Psalm 19

Whenever I begin Psalm 19, this song runs through my mind:

The spacious firmament on high,
with all the blue ethereal sky,
and spangled heavens, a shining frame,
their great Original proclaim.
The unwearied sun from day to day
does his Creator's power display;
and publishes to every land
the work of an almighty hand.

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David: The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. (Psalms 19:1-3 KJV)

That’s powerful praise for our Lord as His handiwork appears evident before us. This Psalm gives so much more in its few verses.  Robert Lloyd Russell’s Abundant Life blog recently included these verses from Psalm 19:

The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart:
the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever:
the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold:
sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward. (Psalms 19:8-11 KJV)

He focused on some specific words, highlighting and delving into their meaning. I enjoyed his article. The verses, though, separated a bit differently for me – looking at each subject (statutes, commandment, fear, judgments, desires) and their results (rejoicing, enlightening, enduring, true and righteous) when viewed with Him as Lord.

Then comes the bottom line, their reason for existing – they warn us. Each of nouns carry a warning. There are statutes that must be kept. They are few, but defined. The commandments are boiled down by Christ to two relationships – one with God, another with mankind. The fear is a matter of acknowledging and respecting the Lord’s power and authority. We have been warned, over and over, from Genesis to Revelation, that there will be judgment.

We have also been told throughout the Bible that there are great rewards. While some may be seen here on earth, they have not been promised to us.  As Jabez, we may request that our ‘coasts’ be enlarged, but we are not promised they will be.

This Psalm closes with a prayer I need to keep in mind:

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. (Psalms 19:14 KJV)

Our Lord’s creation shouts His ability, and we too often ignore it. We forget that we are to live our understanding of His power and His authority. The words of our mouth should be the evidence that we are meditating on Him in our hearts. Those words, and our actions, should acknowledge Him as our Lord. People should tell from what we do, what we say and where we go that He provides our strength.  Most importantly, we know Him as our redeemer.