God's World

Psalm 19:1 –

The heavens are telling the glory of God;
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.

Psalm 19 brings together in an extraordinary way two assertions: God speaks to us through his World (vs.1-6) and through his Word (vs.7-13).

Scholars who find here two quite separate psalms completely miss the point (some even see in vs.1-6 a pagan hymn worshipping the sun god). The God who speaks to us through his Word in Scripture, the God who called Israel to be his servant and who sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world – this God is the same God whom we can also see in the majesty and mystery of creation.

It is on God the Creator that the psalm initially focuses. In recent decades radio telescopes and space probes have vastly increased our knowledge of the universe. Astronomy is a popular and fascinating subject and it continually reveals more to us of the unimaginable size and unbelievable complexity of the universe. For believers, such new discoveries do not lessen our faith; on the contrary they fill us with greater awe as we marvel at the glory of God revealed in the heavens. As Addison so eloquently put it

The spacious firmament on high,
With all the blue ethereal sky,
And spangled heavens, a shining frame,
Their great original proclaim.

Prayer: O God, as we look up at the heavens, and as we learn more of the secrets of the universe, we are filled with awe and wonder. Help us to recognize and to revere you as the Creator, not only of the vast immensities of space, but of each one of us individually. Amen.

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