When was the last time God spoke to you? One of the earliest memories I have of God speaking to me was at the end of the bumper on a Toyota Forerunner in June 2000.
I was twenty-two years old and running from God as hard and as fast as I possibly could. I’ll never forget that day because on that day I was drunk and I was high and I pulled my motorcycle out in front of that SUV as he came barreling down on me at fifty miles per hour.
Most of you know the story. The SUV hit me from the left-hand side; my body flew up over the hood, into the windshield, down the passenger side of the vehicle and then finally underneath the car and out the backside. No doubt about it, I should have been dead. No reason that I am standing here today; except for the grace of God.
When I awoke in the middle of the street, with my left foot backwards, a broken collar bone and broken ribs, staring up into the sky; I heard the voice of the Lord loud and clear, calling me out of my rebellious running, out of my destructive lifestyle and into a saving relationship with Jesus. I’ll never forget that God called me to himself under the expanse of the beauty of the sky as I lay there in a heap of the consequences of my own rebellion.
When I imagine King David writing Psalm 19, I imagine a similar experience.
David was not a perfect man; in fact, many would struggle to call him a good man in some seasons of his life.
Sure, David killed the giant with a combination of a slingshot, a smooth stone and the giant’s own sword (1 Sam. 17); he evaded the murderous hit put out on his own life from his father-figure, King Saul (1 Sam. 18 – 31); and he reigned as the mighty King of Israel for forty years (1 Kings 2:10 – 12).
So David had a number of notches on his belt in terms of good things done.
But this same David also raped a woman named Bathsheba and had her husband murdered (2 Sam. 11:27); he ignored the rape of his own daughter by one of his own sons (2 Sam. 13); he took a census of the population of Israel to stroke his own pride (2 Sam. 24); and in his final breath before handing the throne over to his son Solomon, he orders a deadly hit on two men who had betrayed him earlier in life (1 Kings 2:1 – 9).
Suffice it to say, David was a gangster!
This is the David of the subtitle who wrote this Psalm for the choirmaster to direct in the church gatherings of the nation of Israel. This is the same David whom God calls “A man after my own heart” (1 Sam. 13:14; Acts 13:22).
How can God refer to this hardened gangster-like warrior as a man after his own heart?
The simple answer is that God calls David a man after his own heart because when God spoke, David listened.
When David looked up at the sky in his brokenness, he heard God speak through the cosmos (Ps. 19:1 – 6).
When David looked into God’s Word (oftentimes a prophetic word) he was humbled by his sinfulness (Ps. 19:7 – 11).
And when David heard God speak through the cosmos and through his Word, David listened, repented and obeyed (Ps. 19:12 – 14).
When was the last time God spoke to you?
#1: GOD SPEAKS THROUGH THE COSMOS (VSS. 1 – 6)
How often do you just take a few moments to stop and breathe and take in the beauty of the world around us?
The colors of the sunset; the rays of light through an early morning fog; the blanket of stars against the black sky; the sound of crickets in the dark…
The trickling of a creek-bed in early morning; the song of the morning bird before sunup; the haunting hoot of an owl at sundown; the lonely howl of coyotes in the distance…
The flash of lightning against the night-sky; the clap of thunder that makes you jump out of bed; the bright light of a full moon; the clouds hanging low over the mountain-tops…
The crisp air after a fresh layer of snow; the smell of pine trees in the Fall; the multi-color blanket of leaves on the ground at Thanksgiving…
The eruption of colors in the Spring after the long cold winter; the waves crashing on the beach in the heat of summer; the list could go on and on.
What do you hear when you listen to the cosmos around you?
In verses 1 – 6 David says that he hears the voice of God through the cosmos around him. The heavens are shouting about the glory of God and the sky is preaching about God’s creativity. Day in and day out; night after night; the creation around us speaks the knowledge of God.
There’s nowhere in all of creation and no time in all of creation where God’s voice cannot or could not be heard in the cosmos. From the rising and setting of the sun to the rising and setting of the moon, the voice of God has never been silenced in the cosmos.
When David took in the beauty of the cosmos he heard the voice of God speaking to him.
One author said that if the sky is glorious then the God who made it must be even more glorious because the skies are a constant and consistent witness across time by which men and women in every age and in every place have seen God’s glory as the sun pours out 120,000 terawatts of energy per day onto the earth.
This realization teaches us that God has surrounded us with a hymnbook that awakens and guides our praise to God. It’s as though God is standing right in front of us all day and all night long, shouting to get our attention through the cosmos (Johnston 2015: 205 – 207).
What do you hear when you listen to the cosmos around you?
#2: GOD SPEAKS THROUGH HIS WORD (VSS. 7 – 11)
What do you hear when you read God’s Word? When you think about God speaking through the cosmos and then also speaking through his Word, you get a vision for God revealing himself to mankind in a two-pronged fashion.
Theologians call these two forms of revelation, general and special revelation.
God has revealed himself generally through the cosmos and then specially through his Word. In other words, in the cosmos we get the sense that there is a powerful, majestic and wise God who artistically created everything around us, but we do not get the full sense of God as our redeemer in the revelation of the cosmos.
What do you hear when you read God’s Word?
David says in verses 7 – 11 that he hears the redeeming voice of God in his Word. He says that God’s law is perfect and that it makes us alive.
God’s testimony is trustworthy and certain to make us wise no matter what level of education we have. God’s precepts fill our hearts with overflowing joy.
God’s commandments are as pure as freshly fallen white snow and they are good for helping us discern right from wrong. God’s rules help us to be people who walk in the truth.
David hears the redeeming voice of God in his Word.
All five descriptors of God’s Word here in the text (Law, Testimony, Precepts, Commandments and Rules) follow the exact order of Psalm 119 and they’re meant to be the bread and meat of the Christian life because God’s Word is meant to be the treasure of a believer’s heart; more valuable than all the gold in the world; sweeter than honey [vs. 11] (Johnston 2015: 208 – 209).
What do you hear when you read God’s Word? David heard the voice of his Redeemer-God!
The reality here is that if you stop in at an art gallery, you can see that an artist either exists or existed at one point in time and that the artist did a fantastic job with his or her creation.
But you won’t know anything about the artist (aside from the signature card on the art piece) unless you go do some research and study his life, his purpose, his character, etc. It’s the same with God.
His general revelation in the artistic creation of the cosmos is meant to cause us to know him in the special revelation of his Word.
This is why I keep asking you: What do you hear when you read God’s Word?
#3: GOD SPEAKS AND HE EXPECTS OUR RESPONSE (VSS. 12 – 14)
How often have you shouted something to your kiddos or your spouse or a friend only to get absolutely no response from them?
Have you ever sent an email or a text message or a social media message and never received a reply?
When this happens, we often wonder of the other person ever got the message; we wonder if they even care or if they’re ok or if we did something to offend them.
In what ways has God been speaking to you, expecting a response, and getting nothing?
David’s response to God speaking to him through the cosmos and through his Word, was a response of trust and obedience in verses 12 – 14.
He asks the question: Can anyone see their own sin on their own? Are any of us safe if left to our own devices?
He confesses that he needs God restrain him from sin and to declare him not guilty or to acquit him of his guilt. He doesn’t want to be mastered by his sin and he knows that if God steps in and intervenes, then he will be kept blameless and innocent.
His final confessional cry is that God is his Lord, his Rock and his Redeemer and he’s trusting his Redeeming – God alone to keep the words of his mouth and the desires of his heart holy and acceptable in his sight.
David’s response to God speaking to him through the cosmos and through his Word, was a response of trust and obedience. In what ways has God been speaking to you, expecting a response, and getting nothing?
CONCLUSION…
When was the last time God spoke to you?
What do you hear when you listen to the cosmos around you?
What do you hear when you read God’s Word?
In what ways has God been speaking to you, expecting a response, and getting nothing?
The reality of Psalm 19 is that through the sky and through the Scriptures, God speaks to us and teaches us to come to him in obedient worship; Psalm 19 is really a window into the heart of our Lord Jesus Christ (Johnston 2015: 204).
Romans 1:19 – 20 says that “what can be known about God is plain to us [them], because God has shown it to us [them]. 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, we [they] are without excuse.”
In other words, we have no excuse not to respond to God’s general revelation of himself as the eternally powerful sustainer of the universe. What do you hear when you listen to the cosmos around you?
In regard to Jesus, who is the Word of God in the flesh, the apostle John in John 1:1 – 5; 14 says that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
In other words, the special revelation of God is found in his Son Jesus in accordance with the testimony of the Scriptures/Word of God. What do you hear when you read the Word of God?
Likewise, the apostle Paul, in Colossians 1:15 – 23, speaking of Jesus says that, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doling evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven.”
This is the special revelation of Jesus Christ that we are called to respond to each and every day. In what ways has God been speaking to you, expecting a response, and getting none?
Would you respond to him today? Would you not let another day go by before you bow your knee to him and submit and surrender your life to him?
The heavens declare the power, majesty and eternal nature of God to you. The Bible proclaims the message of redemption through the shed blood, broken body, empty tomb and promised return of Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior.
Your sin, your filth, your rebellion, your hatred, your wickedness, your running away as fast as you can, can’t outrun or out-sin the power of the cross of Christ.
He’s speaking to you through the cosmos. He’s speaking to you through the Bible. And he’s speaking to you through the mouth of a man who got flattened by the voice of God in the front bumper of an SUV.
The only question is… how will you respond? Will you find salvation at the foot of the bloody cross, in the doorway of the empty tomb as you take hold of the promise of heaven? I pray you will.