Talk: Psalm 19, HTF 19th Sept 2004
David Heath-Whyte
NB: This is what I intended to say
Intro
horoscopes...
"Today: Saturn gives Mars one last push, just as you reach the final hurdle. The challenges you've faced have been profoundly difficult. But achievement and success are yours.
This week: You can't escape the feeling that someone is trying to pin you down. And a conclusion is about to be sealed. But you still have your negotiating points ? and the kind of mind that excels in such a situation. You stand to gain a great deal from this which will offset your fears about what you have to lose. Call 0906 361 6811 for more. (60p/min)"
That was my Horoscope yesterday, courtesy of Debbie Frank in the Daily Mail Online. Apparently, I'm just like Jennifer Aniston, Emma Bunton, and Robbie Williams (hence my song-writing talent) - I'm Friendly, humanitarian, independent, loyal, original, detached, unpredictable.
Well it would be quite funny, except that in a recent survey it was found that 62% of the population believe in what the stars have got to say - and only 38% believe in the bible.
We're going to look at a psalm this morning that tells us about both: what the stars have to say, and what the bible has to say.
This month we're looking at four psalms - the book of psalms is the Hebrew song book - with songs to be sung in their corporate worship, from across their history. And I've chosen different kinds of psalms - a psalm of confession, a messianic psalm, next week a psalm of praise, and today - a wisdom psalm.
Wisdom writings make us look at the world around us, and see what difference knowing God makes to how we live.
three voices...
And as I said: this psalm tells us about what the stars have to say, and what the bible has to say.
In fact there are three voices in this psalm, that we listen to and learn from as read, or sing it.
Voice 1: the Voice of God's Creation, singing "God's Glory!"
First of all - the voice of the stars - or to be more accurate, the voice of God's creation, singing: "God is glorious" - vv.1-6.
amazing God
It says: 'God is glorious - he's awesome - he's vast and wonderful and so powerful you can't begin to imagine it: he is glorious!'
v.1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
You look at what you can see in the world and the universe: and it tells you about the one who created it.
v.2 -Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge - it just keeps on going. Darwin might try to stop it, Marx, Dawkins, Phillip Pulman - but it just keeps on going - saying "look at God's intelligence"!
Islamic or Communist states might try to jam the Christian radio stations; Universities may flood students with secularism - but the creation breaks down barriers and speaks across the world: v.3 There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. 4 Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.
And the sun? People have thought it should be worshipped as a deity - but no - it's part of his creation, showing us the vastness of what God has made - "like a champion running its course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other" and it shows us God's involvement in all he has made - "nothing is hidden from its heat"
The complexity, the size, the wonder of the universe, all says: there's a God, and he is amazing!
God-denying culture
But this is hard for us today, isn't it? we live in a society that wants to delete the creator.
All the subjects at school and college that involve the creation - they're taught in a God-free vacuum. Everything just happens by chance; yes there are rules - the rules of nature, but we're programmed to think of them as just existing - with nothing outside causing them - no God.
If you suggest God is involved, you're ridiculed, poo-pooed or treated as a dangerous extremist. "You don't believe that, this is the 21st century!"
And that does affect us: it makes us reluctant to speak about God creating things, reluctant to praise Him for the world we see around us, ashamed to feel the wonder of God, afraid to say anything about him when we enjoy his creation.
We're tempted to give in to the pressure: "Don't say this has got anything to do with God!"
creation's shout
So it's a good job the creation has a voice: v.1-2 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.
"Look" it says - God made this.
Yes planets are formed from gases cooling after stars explode. Wow - what power God has to do that, what a scientist he is to pull that off!
Yes there are links between the different species of living creatures in the world - there are similarities in body design, DNA and so on. Wow - what depth of thought, what breadth of understanding, what grasp of detail, what intricate control, what power that shapes and changes and transforms and develops. What an amazing God.
Yes there is chaos, catastrophe, collisions, explosions, great storms and astonishing power in the wind and the rain and the sun. What a complex and Sovereign God who has all this under his control.
This is what we call God's "general revelation" - it's revelation: God makes himself known; and it's general - we learn general things about him from the work of his hands. "General Revelation"
And what do we learn? What is the 'testimony' of the creation: God's Glory. He is awesome - don't try to tame him, box him, control him, shrug him off - instead recognise his astonishing intelligence, control and power.
And this glory is the Father's, the Son's, and the Spirit's. The Bible describes each person of the Trinity as being involved - here's what we read about Jesus, for example, in Colossians: 1:16 For by him [Jesus] all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
horoscopes?
So, what does this tell us about horoscopes?
It tells us that if we put our trust in horoscopes, we're actually defying the stars!
The stars have got something to tell us.
If someone asks you -what's in your stars today? You can tell them - because the stars speak.
They say: Trust God! Look at what he's made - how glorious is he?! - trust him!
The stars have got nothing to say about your destiny - and everything to say about God.
They tell us that God is worthy to be called (as in v.14) "my Rock"
This glorious God, with this awesome and intricate power, can fulfil his promises, can't he? He has the control and the wisdom and the size and scale to accomplish anything in his creation.
What he promises, he has the power to do. It might be beyond my imagination - but it's not beyond his ability.
So let's be bold, and let's speak to our society about the creator!
Perhaps you're involved in teaching - there has to be a way you can speak of God's involvement, God's creating power.
Perhaps you're a parent - tell your children (even if they're grown up), that when you look at that scenery, or that storm, you can see the work of God's hands, and what a great God!
And when your friend is looking at a horoscope - tell them you know what the stars are saying for them today.
voice 1
Because that's the first voice we're encouraged to listen to here:
The voice of the creation: reminding us (in this cynical, but powerless world) that God is Glorious - he is the Rock on whom we can stand, the one we can trust with our lives.
Voice 2: the Voice of God's Word, speaking with life-giving power
life-giving
The second voice, is the Voice of God's Written Word, the Bible. It tells us of God's life-giving power. More than that, it brings God's life-giving power to us.
v. 7-10: The Voice of God's word, speaking with life-giving power
The Bible calls itself the "sword of the Spirit" - it's the weapon that the Spirit of God uses to exercise his life-giving power in his people.
That power of God that we can see in his creation - it's the Word of God that brings it to bear on our lives.
The Voice of God's Word: speaking with life-giving power.
treasure to rejoice in
And that makes God's Word a treasure beyond comparison.
Have a look at v.7-9
Each sentence uses a different word to speak about the Bible:
v.7 it's God's "law" - all that he's spoken through his Prophets - for King David, writing the psalm, the earlier part of OT - but now it covers all the Bible: God's revealed will
His "Statutes" - truth declared by God, and proved by God.
His "Precepts and Commands" - precise instructions with God's full authority behind them.
The "fear of the Lord" - v.9 - the reverence that God's word promotes in us.
And God's "ordinances" - his decisions, as the righteous Judge, in human situations.
In the Bible God has given us his detailed expression of what he is like, and what he wants of us, his people.
It's precise, it's authoritative, and it's true.
Where the creation gives us God's General Revelation, the Bible gives us his "Special Revelation": without God's word, we wouldn't have the detail that we've got about God- we wouldn't know about the Holy Spirit, about Jesus, his death and resurrection and how we can be saved by admitting our sin, believing in Jesus, and committing our lives to him. Special Revelation.
And what's it like? dull and boring? not worth crossing the road for?
No - look at the description in v.7-9: it's perfect, trustworthy, right, radiant, pure, sure and precious!
So what will happen if we bother to read it?
God's life-giving power will get to work in our lives:
v.7 reviving the soul, making wise the simple (yes that includes us!), giving joy to the heart, giving light to the eyes.
This is no flash in the pan - it endures forever.
And it's not some dubious pot boiler - it's altogether righteous.
Wow!
power
The Voice of Creation can lift our hearts to see the glory of God.
But the Voice of God's Word can do even more: it can change our hearts, to live in the light of glory of God.
The life-change being described here is fantastic, isn't it?
We might live in a very secular society - but people everywhere are looking for gurus: People want to know the magic way to live that will solve all their problems.
They want Debbie Frank, and ....... to give them a glimmer of hope in their horoscopes.
And then, when nothing changes, they binge drink on a Friday night.
And here we are, sitting on the answer as if it were an accountancy text-book (dry, dusty, boring and tedious), or a millstone that is such a burden that we can't possibly lift it, let alone open it and read it for ourselves!
We've got GOLD in our hands, and we're blind to how it shines.
We've got more treasure here (BIBLE) than a lottery win, but we're too foolish to open it up and soak it in.
God doesn't promise to solve all our problems. But he does promise to revive your soul, to make you wise, to give joy to your heart! And He does, through his Word, tell us the solution to our biggest problem - which is why David knew he could call God, in v. 14, not just his Rock, but also his Redeemer.
As the apostle Paul told Timothy: The Bible is "able to make us wise for salvation in Christ Jesus" (2 Tim 3:15)
No wonder God's words are v.10, "more precious than gold, than much pure gold; ... sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb."
The Bible helps us to know our sin, and to know our Saviour - and so v.11 is true about God's statutes: "By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward."
I wonder what stops you reading the Bible?
Bible notes can be very helpful to get us going - these Explore notes take the Bible seriously, and yet still help to make it very accessible.
And let me recommend this magazine - the Briefing. It comes from Australia, and it's edited for an English Edition by the Good Book Company - each edition has a number of articles about important issues for Christians - and in the back, a series of simple bible notes for the month. What I like about these is that they ask you questions to help you actually study the passage for yourself.
It's called "the Briefing" - I'll leave this copy here if you want a look.
We've got to do something to get reading the Bible -
It's more precious than gold, than much pure gold. It's sweeter than honey - than honey from the comb!
voice 2
So here's the second voice we're encouraged to listen to: The Voice of God's Word - speaking with live-giving power.
Voice 3: the Voice of the Disciple, in confession and commitment
So: Voice 1: the voice of creation: declaring that God is Glorious.
Voice 2: voice of God's word - reviving the soul.
And then finally in this psalm, we hear the voice of the David the Song-writer, the Disciple, expressing his response to God, having heard these other two voices.
v. 12-14. the Voice of the Disciple, in confession and commitment.
I think this is why he wrote this song: he's been struck by the other two voices! He got up one morning and looked out of the window: and it was wonderful, and he was amazed at the awesome Glory of God his creator! He remembered that his God really was trustworthy - a Rock to stand on.
Then he sat down with a cup of tea, and his Bible, and he opened it up and read a few paragraphs. And he was astounded at God's piercing insight into human life, and yet his mercy and grace and love and Redemption.
And so he got down on his face before God, in confession and commitment -
v.12 O My God - Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults. 13 Keep your servant also from wilful sins; may they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression. 14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.
v.12 - Our sins aren't too small to be noticed, are they? we've grown used to them - we need help, because they have become hidden from him. David prays for God's help, for his forgiveness.
And then, v.13 & 14 He asks God to be at work in him, helping his life to a life that pleases God - with what he does, what he says, and what he thinks.
And then David got up, and he went out to work - and how did he feel?
Concerned about who that "someone" is who's "trying to pin him down"? Wondering what his "negotiating points" should be? No.
Pernicious, devious and extreme because he's into God being the Creator....? No.
Loaded and burdened because he's read the Bible...? No way!
- full of joy, with a spring in his step, because God had made himself known to him that morning.
With his "General Revelation" - the Voice of Creation, declaring the Glory of the Creator
And more: with his "Special Revelation" - the Voice of God's Word, speaking with life-giving power.
Will we be like this Disciple: rejoicing in God's creation, treasuring his written Word, and living before him in confession and commitment?