#697 Night and Day

The heavens declare the glory of God,

and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

2 Day to day pours out speech,

and night to night reveals knowledge.

3 There is no speech, nor are there words,

whose voice is not heard.

4 Their voice goes out through all the earth,

and their words to the end of the world.

In them he has set a tent for the sun,

5 which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,

and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.

6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens,

and its circuit to the end of them,

and there is nothing hidden from its heat.

7 The law of the Lord is perfect,

reviving the soul;

the testimony of the Lord is sure,

making wise the simple;

8 the precepts of the Lord are right,

rejoicing the heart;

the commandment of the Lord is pure,

enlightening the eyes;

9 the fear of the Lord is clean,

enduring forever;

the rules of the Lord are true,

and righteous altogether.

10 More to be desired are they than gold,

even much fine gold;

sweeter also than honey

and drippings of the honeycomb.

11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned;

in keeping them there is great reward.

12 Who can discern his errors?

Declare me innocent from hidden faults.

13 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;

let them not have dominion over me!

Then I shall be blameless,

and innocent of great transgression.

14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

be acceptable in your sight,

O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Psalm 19 ESV


Proclaims His handiwork - This is a beautiful song. I have shown my children nature, but it is ever before them, a screaming testament of greatness. The instant knowledge of something above me, bigger than me, of distance, and time and space, as the sky changes from one moment to the next, day then night and again. It is the first book, the Creation, but God is no longer walking with man in the garden, and day reveals what night has hid. What is the earth without the sun? It brings the light of day, it works with the water in the hydrologic cycle, photosynthesis, warmth, so much that would die without the light of the sun, and yet it did not make itself. It has been placed at the proper distance, lest it kill, and even from so many millions of miles away, a man will find the need to cover himself from it's rays. He tells me I am frail, that I am small, in the morning I know he is not far off, by the ever growing light that peaks up from the east. The shadows walk accordingly and in time to his place in the heavens, so much so that you could set a dial to it, yet he does not praise himself, for he is stupid of his origin, set in place by his Creator. He points, he tells me, there is a greater than the sun.


The law of the Lord is perfect - Why is there no longer the holding of hands, the conversations of Eden? How will I come to know the Creator of the thing that brings light from afar off, and where did He go? "Blessed is the man,' says the poet, 'who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way with sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law doth he meditate day and night." Oh God, thank you, for not just leaving me to my own inner darkness, the vanity of my imagination, but for explaining to me Your original intent, Your holiness, our fall away from this, and the law that teaches me about sin. I could study the sciences with a million men for a million years, and yet without the light of Your Word we would all die in darkness. Please let me know the hunger, the desire, the need for your word, quicken the hearts of my wife and children, of my friends and foes alike, open the eyes of their hearts to recognize the superiority of Your word. If the Psalmist is thankful then I am all the more, for I have received so much more. 

children born not of blood, nor of the desire or will of man, but born of God. 14 The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John testified concerning Him. He cried out, saying, “This is He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.’”…  John 1: 13-15

He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.… John 1: 2-4


Gold and honey - Better than the wealth that men will tear down mountains for, will go to remote places to find, sweeter than the juice of the comb, the work of bees. More sure, more stable and secure than the treasuries that men lay up here, that we think will bring us peace and keep us from the day of disaster and want, but age and death find us all and they do not deal in gold. The sweetest things in this life are also not in vain, for it is not what goes in that defiles a man, but what proceeds from his heart. Taste the honey, but leave enough for the stranger and the bee. Let not pleasure be to you like gold is to some, the measure of truth, the measure of success, of greater value than the One that made it. Let the words of Him Who made it be more desirable than gold and sweeter than honey. 
Keep back Your servant - God help me not to offend You, thank You for Your Word, but do not let my heart be hard against it, clinging to my favorite patches of the dark. Let Your light shine so much that it burns out those blankets or securities that hide the things I did not yet know as sin or want to recognize as such. Do not let me be that man who sees himself then walks away and forgets what manner of person he was. 
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight - Meditate on that.