Last year the Anglican Connection held an online conference addressing the theme, \u2018The Unchanging God in a World of Change\u2019. As the Bible provides timeless answers to questions about life various speakers brought us reflections on the Scriptures to help us learn of God and the world in which we live.<\/p>\n
Dr. John Yates, Senior Minister of Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Raleigh, NC, gave us two meditations on Psalm 19. With John\u2019s permission, here is his first reflection.<\/p>\n
<\/b><\/p>\nPsalm 19 Reflection<\/b> (1)<\/b> \u2013 John Yates III<\/h3>\n
Psalm 19 is well-known to all of us, and for good reason. \u00a0As CS Lewis unabashedly wrote, \u201cI take this to be the greatest poem in the Psalter and one of the greatest lyrics in the world.\u201d\u00a0 (Reflections on the Psalms<\/i>, London 1958, p.63).<\/p>\n
This psalm of David begins with an emphatic declaration of the glory of God in the heavens in vv.1-6, pivots to a profound proclamation of the gifts of God in scripture in vv.7-11, and then concludes with a heartfelt confession and plea in vv.12-14.<\/p>\n
As we focus on the first 6 verses this morning I want to ask two rather simple questions.\u00a0 The first is this: What exactly are the heavens doing?\u00a0 Verse 1,<\/p>\n
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.<\/i><\/p>\n
2\u00a0Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.<\/i><\/p>\n
3\u00a0There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.<\/i><\/p>\n
4\u00a0Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.<\/i><\/p>\n
To put it simply, the heavens are praising God. \u00a0But this is no normal song of praise.<\/p>\n
The first thing to notice about it is that it is continuous<\/i>.\u00a0 \u201cDay to day\u201d and \u201cnight to night\u201d signify that the song is unending.\u00a0 The heavens never pause for breath.\u00a0 They never take a rest, which means that a melody of praise has played in the heavens since God first separated the firmaments and named them.\u00a0 Every age, epoch and season has been serenaded by it.<\/p>\n
The second thing to notice about the heavens\u2019 praise is that it is inaudible<\/i>. \u00a0It is nonetheless intelligible.\u00a0 It reveals the vast storehouses of God\u2019s knowledge, which unlike human knowledge cannot be taught but is simply possessed by God.\u00a0 His knowledge and understanding is so vast it can only be displayed in the infinitude of space.<\/p>\n
The third thing to notice is that this song is totally unconstrained<\/i>.\u00a0 It knows no national borders or physical barriers.\u00a0 It covers every nook and cranny of the earth, and is therefore inescapable.\u00a0 It is everywhere all at once.<\/p>\n
These are the first things we notice about the song of the heavens as the poem begins.\u00a0 In the second half of v.4, then, a shift takes place. \u00a0David narrows the focus of his reflection, moving from the broad expanse of the cosmos to the more familiar track of the sun.\u00a0 David writes,<\/p>\n
In them [the heavens] he has set a tent for the sun,<\/i><\/p>\n
5\u00a0which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,<\/i><\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 and like a strong man, runs its course with joy.<\/i><\/p>\n
6\u00a0Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them,<\/i><\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0 and there is nothing hidden from its heat.<\/i><\/p>\n
In that last phrase, the unconstrained and inescapable nature of heaven\u2019s witness is illustrated by the searching heat of the sun \u2013 something every Jew living in the land of Israel would have experienced first-hand on the long, hot days of a Mediterranean summer.<\/p>\n
But David is doing more than repeating his opening theme here.\u00a0 By likening the sun to a happy bridegroom he is painting a more complete picture of the character of heaven\u2019s praise.<\/p>\n
The sun is like a man in the fullness of life who strides across the heavens in a demonstration of strength, full of the joy of his exertion.\u00a0 The sun is doing what it was made to do and loving every minute of it.\u00a0 We get a hint here of the profound truth that the praise of the heavens is not an accident; it is essential to the vocation of creation.<\/p>\n
Not to be lost in this wonderful imagery is the fact that the sun is simply part of God\u2019s creation.\u00a0 In David\u2019s world the pagans worshiped the sun as a god.\u00a0 The Babylonians even referred to the sun-god as a bridegroom.\u00a0 For David, however, the sun gives worship rather than receiving it.\u00a0 It is a powerful witness \u2013 but only a witness \u2013 to the far greater glory of its creator.<\/p>\n
The subtle polemic of this portrayal is reinforced in the second half of the psalm when Yahweh is named as the one who gives the law and establishes righteousness.\u00a0 Among the pagans that was the work of the sun-god.\u00a0 We know this from the stele that contains Hammurabi\u2019s law code, where the sun-god, Shamash, is portrayed as giving the law to the king.\u00a0 As David will soon explain, however, the sun only heralds the one true God who alone reveals his law directly to Moses.<\/p>\n
What are the heavens doing?\u00a0 They are bearing incessant and unconstrained witness to the glory of God over every inch of creation.\u00a0 In doing so they are joyfully manifesting part of their very purpose in creation.<\/p>\n
But what is the content of their revelation?\u00a0 What knowledge, exactly, do the heavens reveal?\u00a0 This, our second question, needs to be addressed briefly before we conclude.<\/p>\n
There is a noticeable lack of content in the proclamation of the heavens.\u00a0 We are told of the vastness of God\u2019s knowledge and his incomparable glory, but little is actually said about<\/i> God. \u00a0Quite a bit, however, is implied in David\u2019s description.<\/p>\n
First we see order<\/i> and intent<\/i>.\u00a0 The heavens are well organized; the sun skillfully sent on its daily circuit.\u00a0 The \u201chandiwork\u201d of God is evident across the expanse of the firmament.\u00a0 The God whose glory the heavens\u2019 proclaim is orderly and intentional in all that he creates.<\/p>\n
Second, we see engagement<\/i> and accessibility<\/i>.\u00a0 God is involved in his creation.\u00a0 He has not simply wound the spring and walked away.\u00a0 He sets a tent for the sun, and daily guides its course.\u00a0 He is also accessible \u2013 meaning that he has chosen to make himself known and to reveal his glory.\u00a0 The extent to which he can be known, and by whom he can be known, is left a mystery at this point, but will soon be revealed in the latter half of the psalm.<\/p>\n
Finally, we see distance<\/i>.\u00a0 Even though he is active and engaged, the God of David still stands apart from his creation.\u00a0 He is un<\/i>-created, and he alone.\u00a0 The song of the heavens is a declaration of his unique glory \u2013 his weightiness, dignity and authority.<\/p>\n
The content of heaven\u2019s declaration may be limited, but it is still substantial.\u00a0 This is a god unlike any other known to the ancient world.<\/p>\n
As we conclude I want to leave you with a brief thought about David himself.<\/p>\n
A psalm like this requires a lot of staring up into space: head high, shoulders back, mouth agape, mind spinning.\u00a0 It is the fruit of observing the glories of the heavenly spheres, attending to their silent speech and contemplating divine intent.\u00a0 Only a man looking up and outside of himself could pen a poem like this.\u00a0 Only a man keen to see God\u2019s glory and to name it could explore creation in this way.<\/p>\n
In asking us to consider the glory of the heavens David invites us to do the same.\u00a0 He invites us to stop looking at our feet or gazing at our navels, to straighten our backs, and to throw back our heads in wonder.\u00a0 He invites us to see the heavens from a fresh perspective, to seek out and name God\u2019s glory wherever we see it.<\/p>\n
In David\u2019s delightful description the heavens fulfill their vocation by proclaiming the glory of God \u2013 by giving him praise.\u00a0 This vocation is not unique to the sun, moon and stars.\u00a0 It is ours as well.\u00a0 And while we may never write a poem like this, we are right to seek out God\u2019s glory and to proclaim it boldly to the world around us.<\/p>\n
\u00a9 Dr. John Yates III<\/strong><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Introduction \u2013 John Mason Last year the Anglican Connection held an online conference addressing the theme, \u2018The Unchanging God in a World of Change\u2019. As the Bible provides timeless answers to questions about life various speakers brought us reflections on the Scriptures to help us learn of God and the world in which we live. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":29909,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ac-podcast","category-word-on-wednesday"],"yoast_head":"\n