The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy. 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. The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts 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 forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. – Psalm 19

Elijah told King Ahab it would not rain until he said so. After three years of drought and famine, there was a showdown on Mt. Carmel. “How long will you go limping between two opinions?” Elijah asked. “If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” 

Elijah proposed a contest with the 450 prophets of Baal. They would set up an altar and call on their God. The God who answered by fire would be God. The Baal prophets cried out to him with no answer. Elisha called on the Lord, and he consumed the drenched altar with fire. Elisha’s contest with the Baal prophets establishes a fundamental theological standard: Do not worship a God that cannot speak. 

Psalm 115:5-7 describes dead idols: “They have mouths, but do not speak, eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk, and they do not make a sound in their throat.” Idols have mouths that cannot speak and throats that make no sound. Psalm 115:8 warns: “Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.” 

Not so with those who trust the God of the Bible. God speaks. That is the message of Psalm 19: God speaks that we may trust and obey him. C.S. Lewis called Psalm 19 “the greatest poem in the Psalter and one of the greatest lyrics in the world.” Its ascription reads: “To the Choirmaster. A Psalm of David.” This is a psalm of praise to the God who speaks. Do you want to hear God speak to you? 

Psalm 19 teaches three ways God speaks. 

God Speaks In The Skies 

Sir Christopher Wren designed and built St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. He is buried there. On his tombstone is a Latin inscription: “If you wish to see his monument, look around you.” 

Atheistic evolutionists deny Intelligent Design. They claim something came from nothing. David does not argue for biblical creationism. He points up and says nature is a monument to its creator. Scholars call this general revelation.  

General Revelation Declared. Verse 1 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God.” The “heavens” refer to outer space where the sun, moon, and stars exist. The heavens declare God’s glory. 

• The shining heavens glorify God in creation. 
• The singing heavens glorify God in the incarnation. 
• The darkened heavens glorify God in the crucifixion. 
• The opened heavens glorify God in the ascension. 
• The fiery heavens will glorify God in the second coming. 

 Scripture speaks of God’s glory two ways. Intrinsic glory means God is glorious because God is God. Ascribed glory is our response to God’s self-disclosure. Verse 1 personifies the heavens to ascribe glory to God. Psalm 148:3 says, “Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars!” 

Verse 1 adds: “And the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” The “sky above” refers to what Genesis 1:6-8 calls an “expanse” – the lower atmosphere that blankets the earth and houses the clouds, rains, and winds. Psalm 147:8 says, “He covers the heavens with clouds; he prepares rain for the earth.” 

The firmament proclaims God’s “handiwork.” This is an anthropomorphism. God spoke the world into existence out of nothing. Yet David poetic describes God creating the sky like a mother crocheting blankets for her children’s beds. Psalm 8:3 says, “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place.” David did not have a telescope or satellite images of the vast universe. But when he looked up, he saw the glory of God everywhere. 

General Revelation Described.

The skies glorify God. Verse 2 says, “Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.” Creation glorifies God day and night. The day “pours out speech” like a stream bubbling over. The night is a professor that “reveals knowledge.” 

Verse 3 states creation’s sermon is preached silently: “There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.” Without a word, the skies declare God is real.

Verse 4 says, “Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.” The emphasis is on the universality of nature’s silent sermon. Its message is amplified “through all the world”and “to the ends of the world.”

Romans 10:18 says, “But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for “Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.” Faith comes by hearing the word of God. But unbelievers have heard the message of God by living in his created world. Romans 1:20 says, “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” 

What about those who never hear the gospel? They will suffer eternal punishment. They are without excuse because they suppress the truth of God within and around them. What are you doing to reach the lost?

 The sun glorifies God. Verse 4 ends: “In them he has set a tent for the sun.” The ancients worshiped the sun. David drew a clear line between creator and creation. God placed the sun in the sky like a tent to which it retreats at night.

Verse 5 says it “comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber.” The picture may be of the bridegroom eagerly leaving his chambers on his wedding day. Or it may be of the bridegroom joyfully leaving his chambers after his wedding night.

It is also “like a strong man runs its course with joy.” A weak man struggles soon after the race begins. A strong man runs his course with joy. 

Verse 6 says, “Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them.” The sun runs a heavenly Olympics marathon from one end of the heavens to the other. Psalm 113:3 says, “From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised!” 

Verse 6 ends: “And there is nothing hidden from its heat.” Whatever you think of “climate change,” it affirms nothing is hidden from the sun’s heat. Its heat glorifies our Creator-God. 

God Speaks By Scripture

General revelation declares God is real. It cannot teach us who God is. It may proclaim contradictory messages of God. The sunshine says something different about God than storms. General revelation cannot get you to heaven. It only teaches enough to send you to hell. To be saved, we need special revelationin God’s word. 

The Authority of Scripture. Verses 7-9 read: “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts 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 forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.”

“God” in verse 1 translates El – the most generic name for God in the Old Testament. God is notmentioned in verses 2-6. Six times in verses 7-9, he is called the “Lord” – the covenant name of God. It is the most important term in these verses. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God.” The Bible is God’s word to man, not man’s word about God. It is God’s word to man. As God’s word, scripture carries divine authority. It is… 

• The law of the Lord. 
• The testimony of the Lord. 
• The precepts of the Lord.  
• The commandment of the Lord. 
• The fear of the Lord. 
• The rules of the Lord. 

God’s word is perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, true, and righteous. It revives the soul. It makes wise the simple. It rejoices the heart. It enlightens the eyes. It endures forever. Scripture does what it does because it is what it is. 

Isaiah 55:10-11 says, “For as the rain and snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

The Sufficiency of Scripture. Verses 10-11 make a twofold statement about the sufficiency of scripture. 

God’s word is precious. Verse 10 says, “More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.” God’s word is better than money and honey. Goldis valuable. Scripture is better than “much fine gold.” Scripture enriches. Psalm 119:72 says, “The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.” 

Honey is sweet. Scripture is better than “drippings from the honeycomb.” Scripture satisfies. Psalm 34:8 says, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!” David gives this testimony with a limited Bible. We have the complete canon of sixty books! 

A blind leper lost his hands. With the remaining stub, he read scripture in Braille. When the hand was gone, he used his tongue. When it grew calluses, The doctor said if he didn’t stop, he would lose the ability to taste food. The man said, “Food will nourish me, even if I can’t taste it. But if I give up reading the Bible, I will have nothing to nourish my soul.”   

God’s word is profitable. Verse 11 says, “Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.” Here is the first time the psalmist refers to himself. He calls himself “your servant” in submission to divine authority. 

Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” It will show you which way not to go: “By them is your servant warned.” 2 Timothy 3:16 says scripture is “profitable for teaching for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” Verse 11 says, “In keeping them there is great reward.” Keeping God’s word does not just brings reward. Obedience is its own reward. John 13:17 says, “If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” 

God Speaks To The Sinner. 

• Verses 1-6 are about God’s world. 
• Verses 7-11 are about God’s word. 
• Verses 12-14 are about God’s way.  

These closing verses record the sinner’s response to God’s self-revelation in nature and scripture. It is a prayer for conversion and consecration. 

A Prayer for Conversion. Verse 12 asks, “Who can discern his errors?” This rhetorical question assumes a negative answer.We play experts at discerning others’ faults. We cannot discern our own faults. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” 

• We think we are better than others. 
• We are worse than we can know. 

But you do not have to be what you have been. You can change. Verse 12 says, “Declare me innocent of hidden faults.” “Hidden faults” are secret sins. You may hide your sin from others. You cannot hide from God. Hebrews 4:13 says, “And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” 

Our only hope is that God would declare us innocent by the blood of Jesus. God declares sinners righteous who trust the finished redemptive work of Christ. Run to the cross!

Verse 13 says, “Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins.” Note the progression of language. Verse 12 speaks of “errors” and “faults.” “Presumptuous sins” is open rebellion, stubborn transgression, and willful disobedience. Isaiah 53:6 says, “We have turned – every one – to his own way.”

We should pray, “Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins.” Divine preservation is our only defense against presumptuous sins. Jude 24 says, “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy.” Ask God, “Let them not have dominion over me!”

• Only God can keep you from being enslaved to sin. 
• Only God can set you free from the bondage of sin.

A Prayer of Consecration. Many psalms state the point upfront. The point is at the end of this psalm. Verse 14 says, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Preachers pray this before their sermons. But it is for every child of God.

After discussing how God speaks, David prays about “the words of my mouth.” Speech is a gift we must steward faithfully. Matthew 12:36-37 says, “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” 

David also prays about “the meditation of my heart.” Psalm 1:2 describes the blessed man: “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” A godly life aligns the mouth’s words and the heart’s meditations.  

The goal of godliness is to be “acceptable in your sight.” This is sacrificial language. A worshiper’s sacrifice had to be acceptable to God. So it is with the consecrated life. Romans 12:1 says, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” 

David fell short. But he called on the Lord, who was his rock and redeemer. How much more true is that in Jesus. 

• The Lord is our rock who strengthens us. 
• The Lord is our redeemer who saves us.