Psalm 19:1-6 ESV
The heavens declare
the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out
speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech,
nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.
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,
which comes out like a bridegroom leaving
his chamber,
and, like a strong man, runs its course
with joy.
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.
I enjoy the vastness of God’s created works. I love to view
a blue sky with white clouds hovering over top the trees of the land, which are
rooted in the ground, which is often covered with green grass and splattered
with an array of various plants and flowers. I delight in watching the birds,
the squirrels and the bunnies at play. I am fascinated by all the various types
of bugs, too, but I don’t enjoy them all. And, I delight in a sunrise or a
sunset and even in a dark night with a vast array of stars in the sky, and the
moon, too.
And, I enjoy taking pictures of God’s creation, as well.
And, I like sharing the pictures, too, because I am sharing the beauty that God
created, and by him it was beautifully and wonderfully made. And, that brings
joy to others, too.
I was privileged to be asked to be with my daughter and daughters-in-law
at the births of their babies. Although it hurt to watch my daughters in pain,
it was a beautiful sight watching some of those babies come into this world.
There is just nothing like that. And, then to watch those babies grow and
develop to become toddlers, and eventually teenagers, and then to become
adults, and to see all those stages in between is just amazing!
But, God didn’t create all that he created just for our
enjoyment, though that is one of the reasons. He created all things for his
glory and pleasure, too. Yet, there is another reason, and that is to reveal
his glory and his divine character to us, the people of this world. For, we
read in Romans 1:19-20:
“For what can be known
about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to 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 they are without excuse.”
In fact, nature talks to us, not with words (unless we are
speaking of humans), but with its beauty, colors and sounds, and even with the
wind, the rain and the waves of the ocean. And, they declare God’s glory to us,
and his eternal power and divine nature. And, this is why humankind is without
excuse. We are not excused if we do not believe in God, for God has revealed
himself to all of us, all throughout the world, through what he has made.
Psalm 19:7-11 ESV
The law of the Lord is
perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the
Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord
are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the
Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord
is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the Lord
are true,
and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are
they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than
honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
Moreover, by them is
your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
So, God reveals himself to us through his created works, but
then he speaks to us through his written word, too, which is where he reveals
even more of himself to us, and he teaches us all that he had designed for us
even before he created the world.
For, in his written word we learn that our God, who created
the world, is holy, righteous, pure, trustworthy, just and merciful. And, we
learn that his design for us is that we also be holy, righteous, and pure, etc.,
all in his power and in his strength through faith in Jesus Christ, God the Son.
In God’s written word (the Bible – Genesis to Revelation) we
learn that our God is triune, three distinct personalities in one God – Father,
Son and Holy Spirit. Even in Genesis we read how God said that he made us in
their image. So, Jesus Christ always existed with God, and he is God, and he is
our creator, too (See John 1). And, so his divine nature and eternal power are
revealed in God’s created works, too, for he is God our creator.
So, as we read God’s Word, especially the New Testament, we
learn about Jesus Christ, God the Son, and how he came to earth to be born as a
baby from the womb of a woman who was a virgin, for her baby was conceived of
the Holy Spirit.
And, Jesus grew to become a man, and then he ministered to
the people on the earth, primarily to the Jews, his own people, by healing the
sick and afflicted, raising the dead back to life, delivering people from
demons, comforting the sorrowful, helping the weak, and feeding the hungry.
And, he also preached about the need for everyone to turn
away from their sinful lifestyles to follow him in obedience, and to make him
Lord of their lives. And, this was to become our new lifestyle, walking in
fellowship with our Lord daily, listening to him speak to us through his word,
and then doing what his word teaches us we must do. And, this was not optional,
either. For, he said that if we did not do this, we would not inherit eternal
life.
By his words we are warned, and in keeping them there is
great reward. Amen! And, many of these warnings are to the church, too, to
those who profess faith in Jesus Christ. We are cautioned against getting this
idea that we can be assured eternal life with God based on lip service and
superficial faith in him which does not result in changed lives. And, we are
told that if we live to sin, we will die in our sins, not matter what we
profess.
So, the reward of keeping the Word of the Lord, is not only
that we will be delivered out of our bondage (slavery, addiction) to sinful
behaviors, and that we will be at peace with God and within ourselves, and we
will have the joy of the Lord, purpose and meaning to our lives, and his direction,
too, but that we will be guaranteed eternal life with God if we walk in those
truths (See: Lu. 9:23-25; Rom. 6:1-23; Rom. 8:1-17; 1 Jn. 1:5-9; Gal. 6:7-8).
Psalm 19:12-14 ESV
Who can discern his
errors?
Declare me innocent from hidden faults.
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.
Let the words of my
mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
This should be the prayer of our hearts, too, that we would
be kept back from presumptuous sins which, out of pride and disrespect for God,
overstep God’s boundary lines for us. This is about taking God’s grace for
granted and thus taking liberties with his laws he has set down for us to
follow. And yes, the New Testament is loaded with instructions to Christians on
what we are to do and to not do, too. And, there are consequences for
disobedience, too.
And, these “hidden” faults are not sins which we do in
secret, either, hiding them so that no one will know what we are doing when no
one else is looking. These would fall under the category of presumptuous sins,
too.
Hidden faults are things we didn’t know we did that was
wrong, in truth, not as an excuse for continuing in willful sinful practices
against God, either. For, I know one of the excuses of the addict is to
continually say, “I didn’t know,” when he did know full well, but he chose to
ignore what he knew so that he could do what he wanted to do instead (See
Romans 1).
The prayer of the psalmist was that these presumptuous sins
would not have dominion over him, and then he would be blameless. And, that is
what the New Testament teaches, too. It does not say we have to be sinless as
part of believing faith in Jesus Christ, which saves us from our sins, but that
we must walk (in practice) according to the Spirit and no longer according to
the flesh if we want to have eternal life with God (Rom. 8:1-17; Lu. 9:23-25).
This is not us working to earn our salvation, but obedience
to Christ and to his word is part of the faith that it takes to have eternal
life with God. For, the faith to believe in Jesus is God-given, and if given by
God, it submits to the Lordship of Christ and it follows (obeys) Jesus wherever
he leads us.
So, if we truly believe in Jesus Christ, our desire will be
to please him, and we will want to do what is acceptable to him, in his sight,
because we delight in him, and we love him, and so we want to honor him with
our lives.
God is With Us
An Original Work / June 11, 2019
Based off Psalm 46
God’s our refuge. He is our strength,
A present help to us when in pain.
Therefore, we will not be afraid,
Although the earth beneath us gives way.
Though the mountains be moved to the sea,
Roaring waters abound so free,
And the mountains now tremble so,
We will not fear, God is near, we know.
God is with us and He makes glad
The hearts of all who to Christ have fled.
Christ is in us, so we’ll not fall
When on our Savior our hearts do call.
God will help us, as mornings arise,
To be faithful to His design.
Nations raging, and tempers flare.
Our God is with us. We know He cares.
Come and see the works of the Lord.
He’s armed for battle with His great sword.
He’s the Word, and He is the Life.
He gives us strength in all of our strife.
Be still and know that He is our God.
He’s exalted where’er He trods.
The Lord Almighty, with us still;
The God of Jacob, our citadel.
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