Psalm 19

Announcements:

Camp

Beach Bonfire Wednesday

Introduction

Taking a break this month (from Acts) to spend in the Psalms

Today we are going to be getting into another one of my favorite Psalms and one that has been on my mind a lot this last week: Psalm 19

But before we read it, I want to remind us of the purpose of the Psalms:

They teach us how to pray

They are a collection of prayers of God’s people that have been kept for thousands of years

And the invitation in the Psalms isn’t just to read them like you’d read a book or poem

But to actually pray them

And Psalm 19 is primarily a Psalm of worship—A Psalm praising God for who he is and what he has done

And it is broken into 3 parts

God speaks through Creation (v1-6)

God speaks through His Word (v7-11)

Humble Confession to the Lord (v12-14)

And similarly to the last time I taught the Psalms (before the JHM crossover)

I’m going to teach relatively quickly through the Psalm and then we are going to have some time to spread out and reflect/pray on our own

Scripture Reading

Psalm 19 CSB

1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands. 2 Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge. 3 There is no speech; there are no words; their voice is not heard. 4 Their message has gone out to the whole earth, and their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun. 5 It is like a bridegroom coming from his home; it rejoices like an athlete running a course. 6 It rises from one end of the heavens and circles to their other end; nothing is hidden from its heat. 7 The instruction of the Lord is perfect, renewing one’s life; the testimony of the Lord is trustworthy, making the inexperienced wise. 8 The precepts of the Lord are right, making the heart glad; the command of the Lord is radiant, making the eyes light up. 9 The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the Lord are reliable and altogether righteous. 10 They are more desirable than gold— than an abundance of pure gold; and sweeter than honey dripping from a honeycomb. 11 In addition, your servant is warned by them, and in keeping them there is an abundant reward. 12 Who perceives his unintentional sins? Cleanse me from my hidden faults. 13 Moreover, keep your servant from willful sins; do not let them rule me. Then I will be blameless and cleansed from blatant rebellion. 14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.

God Speaks Through Creation

Psalm 19:1–4 CSB

1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands. 2 Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge. 3 There is no speech; there are no words; their voice is not heard. 4 Their message has gone out to the whole earth, and their words to the ends of the world.

The Psalmist begins with a reflection on creation

What is he saying?

God speaks through creation

Not with speech and words—but with a resounding message that has gone out to the ends of the world

Im just curious, how many of you have experienced this?

God speaking to you through creation?

Taking in the awe of creation leads us to worship

What is the most beautiful view you’ve ever seen?

Mist Trail/Mt. Fuji

There is a sense of awe and wonder

And humans throughout history have always been tempted to worship the creation over the creator

But we know that all of this beauty “proclaims (speaks of) the work of his hands”

With no words — Deep cries out to deep

Ex. Time in Yosemite

Feeling so small - God is so big

Me -> Half Dome -> Stars

Beauty

In the big

In the small

And I think that capturing this beauty is a lot more difficult now than it has ever been in the past

We live in pretty ugly places

Concrete, pavement, lack of life

So we either have to train ourselves to see the beauty in the mundane

Or we have to go out of our way to see nature

But as we make time to do this: we hear from God

And not just in a general way—but if we pay attention—very specific things

Like the Psalmist says:

Psalm 19:4–6 CSB

In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun. 5 It is like a bridegroom coming from his home; it rejoices like an athlete running a course. 6 It rises from one end of the heavens and circles to their other end; nothing is hidden from its heat.

He is reflecting on the sun and sees the beauty in it

As we take time to reflect on nature

From the Sun to ocean waves to ants to waterfalls

God is at work — creation pours out speech — pointing to its creator

God Speaks Through His Word

But the Psalmist doesn’t end with creation

We don’t believe in a pantheist God (explain)

But the same God who has created everything—has also spoken to humanity through his word

Psalm 19:7–11 CSB

7 The instruction of the Lord is perfect, renewing one’s life; the testimony of the Lord is trustworthy, making the inexperienced wise. 8 The precepts of the Lord are right, making the heart glad; the command of the Lord is radiant, making the eyes light up. 9 The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the Lord are reliable and altogether righteous. 10 They are more desirable than gold— than an abundance of pure gold; and sweeter than honey dripping from a honeycomb. 11 In addition, your servant is warned by them, and in keeping them there is an abundant reward.

God’s Word:

Renews life and strengthens us

Give us wisdom

Brings us joy

Provides direction

Endures forever

Is valuable and priceless

Is meant to be eaten (delicious and sweet)

Is rewarding

Again this is a Psalm of praise

Can you see how precious God’s word is to David in this Psalm?

This Psalm isn’t just telling us truths about how we can trust God’s word

Its giving us words to express how life changing it is

And maybe we don’t believe this things—but reading this psalms gives me a jealousy

I want that—I want to think of God’s word like that

And as we pray these prayers—we actually begin to see it like this

We get a glimpse at how life changing they can be

Ex. Getting into MtG

So after reflecting on God’s creation—and on God’s word

The Psalm takes a turn

From the beauty and wonder of God and his handiwork to an inner reflection:

Humble Confession and Prayer

Psalm 19:12–14 CSB

12 Who perceives his unintentional sins? Cleanse me from my hidden faults. 13 Moreover, keep your servant from willful sins; do not let them rule me. Then I will be blameless and cleansed from blatant rebellion. 14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.

It is a healthy and normal reaction to be humbled before God

When we take in all of the awe and wonder—shortly after we are made aware of:

How small we are

How broken we are

How sinful we are

How insufficient we are

When we get a glimpse of the glory of God-the normal reaction is to be humbled

And this humbling isn’t meant to break us down and destroy us

It’s meant to keep us clinging on to God

Keep us dependent on him

So this Psalm ends with a prayer to keep himself from sinning

Both intentional sins and hidden sins

And finally with a heartfelt desire that every thought and word he speaks would be pleasing to God

Psalm 19:14 CSB

14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.

Conclusion

In short:

This Psalm is all about hearing from God—and aligning ourselves with him

Letting God speak to us both through creation and his word

And aligning our lives—both inwardly and outwardly—to his ways

Its a refreshing—recentering—prayer of praise

And I think the biggest takeaway for me in this Psalm is that:

“God is there and he is not silent”

We might not be able to see God—but he is constantly speaking

If we have the ears to hear

If we pay attention

Often that means turning down the noise of everything else—so we can hear God

I often go to the park or beach and lie down for a while

Not filling my life up with more noise—but to hear from God

And it’s not always great and fantastic—hearing a lifechanging word

But often it’s a reassuring truth

And Jesus did this all of the time

SotM

Consider the birds

Consider the flowers

Jesus himself was reflecting on nature

So now we are going to take some time with this Psalm and spread out to hear from the Lord

Focus on creation

Trees, Sky, Grass, others, etc.

Focus on his word

Reflect on what God’s word means to you

Confession/Realignment

Read this Psalm slowly once or twice over, then open your ears to hear