The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims His handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. There is no speech nor are there words; their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. Psalm 19: 1-4a, NRSV.
Heavenly Father, You who created the heavenly bodies, and use them to speak to our hearts, please speak to us now we pray; in the name of Jesus. Amen.
I chose this version of the Psalm because it seemed a very good translation of the thoughts of the psalmist. Let us divide it up some; and try to get as much as we can from this wonderful Psalm!
The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims His handiwork. On the fourth day of creation week God created the heavenly bodies. The stars and the moon were to, “rule by night.” Ever since that day, we have all been blessed by the stars on a very dark night, and the brilliance of the full moon. Travelers by sea, and by land, have been able to map their courses by observing the heavens. And in a world that has been so affected by sin, the beauty that remains in nature, speaks rather eloquently of God’s power and majesty, and glory!
Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. “And the evening and the morning were the first day…” From the day God set the clock of time as we know it, ticking, it has not stopped! God Himself said, “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease” (Genesis 8: 22, NRSV). The constant rotation of the earth on its axis in perfectly calculated time periods, have a lot to say of the omnipotence, and omniscience, of its Creator. So it has been more than six thousand years that the heavens have been speaking to us; according to the psalmist: pouring forth speech and knowledge! May we learn to listen to what the day and the night, has to say to us!
There is no speech nor are there words; their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. The translation of his verse, in particular, is what caught my attention. It says to us that the heavens are speaking without using words! Just being there, faithfully doing what they were created to do, for over six thousand years, they have been speaking to the heart of humanity! They speak to us of a God who has “all power… in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28: 18)! It tells the story of a God, who, because of His great love to us, created “all things beautiful in its time” (Ecclesiastes 3: 11); for our enjoyment, and His glory! May God help us to be aware of the fact that we, are also speaking, by our lives, without words!
The entire act of creation was a miracle. No wonder the song- writer penned the following words:
“My Father is omnipotent, and that you can’t deny; a God of might and miracles is written in the sky.”
Refrain: “It took a miracle to put the stars in place, it took a miracle to hang the world in space; but when He saved my soul, cleansed and made me whole, it took a miracle of love and grace!” John W. Peterson (Words and music).
To that, I say, Amen!