The Wandering Paths
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Have you ever experienced highway hypnosis? It’s where you start driving, sort of black out slightly, and boom! You arrive at your destination - sometimes at least. I remember being in grade school, my mom is taking me in the morning and we’re supposed to turn right, and she goes left. Sun-Tzu wrote in The Art of War that if you enemy makes a mistake to never let them know. So I sat quietly and figured just how this could go. She quickly came to her senses and off we went to school.
We know where we want to go. We know the directions to get there. But sometimes on our way we wake up realizing we’ve missed our turn and we’re in a bad part of town.
It happens on the road, and it happens as we follow Jesus.
We know the destination. We know the right behaviors. But sometimes we wake up to some horrible mistakes and wonder how we could ever get so far off the narrow way.
Text Introduction
Text Introduction
Psalm 19 is a reflection on that experience - but it gets us there in a strange way. You can divide the psalm up into thee unique sections
Creation reveals God
1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
God’s law is praised
7 The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
A confession and plea
12 Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults.
Creation - Commandment - Confession
The quesiton is how do these three parts relate to each other?
There are some books on the Psalms that comment on these three sections as if they were completely different psalms. It’s even a popular thought that these are different psalms that were smushed together, much like Psalm 108 is a combination of Psalm 57 and Psalm 60
Some have assumed, and possibly correctly, that these were not originally written as a single psalm, but pushed together by the editor because they saw a connection. So what connection is it?
Creation
Creation
1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. 2 Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. 3 There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. 4 Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.
When the Psalmist speaks of the heavens he is talking about something we can actually see - the skies themselves. Just as an artist is praised just as much as their painting, creation reflects something of God. As his handiwork they proclaim his glory, or as Paul says in Romans 1:20 his eternal power and divine nature.
Day and night proclaim this message. Each day is a pouring out of speech. Every night is a revelation.
It does more than just reveal God’s glory, it’s giving knowledge. We’re not just made aware of God’s glory but told to recognize it. It grabs you by the shoulders and shakes you: Someone made this! Pay attention to it! Be more than aware, recognize it!
Verse 3 tells us that we don’t even need words to get the point. The NET version puts…
3 There is no actual speech or word, nor is its voice literally heard. 4 Yet its voice echoes throughout the earth; its words carry to the distant horizon.
No word is necessary because all should look and understand the glory of God through these sights. Their voice is heard without explanation. It is self-evident from simply looking at the skies. Every word sung by the heavens are heard by the rest of creation. No matter where you go, you will hear of God’s glory and handiwork.
The Clouds
The Clouds
We could start with the clouds - the ancient people were fascinated with them. Big fluffy things that floated through the sky, bringing life-giving rain with them. They were associated with the divine, being all the way up there like the gods themselves were and bringing down their blessings. God himself shows up throughout scripture in the form of a cloud as Israel wandered through the wilderness and built the temple.
The Stars
The Stars
Then we have the night sky with all of their stars and the moon. These were also considered divine with the way they floated through the sky with regularity, marking the times and seasons. Modern astrology has its roots in ancient star worship. Since they told the seasons it was also thought they could tell the future as well. What would they have thought after seeing the images of the Hubble Telescope? You look closer and closer at those pinpricks of light in the sky and they only reveal more glory.
I’m a fan of sci-fi, but not so much Star Wars. I like hard sci-fi - science fiction that takes into account just how unbelievably massive the solar system and the galaxy beyond are. In The Expanse it takes months or even years to travel through the solar system. In the Sun Eater series a war is raged across the galaxy over thousands of years because it takes centuries for an attack to travel, and centuries for news of it to spread.
When you consider how big the universe is , Psalm 19 is telling us that God is bigger. These things show us that God needs to be taken seriously. Just as we can’t comprehend the time and space of our universe we can’t comprehend the power of who made it.
The Sun
The Sun
4 … In them he has set a tent for the sun, 5 which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy. 6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat.
Chief among the wonders of the heavens is the sun. Like the clouds and the stars, it was also thought to be divine. It was the source of life itself. In Mesopotamia it was the Sun god Shamash that gave divine instruction and upheld justice and righteousness.
Here, there is someone bigger than the sun. It’s described as something that God provides for, giving it a place to stay every night so it can burst forward every morning like a man on his way to his wedding or a warrior charging into battle. It’s energy is relentless in the track it traces across the sky; energy that we feel every day through it’s warmth.
Even in non-poetic language we know the sun for the energy it provides. It produces enough energy to fuel our entire world for 500,000 years every second. And God is the one who gave it that power.
Connect
Connect
The extent of the heavens declaration encompasses the entire world. Throughout all the land and all time, we are confronted with the beauty and terror of creation. Who could have done such a thing except God?
How sad that we can be so deaf to it. In modern days there is a sharp distinction between the physical and spiritual side of things. We downplay the physical, call it less important, and look down on it. “This world is not my home” we sing, and so we trash it. And when we throw it in the trash we throw away the proclamation of God’s glory.
And we live such an insulated life from the world God created in our homes. Our necks are so used to looking down at our phones that we never lift them up to see God’s handiwork.
Transition
Transition
Psalm 19 makes it very clear that the skies are singing God’s praises. They invite us to look up to something higher, to something beyond. It tells us about the divine and focuses our attention on it.
But which divine in particular? And what else can we know about that divine? If all we knew about God was from creation then we wouldn’t know much. Quite frankly, the fact of creation doesn’t tell us much of anything except that there is a God and that we should take him seriously. The heavens sing of glory, but not much else. Would the animals model any of God’s morality? Would storms and disasters tell us anything of God’s love?
And we can make the mistake of many ancient peoples and think that creation is singing its own praise, leading us to worship the heavens - the clouds, the stars, and the sun - as gods in their own right. As I’ve been mentioning throughout, people looked to the skies and heard the message of glory, and bowed down to it.
21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
What we learn from nature is often called general theology. We learn some vague generalities of God. But to learn anything else we need more direct and specific theology from God himself. This brings us to the second half of our psalm - the commands of God.
Command
Command
7 The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; 8 the precepts 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 rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. 10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. 11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.
Here we have six descriptions of God’s instruction - but not just any god, the Lord. Every time you see Lord in all capital letters in your bible it’s a stand in for the name God is called by throughout the Old Testament - Yahweh.
7 The law of the Yahweh is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Yahweh is sure, making wise the simple; 8 the precepts of the Yahweh are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Yahweh is pure, enlightening the eyes; 9 the fear of the Yahweh is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Yahweh are true, and righteous altogether. 10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. 11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.
It became a normal practice to not say his name in order to keep it holy and so whenever a Jew was reading through their scripture they would say Lord instead of Yahweh. Most English versions keep that tradition alive.
It’s important that we emphasize his name here. The skies don’t sing the praise of Baal, or Marduk, or Nebo, or Zeus, but Yahweh! Not just a god but this God!
And Yahweh has shown us more than his power. He’s given us his instructions
Instruction for the Good Life
Instruction for the Good Life
We have his law, which you could translate as instruction, his testimonies, his precept, his commandments, his fear, and his rules. All of these are praising God’s instruction for human behavior. It might seem that the fear of Yahweh is the result of his instruction rather than his teachings themselves. Likely it’s the reverence that he gives to us or instructs us to have. He teaches us reverence because we don’t naturally know it.
And these words of God for us are perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, true and righteous. These are words that mostly describe people. We are encouraged to become all of these adjectives ourselves, and we only do so through Yahweh’s instruction. And when we become transformed by God’s word we live in a world of blessings.
God didn’t give us arbitrary instructions. As the creator of our world he knows the best way to live in it. Following the law isn’t a game of Simon-Says where the losers go to hell. It’s the guide book to our own flourishing.
They revive the soul, or, more literally, they are life restoring. Compare the blessing of Yahweh’s instruction with Adam and Eve’s life after rejecting it.
The food was thought to make one wise (Gen 3:5-6) but only God’s word makes wise the simple (Ps 19:7)
She saw the fruit as good and pleasant (Gen 3:6) but only God’s word rejoices the heart (Ps 19:8)
They open their eyes to see they were naked (Gen 3:7) but God’s word enlightens the eyes (Ps 19:8)
They were naked and afraid (Gen 3:10), God’s word grants a clean fear of the Lord (Ps 19:9)
The fruit was desirable (Gen 3:6) but these words are more desirable than gold or honey (Ps 19:10)
Abandoning Yahweh’s instruction lead to death and cursing. But he’s given us his instruction so we can have our life restored after our wanderings. Yahweh shows us what the good life is and how to get there.
It makes the simple wise. A common saying is that ‘Experience is the best teacher.’ The flip-side of that is that learning from experience means you’ve failed to learn from others. The testimonies of Yahweh stop you from learning lessons the hard way. It makes us happy and brightens our eyes. It keeps us committed to Yahweh and ensures our lives are pleasing to him.
Is that how we view the law of Yahweh? Paul in the New Testament has some pretty strong words about the law in comparison to the law of Christ - it has its limits. It’s been surpassed by something greater. But it’s still Yahweh’s instruction. Yahweh, as the creator of this world didn’t leave us blind in it. He gave us the best ways to live life.
Transition
Transition
We have two parts of our puzzle. Creation sings the glory of God to us. We don’t just know about god but know Yahweh as our God who speaks life-restoring words to us. Why then do we have a confession and plea for forgiveness?
Because despite how loud creation is we turn a deaf ear to it.
Because even though Yahweh instructs us in the good-life we each turn to follow our own way.
Confession
Confession
13 Who can detect trespasses? Cleanse me from my inadvertent sins. 14 Also from arrogant ones restrain your servant; let them never control me. Then shall I be blameless, innocent of grave sin.
We have every reason to be good. Obeying God is good for us, good for others, good for all of creation. We know where we want to go and how to get there - so why do we wander and go off the rails? Why, in spite of being given every good tree in the garden, do we always find ourselves looking at the forbidden fruit?
The Psalm asks “Who can detect trespasses?” Trespassing is stepping over a boundary - to wander into places off-limits. We see the same language in Psalm 119:21
21 You rebuke the insolent, accursed ones, who wander from your commandments.
I want to get where God and the good life are but I find myself just wandering off into the unknown without knowing how or why. The prayer is to be cleansed from that wandering inclination.
How many of our sins start off with just our eyes being pulled off the path? Something catches our attention and we get drawn closer and closer while straying further and further. I remember getting lost at the zoo once as a kid - I think it was near the rhinos. I just locked on to what fascinated me and lost all thought of my parents and where we were going. I wasn’t planning on getting lost, certainly didn’t want to - but was unknowingly pulled from the right path and lost.
Verse 14 asks for protection from the arrogant ones.
13 Who can detect trespasses? Cleanse me from my inadvertent sins. 14 Also from arrogant ones restrain your servant; let them never control me. Then shall I be blameless, innocent of grave sin.
Some of your translations will put “presumptuous sin” but sin isn’t there in the text. It’s the insolent ones we just saw in Psalm 119:21. We don’t just mindlessly wander off the tracks - sometimes we’re dragged off against our will. It’s like a compulsion that controls us. Our mind is screaming to not give in, to be strong, to resist! But we can’t control it. And as much as we’d like to blame other people, our childhood, our situation, or whatever else - saying “They made me do it!” - the psalm is prayer for God to restrain me.
That’s maybe the most depressing thing about sin. Intellectually I can tell you why all these behaviors and sins are bad. I can tell you how much damage they will do to me, to my eternal destiny. I can show you how much it will hurt the people I love.
But how do I explain why I do it anyways?
15 I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate.
All of creation shouts the glory of God except for me.
Yahweh invites me into the good life and I wander from the path.
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
Who will keep me on the right path?
Redeemer
Redeemer
15 Let the words of my mouth be acceptable, the thoughts of my heart before you, Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
Here’s the prayer that connects everything in the psalm.
Creation sings the glory of God - let my words join in the choir.
You, Lord, have invited me into your way of life - let my heart be transformed to be like you through your instruction.
Lord, I wander from the right paths, but you are my rock - my refuge where I take shelter and find protection.
And when we do wander he is our redeemer. The redeemer was the one who rescued their family members when things went wrong. If they fell on hard times and sold themselves into debt-slavery, the redeemer bought them back. If a woman’s husband died and left her childless, it was the redeemer who brought her into his home. When a family member was murdered, it was the redeemer who sought justice.
God is our redeemer. When he sees his children in trouble he is the one who takes responsibility for us and makes things right. When we wander into a mess, he’s the one who pulls us out.
Conclusion
Conclusion
I can’t tell you why you do the things you hate. I can’t explain why you always mess up even when you know the right thing to do. I don’t know where your head goes when you wander off the path.
But I do know that God is following you, ready to grasp you by the hand, and gently lead you back to the way of life.
Have you been wandering? Here’s your wake up call. Come back to the paths of life and walk it with us.
