Psalm 19 // 9 August 2026

Anita

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Anyway, here we go. Good afternoon. It is lovely to be here with all of you today. We are continuing our study on the book of Psalms, and I'm going to be working through Psalm 19. This is one of the Psalms written by King David. It's an insightful poem where David first of all reveals there is an awesome creator God and then reveals that there is a personal God who can transform our lives. So before we look at the words of King David, it's good to remind ourselves that David was a real person. There is archaeological evidence that he genuinely was alive and walked on this earth. Do we know how long ago he lived? About 3,000 years ago. So there's us 2,000 years earlier, Jesus, a thousand years earlier, King David. We know where we are. As we go through the psalm, we are going to compare our context with King David's life 3,000 years ago. So hold it in your mind. The original psalm was written in Hebrew, and when it refers to God, in the first section, David uses the word El, which is a Hebrew word. It's a generic mighty God term. And in the second section, David uses the Hebrew word Yahweh, which is the personal name for the God of Israel. So through this psalm, God shows us how creation reveals the God of the universe, and then how scripture reveals the personal God that will transform our lives. And those are the two points that we're going to focus on today. So we're going to start by reading through verses one to six. The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech. Night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words, no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the end of the world. In the heavens, God has pitched a tent for the sun. It's like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other. Nothing is hidden from its warmth. So here David starts by looking up at the heavens and the skies and recognizes that they point to a powerful God. They are the glorious work of his hands. Recently I had the opportunity to just stop and look at the night sky. I could spot Venus, I could make out the plough, but I couldn't see the Milky Way. In David's time, obviously there was no light to pollution. So he would look up and see a glorious host of stars and the Milky Way. And David is saying in this psalm that through creation there is a continuous flow of awe and wonder that points to God. Day after day, night after night, they pour forth speech like a gushing water full with knowledge of God. There's no pause, no break in creation. 24 hours a day, the world around us is pointing towards a creator. Now, when I was doing my stargazing, I was in a wooded area and it was a little bit spooky. Um, and in that moment, I just wondered what it would have been like if there actually was no moon and no stars and no planets. Can you just think about that for a moment? They weren't created. Instead, the sun sets in the evening, and then there's just complete darkness falling across the land. Eight, ten, twelve hours, just an empty void around our planet. Certain isolation, no need for the question, is there anything else out there? Our planet just lying here all alone. I realized that perhaps I'd underestimated actually just how comforting the skies, the starry skies are above me. And I just thought, the thought came to mind, perhaps when that first star appears in the night sky, maybe God's just reminding us that when darkness comes, we're not alone. We're never alone. Now, in the New Testament, in Romans chapter one, um, the Apostle Paul explains that God has planted his invisible qualities in creation to help us understand him better. So when we look up at the night sky, we can visualize concepts that we can't understand. So I can see the stars, but there's too many for me to count. Space is too big, big for me to measure, and the distances are too far for me to travel in a lifetime. And in Isaiah chapter 55, God says through the prophet Isaiah, just as the heavens are above the earth, say my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts. Like the vastness of space, there is a powerful God that we can just never fully understand. Now, I wonder if you recognize this man. It doesn't look like there's a lot of familiarity with him. Victor Glover. Nope. He's the pilot of the Artemis II mission. Did you hear about it on the news earlier on in the year? Victor Glover and his crew successfully carried out a lunar flyby mission, the first in 50 years. He took off from planet Earth, passed through the atmosphere and stratosphere. Um, he actually went further than any humans ever before. Now, Victor Glover is a Christian, and he says that when we unlock the mysteries of the cosmos, it's his Christian faith that is his major source of inspiration. And I thought, you know, Victor Glover has a very different worldview to King David. King David lived at a time when humanity believed that the world was flat. It was a very simple time. The sky was a dome. The sun, the moon, the stars, they were all just embedded in the dome and they just tracked a path across the sky. David had no idea that the earth was spinning as it was orbiting the sun. He had no idea why the moon appeared to change shape. In contrast, Victor Glover has a degree in engineering, two master's degrees. He's piloted more than 40 different aircraft. He's done spacewalks on the International Space Station. He's been further into space than anyone ever before. King David and Victor Glover have a very different understanding of the universe. But for both men, when they look up and out, they see creation pointing to a creator. Isn't that fantastic? In the 3,000 years since the time of King David, humanity has made so much intellectual progress and discovery, bright minds passing on their knowledge to the next generation to work on. And what do they always find? That their discoveries lead to more questions than answers. Of course they do. If King David knew, do you think? What we know now, do you think he would hesitate and want to rephrase any of that psalm? I don't think so at all. I think that King David would be more convinced than ever that creation declares the glory of God. Now, personally, I do love a bit of science and space and the like, but I'm quite happy to leave that to other people to investigate. The bright minds out there, they can work out the operational how and when questions of the universe. I think we've got other questions that we need to answer. I want to know who is this creator God? What is his character like? What does knowing God actually mean to me? And I love this Psalm because David now shifts exactly into that. He starts using the word Yahweh to emphasize the person that God is. So whilst the universe shows God's power, he tells us that the word of God reveals his character. Now we know King David loves the word of God, but have you ever considered how limited David's Bible was? Do you know what David used as his Bible? So 3,000 years ago, King David had the Torah, which is the law of Moses. We've broken down the law of Moses into Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and that was David's scripture. So there are other writings around. There were bits of Joshua, bits of Judges, probably Job, probably bits of Ruth. But for David, it was actually the five books, the law of Moses, the Torah, that was the word of God. That was the scripture here that David is using. Now, fun fact, in Deuteronomy chapter 17, did you know that there are actually instructions for what a new king has to do when he takes the throne? Did you know that? So when a new king takes the throne, there's quite a list he's got to go through. Um, first of all, he actually has to write out by hand his own personal copy of the law of Moses. So Bible historians think that was Deuteronomy, which still seems like a pretty big task to me. Um the king actually had to go to the priests because the priests held the original scrolls. So he had to go to the priests and he had to copy out by hand um Deuteronomy or the law of Moses underneath the priest's supervision. So they were there to check he was doing it right, I guess, um, explain anything that he didn't understand, check his understanding, check um, explain any technical different difficulties or any technical points. So not only did the king of Israel have his own personal copy of the word, but he had to keep it with him all the time. So the scroll had to go out with him to war, it had to stand next to him on the table when he was acting as a judge, he had to take it to dinner with him when he was eating. It was with the king all the time. Not only this, but the king of Israel also had to spend time every day personally reading the law of Moses, personally understanding what was written in God's law every day for the rest of his life was the instruction. So the word of God was actually built into King David's way of life. And I think it's so important for us to be like that. We need to engage with the word of God every day. If you have the Bible app on your phone, anyone got the Bible app on their phone, you are like King David. You're like carrying it around with you. In Deuteronomy, it said that King David, well, that the king had to keep the word with him and read it every day so that he remained humble. So he would know he was not above God, he was not above the law, and he wasn't above the people of Israel. And that's the same for us. We've got the word of God with us all the time, and it helps to remind us who God is, who we are, and how to treat the people around us. I saw an image recently of a rock, and um there was a stream of continuous, a flow of continuous water that was running over the rock, and where the water was in contact with the rock, it had become smooth. It actually looked like it had changed shape because a gully had formed through it. And I thought we are like that rock, aren't we? When we let the word of God pour through our lives, it actually changes the parts that it touches. So God's word shapes us and it changes us, and that's what David explains in his next two verses. So if we could go on to the next two verses, um, just highlighting to begin with the different titles that David is using for the law of Moses or the Word of God. They've all got a slightly different meaning. So we've got the law, which is God's guiding principles that oversee and govern the way things are supposed to be, God's law. His statutes are a bit more like promise statements that you kind of make in an agreement. Precepts are like directions on a signpost, they're instructions linked to actions, and then there are commands, which are um the orders about our behavior. I just noticed the bottom has been removed. That's okay because we've got the next slide coming up. Um so the what we're going to have a look at is what David actually says. Perfect. That's what we want. But the next slide. Um what we're going to look at is what David actually says are the benefits of engaging with the word of God, understanding the law of God, and actually following it in our lives. And I love this because David explains that it changes us from the inside out. So if you have a look, the law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. So, first of all, God's law actually starts to work at the inner core of who we are as people, our innermost spiritual core. And God has created a law, um, governing principles, whereby our soul, our innermost being, can be refreshed. Now, in this could be translated as revived, reborn, or bringing to new life. So God's way, God's governing principles are perfect and they are complete, and they can actually bring us new birth to our soul, the inner core of who we are. Isn't that fantastic? Next we see that God's word actually impacts our mind. So the statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. So being wise is about truly understanding a situation, truly understanding a context, and then making the right decision or an accurate assessment. And in Romans chapter 12, the Apostle Paul says that we should be transformed by the renewing of our mind so that we can test and approve God's will for our lives. So, how do we test and approve God's will for our lives? Well, we trust in God's word, we get to learn and understand the law of God, we lean into the things that He says are true, and they actually will transform your mind. They transform the way that you think and the way that you understand situations will change. And this inevitably makes us wise. Now, next, the word of God impacts us emotionally. When we talk about the heart, we're actually talking about like the emotional center of our well-being. So it says here that the precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. So, precepts, as I said, are like directions on a signpost. They show you the way to go. Now, if you have ever been physically lost or alone, then you will know that that brings anxiety, panic, worry, fear. That is not what God wants for our lives. God wants us to have a feeling of security. When we read the word, we know the way we're supposed to go. The directions show us the path to go on. And then what happens? Our emotional well-being. There is joy in our heart, that center of who we are, our center of our emotions, experiences joy. So we can see that King David has shown us that it impacts our spirit, our mind, and also our emotional well-being just from reading the word. But we also have this last one, which is one of my favorites really. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. So when we read God's word, when we really get into it, we actually have a new vision, new clarity, new perspective. We view life differently, and this is important because it impacts now other people from the inside out. God's word changes the way we see God. We respect him, we know he is above all, over all, in all. But as Jez said last week, we also know that God is a personal God. He sees our sitting down, he knows our innermost thoughts, he sees us, knows us, and loves us. So the Bible, the reason the Bible changes the way that we see God, but it actually changes the way we see ourselves as well. We can see how we fit into the world, we can see where we belong, where we come from, and where we're going. And of course, it also impacts the way that we see other people. We see value in other people designed and created by God. We are not better than others. We act with love and compassion and grace. Now, isn't it incredible that David could get all of that from just the first five books of the Bible? Can you imagine how much David would have loved the other 61 books of the Bible? The imagery in the Song of Songs, the accounts in the history books, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther. Can you imagine how he would have loved the words of Isaiah and the other prophets? And that is just the Old Testament. How much more was revealed about God's character when Jesus, the Messiah, stepped onto the scene? When we launch into the New Testament, we see God's taking on limitations of human existence. We have the teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. If I had to write out a portion of scripture and carry it round with me, I think it would be the Sermon on the Mount. Maybe you can think about that one later for yourselves. Through the words of Jesus in this book, we have parables explaining the kingdom of God. We see how Jesus lifts up women and children and he breaks down social boundaries and he acts with love and compassion and grace. Then we move into Acts, where the Holy Spirit is poured out onto Jews and Gentiles, and He brings peace beyond understanding and joy to our heart. And then we've got the letters from Paul that are explaining God's heart and purpose and encouraging us. And then, of course, we have the book of Revelation. But with all that we have access to in our hands, how much more can we agree with the words of King David in this psalm? So, this Bible, it is an incredible book. This morning Sean said, This book is worth more than anything the world can offer. People have their lives transformed just by reading this book. Why? Well, it's because they are engaging with the breath of God that is breathing new life. It's like the vastness of space. A lifetime would not be long enough to fully explore its depths. But like a child looks up and is just delighted by the moon, the concepts and principles in here are easy enough for us all to understand. This book also has a bit of a mysterious property, I think. It's not a spell book or a book of enchantments. You don't kick it up for a quick fix and then discard it. If you throw a cup of water over a rock, you have a wet rock. Nothing fundamentally changes. And it's like that with the word of God. The more time you spend with it, the more it changes you, and the more you understand God, and the more you understand yourself. So if you know that there is a God of creation, but you don't yet know him on a personal level, you need to meet Jesus. He can be found in the New Testament. I would suggest reading Mark's gospel. Other people would have other suggestions as a starting place, but why not be like David and the priests? Find someone to come along and read with you as you get to know Jesus better. If you feel like you're perhaps making poor decisions in life or you're feeling lost in life, then try adjusting your daily routine. Bring in more time to actually engage with the Word of God. What you find is that the rhythm of your life more closely matches the heartbeat of your Creator. And of course, if life is tough, then open the Bible. Spend time with the Holy Spirit. He brings joy to the heart, peace beyond understanding. Spend time with the Savior who calms the storm. Now, David concludes this psalm with a personal reflection, so that's what I'd like us to do now. Um, just as the sun gives warmth to everything it touches, God's word impacts everywhere it touches in our lives. So I'll ask the band to come up, and I just thought if we could just bow our heads and just have a moment of personal reflection, talk privately with God, reflect on your relationship with the Creator God. Are you in a place where He's your personal God? Do you know Jesus? Do you need to know Jesus better? Just commit yourself to spending more time getting to know Jesus more if you want to. God knows what you're thinking. Reflect on your relationship with the Bible. Does God's word have a high enough priority in your daily lives and routines? Where should it be having more impact? The way you think, feel, see, how you interact with others? As you just speak with God privately, I'm just going to use the last verse of this psalm as my prayer to close. So, Creator God, may these words from our mouth and the thoughts from our heart be pleasing in your sight. You are our Lord, our rock, and our redeemer. Amen.