Walking With God # 7: Acceptable in His Sight, Psalm 19

Intro: Do you remember the children’s song “Be Careful little Eyes”? Let’s sing 3 verses of that song together: Eyes, Ears, Tongue.

1 Oh, be careful, little eyes, what you see, Oh, be careful, little eyes, what you see. For the Father up above is looking down in love, Oh, be careful, little eyes, what you see.

2 Oh, be careful, little ears, what you hear, Oh, be careful, little ears, what you hear. For the Father up above is looking down in love, Oh, be careful, little ears, what you hear.

3 Oh, be careful, little tongue, what you say, Oh, be careful, little tongue, what you say. For the Father up above is looking down in love, Oh, be careful, little tongue, what you say.

O Be Carefulmight be a children’s song, but it addresses a very grown-up question- how do I know if my life is pleasing to God?

Pleasing God has a lot to do with what we see, what we think, & what we say. Psalm 19 will help us discover how, when the Father up above is looking down in love, that we know we are acceptable in His Sight.

Psalm 19, To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. 1 The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. 2 Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge. 3 There is no speech nor language Where their voice is not heard. 4 Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world. In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun, 5 Which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoices like a strong man to run its race. 6 Its rising is from one end of heaven, and its circuit to the other end; And there is nothing hidden from its heat.

 7 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; 8 The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; 9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. 10More to be desired are they than gold, Yea, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. 11 Moreover by them Your servant is warned, and in keeping them there is great reward. 12 Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. 13 Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, And I shall be innocent of great transgression. 14Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.

Vs. 14 is worth memorizing, and I think it is the main idea of Psalm 19. I think it gives us a simple way to divide this psalm and address the question- how do I know if I am acceptable in God’s sight? Three ways to know- 1) Our WORDS, 2) Our WITNESS, & 3) Our WILL.

1. The WORDS of the HEAVENS, vss. 1-6.

The psalm begins with this well-known passage in verse 1. Heavens- skies, atmosphere; Firmament- vault of heaven, expanse of space. Sky & space make known the weight of God’s glory & His handiwork. Romans 1:20, 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 that they are without excuse.

God’s Creation is the Revelation of His Reputation. Every day the heavens gush with God’s glory, and every night they shout out His ability. A literal rendering of vs. 3- no speech, no words, no voice, yet still the heavens speak loud and clear in a way that all can hear. There are no words, nowhere, that no one cannot hear what the heavens are saying. Line (vs. 4)- measuring line. Their measuring line has gone out through the whole earth, their words to the end of the world.

If the words of heaven are a measuring line throughout the earth, what are they measuring? The words of the heavens are the measuring line for the words of our mouths. We’ll see this more clearly in vs. 14.

ILL: vss. 5-6, In the heavens God has set a tabernacle for the sun. Tabernacle- tent, a shelter, a place to live. The heavens are the dwelling place of the sun. Night is like a tent that the sun retreats into for rest. In the morning, the sun bursts forth like a man about to be married, like an athlete ready to run. He just can’t wait, He’s champing at the bit, He’s got something to say, and it’s going to last all day. Psalm 113:3, From the rising of the sun to its going down The Lord’s name is to be praised.

The words of the heavens are the measuring line for the words of our mouths. Check this- are our words declaring the glory of God and His hand in our lives? Every day are we gushing about His glory? At night are we dropping knowledge about Him? What do our words reveal about the reputation of God? If we’re going to walk with God and be acceptable in His sight, we need to measure our words against heaven’s words.

Two revelations of God: The Creator God is revealed by what He has made (natural), the Covenant God is revealed by what He has said (special). In vss. 1-6, David uses God (El), Creator God. In vss. 7-11, he calls God LORD (YHWH), God’s personal covenant name. Let’s see what the psalmist has to say about God’s Word & the witness of our hearts.

2. The WITNESS of our HEARTS, vss. 7-11

God’s Word is revealed by 6 names, 6 descriptions, & 6 effects, i.e., what it is (nature), what it’s like (character), & what it does (function).

NATURE                      CHARACTER                FUNCTION

Law- Torah, the root means “instruction,” Ps. 19- Torah Psalm; Perfect- complete, whole; Converts the soul- to turn back, restore the inner self

Testimony- witness, a solemn statement under oath; Sure- firm, faithful; Makes wise the simple- cause young naive people to use good judgment

Statutes- precepts, rules of personal conduct; Right- straight, moral rightness, conform to justice; Rejoices the heart- makes the heart glad

Commandment- commission, authoritative directive; Pure- faultless; Enlightens the eyes- dawn, spiritual insight

Fear- reverence; Clean- free from moral impurity; Enduring forever- remains for eternity

Judgments- decisions/determinations;True- trustworthy, Righteous- in the right; the benefits are given in v. 11- there is a warning & a reward

The meditations of our hearts will mirror the witness of God’s Word. Deuteronomy 6:6-7, And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.

Vs. 10 is an analogy of God’s Word- more desirable than gold, sweeter than honey. ILL: We have a church member putting this picture into practice. Her family keeps a Bible on the island in their kitchen, with 3 highlighters, one for each person in the house. Whenever they walk by the Bible, they are to look at the Book, read what the last person highlighted, then highlight something else for the next person.

Like gold, God’s Word is to be TREASURED, like honey it is to be TASTED, but to receive its benefits, we must TAKE it to heart.

How cool would it be if we all treasured God’s Word like that, & displayed it in a prominent place? 2 Timothy 3:16, All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

What if we all put an open Bible in the kitchen, as an analogy of something we need to ingest? Matthew 4:4, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

What would happen if we all received the Word into our hearts? James 1:25, 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. The meditation of our hearts would mirror the witness of the Word.

3. Our WILL towards HOLINESS, vss. 12-14

This is the application of God’s Self-Revelation by the Word. Hebrews 4:12, For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.When we get into the Word, the Word gets into us, and it goes to Work on us. It shows us stuff about God that we could not have known otherwise, & stuff about ourselves that we would not have known.

From this revelation of God comes a response about ourselves- A Prayer for PARDON (12). Who can understand (discern) his errors? Errors-oversight, ignorant sin. Why did I do that, say that, go there? From the question comes a prayer- to cleanse me from secret faults. Secret-hidden things, maybe even from yourself.

From these things he prays for pardon (cleanse). Matthew 6:12, And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

The response includes a prayer for PROTECTION (vs. 13). Keep back- withhold, hold back; from what? presumptuous sins. Presumption-insolent, audacious, arrogant behavior; CSB- willful sins. Willful sin is knowing it is wrong to do, all the bells & whistles are going off in our head, there is heaviness in our heart, & we run right on ahead & do it anyway. It’s not accidentally falling into a hole, it’s seeing the warning signs, walking right up to the edge, & jumping in. We pray for protection from willful sins so that they do not dominate us. Romans 6:12, Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. We either rule over sin, or sin will rule over us.

A prayer for a life that is PLEASING to God. By not giving into willful sin but exercising the will towards holiness is how we will be blameless (complete, pure). The same root as the word perfect in vs. 7, the law of the Lord is perfect (complete, without defect, or blemish). If we exercise our will towards holiness, we will be innocent(same root as cleansed in vs. 12) of evildoing (transgression- crime, violating a law; CSB- blatant rebellion). To be blameless, we cannot be guilty of blatant rebellion.

How can we be acceptable in God’s sight? The words of our mouths: our speech should match the songs of the heavens- declare the glory of God.

The meditations of our hearts:Meditation- contemplation. As we get into God’s Word, God’s Word gets into us, & it goes to work. The witness of our hearts should mirror that of God’s Word.

Our will or God’s Will? Is our life directed towards the holiness of God or the willfulness of sin? The ability to please God is not our own, we must get it from Him. He is our Rock (strength). God is our ability to stand strong against sin. But sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we ignorantly fall into sin, sometimes we willfully jump into sin, whichever the case we only have One Redeemer- Jesus Christ. Titus 2:14, (Jesus) gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

Christ is our ability & He is our acceptance. Ephesians 1:6, (God has) made us accepted in the Beloved. Jesus is the Beloved of God, He is our ability to please God, He is our acceptance by God.

When the Father up above is looking down in love, who does He see? Does He see you, or does He see Jesus?Check your words, check your witness, and check your will.