“Day to day pours out speech, and night reveals knowledge”–
(Psalm 19:2)
My Dear Ones in Christ our Lord,
I would venture a guess that there are many of us who encounter seasons of life when we are tempted to believe that God is silent. This is, at least in my experience, usually associated with affliction or difficulties that flow into our lives from our Father’s hand. Of course, king David himself walked this very pathway long ago (see Psalm 109:1-4 for just one example). And if we follow David’s lead, it is not a sin or an expression of unbelief to cry out to our Father in personal admission of this sense of His apparent silence. Frankly, I would suspect that this reality will not change much until we see our Savior face-to-face. We will need the Spirit’s sustaining grace and power as we faithfully await the arrival of that great Day.
But let’s return to this subject of our Father’s apparent silence.
I say ‘apparent’ silence simply because that’s what it is. In this wonderful nineteenth Psalm, David shows us that, in reality, our Father is never, ever silent! He is always, day and night, speaking to us! And if this is true, then what we need is a little adjustment in our ‘listening.’
In Psalm19:1-6, the king of Israel declares that the stars at night and the sun in the day are ‘voices’ shouting out to us, unceasingly declaring our Father’s majestic “glory” (v. 1). Paradoxically, while unable to actually speak, the language of the heavens and the sun “goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world” (v. 4). This means that, for those who are ‘listening,’ the Father shouts to us as the sun moves above the horizon in the morning, sending us on our way each day in His service! And He sings us to sleep at night as the starry hosts appear with the deepening darkness! The theme of both the daytime sun and the evening stars is His awesome “glory”! “Day to day” this heavenly “speech” is poured out upon us like Niagara Falls!
The celestial message of our Father’s “glory” should not be discounted for its seeming simplicity and brevity. That one little word encompasses all that our Father is in His infinity, omnipotence, wisdom, uniqueness, splendor, love, holiness, and more! The Awesome One is never quiet!
But, this is not all there is to His speaking!
In verses 7-10, David explains that our gracious Lord and Father has also delivered to us His written Word. This same Word is referred to by the king as “law,” “testimony,” “precepts,” “commandments,” “fear,” and “rules.” These synonymous terms reveal the sufficiency and power of the Lord’s own voice, which has been recorded in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.
When we open and read His Word, we ‘hear’ our Father speak. And as we do this, the Spirit of God illuminates our minds, teaches us our Father’s truth, and applies it to our individual lives. Once again, He is never silent! Morning, noon, and night, and every second in between, the One who made us and loves us is speaking to us!
Our task on this new Monday is simply to listen! As I write this, the sun is on its way over the horizon. It is traveling the pathway through the heavens that our Father has established (vv. 4-5). Its message is “Glory!”, the “glory” of our majestic and sovereign God! In eleven hours or so, the stars will appear as night falls. And their song will be the same! And as you open your Bibles at some point along the way in these next several hours, your Father will speak yet again. And as we listen to the heavens, and as we read the inscripturated Word, let us respond in prayer:
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer”!
I love you so very much,
Mike
Next up: Psalm 24.