heart and to try him. Sins done in ignorance are still sin, and should be dealt with. He also asked the Lord to keep him back from presumptuous sins, those sins we are fully aware of and do anyway. He prayed that they would not have dominion over him. We all have those sins that are a struggle for us, those sins that we feel have mastery over us, but the Scriptures state, “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” (Rom 6:14) It may feel like they have dominion over us, but Jesus has broken its power over us at the cross. Nonetheless, we can be like David and pray for a greater revelation of this. Then he said he would be blameless and innocent of great transgression. This was not a proclamation of sinless perfection, but an understanding that his heart was right before God. Everything he was aware of had been dealt with, and he could have fellowship and communion with God.
Lastly, he prayed that the words of his mouth and the meditation of his heart would be acceptable in the Lord’s sight. This was a wise prayer by David, for it is what we think about that will eventually come out in our words and actions. Jesus, when questioned by the Pharisees why his disciples ate without washing their hands, explained to His disciples, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.” (Mark 7:20-23) Rather than dwelling on those things that defile us, Paul tells us, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” (Phil 4:8) David calls God his strength (rock) and his redeemer. The Lord is our strength in the midst of temptation, and He has redeemed us from all sin, past, present, and future.
In closing, have we lost sight of the glory and majesty of God? Look at the heavens. Look at the moon, stars, and planets. Observe the sun rising each morning to heat the earth, and it’s setting each evening. Consider how carefully designed creation is, how everything works as it should to make life possible. Let this awe of our creator drive us to His word to learn more about Him and to examine its richness and sweetness. Let us also be mindful of how we have fallen short of this glorious God’s righteous standards, and confess our sins to Him for forgiveness and restored fellowship. Then let us continue to think on those things that are pleasing in His sight.
