There is a sense of God we feel as we wander about in creation. I know you get that sense in your bones because I’ve read about it,
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge” (Psa. 19:1–2)
Psalm 19 raises and addresses one of the most common human experiences and desires we have. We want God to make himself known to us. But that is what God is doing. When we (or those around us) complain that God is obscuring himself, the problem is not with God but with us. Perhaps we are not listening.
Creation is speaking, God is speaking, and we need to be listening.
Psalm 19 speaks to our deep desire to know God and it makes two points. The first point strengthens the latter (although we find the first to be more striking). First, God has revealed himself in the creation and secondly, God has revealed himself, in his word.
Revelation Through Creation
This is a universal disclosure. That means nobody is without a sense of God. We are all trying to make sense of it.
This is what the Psalm says
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” (Psa. 19:1–4)
I know you’ve had this experience. Think about the time you went camping and looked up at the stars. When you visited that world-famous location. When you went for a simple walk or sat on the porch and marvelled at everything around you; the seasons, the great trees, the tiny flowers, the waves of the sea, or the cliffs carved into the mountains. Even the mathematical beauty of creation, or the minutia of creation. Take a moment to consider how that felt. There was a tangible sense of the divine in it all.
Reading Psalm 19 we get an explanation for this innate feeling of awe and wonder at creation. It is revealing God’s Glory to us. Creation is singing his praising, shouting out his power and glory, his divine nature, his “otherness” – all without a word.
I want to propose that there is no satisfying answer to why we are so filled with an innate sense of God in creation other than the fact that the bible is right. Creation declares his glory. If there were no God behind creation why should we universally feel that there is? No evolutionary psychology does justice to this phenomenon. Instead, those who promote this narrative conveniently dismiss the universal evidence of our subjective recognition that there is a creator behind the creation. This arbitrary dismissal of such strong evidence undermines the whole argument; that there is no God and that we were made by no one for no reason. That our wonder at the beauty of creation is a meaningless evolutionary hangover… how unsatisfying to be told your experience is simply an illusion. Besides the fact that it doesn’t do justice to the experience, it is a dismissal of the experience.
But the bible tells us that we can comprehend God’s power and glory in creation. The problem is, as Romans 1 makes clear, we suppress the truth about God. The ‘world’ around us may tell us that there is no God even though the ‘world’ we live in tells us otherwise.
God is speaking, we need to be listening. Simply look up at the sky and be reminded of the glory of God.
Revelation Through Relation
Earlier we said everyone wants to know if there is a God. But we also want to know what God is like. So although creation reflects the glory of God, his power and his “otherness”, it doesn’t tell us what God is like. We need to hear from God himself. Which is what God does, He speaks.
And what he says is a display of his holiness, his glory.
“The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the LORD are firm, and all of them are righteous.”(Psa. 19:7–9)
God’s law, his commands, his guiding words for our lives, reflect his moral character – his goodness. As God speaks to us to teach us about himself and to guide us in his ways, we learn that his word is; perfect, refreshing, trustworthy, right, joy-giving, radiant and enduring. God’s word shows us his moral goodness – his Glory.
But something important has just happened between verses 6 and 7. We just went from verses 1-6 – “The heavens declare the glory of God”, to suddenly, verse 7, “The law of the LORD is perfect”. There is a sudden jarring shift. That’s because the poem is making comparisons. The writer is comparing the glory of God in creation to the glory of God in His word. Creation is great. God’s word is greater.
“[God’s Word] is more precious than gold, than much pure gold; [It is] sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb.” (Psa. 19:10)
Think about what this means in your life, especially as we have just spent some time remembering the awe and wonder inspired by God’s creation. That feeling you get when you look at creation, that sense of the divine, should be eclipsed by the glory revealed in God’s words. His goodness and holiness as seen in his word outshines his power and ‘otherness’ as seen in creation. What we glimpse in creation we get full force in his word.
What we have just read from the psalm is in complete opposition to the modern narrative that you will hear. This psalm challenges the modern narratives we are inundated with and encourages and strengthens the Christian to stand strong in the revealed goodness of God our creator.
You will hear loud voices proclaim that Christianity is bad for you and bad for the world. Society is going through a momentous shift. Far from God’s word being good and promoting holiness and a moral life worth striving for, others argue the Bible promotes an immoral life. But nothing could be further from the truth. We’re not talking about Christians. We’re talking about the bible. Christians are flawed but that doesn’t reflect the bible’s moral teaching.
I think it’s worth pointing out some of the flaws in this sort of argument (that the bible is bad for you), as we reflect on Psalm 19 and its abundant praise of God’s moral teachings set out in his word.
Firstly, to say that Christianity is morally reprehensible (from a western perspective) requires the use of Christian ethics to make that argument. The majority of western secular culture is based upon Judaeo-Christian values. It’s just that pervasive.
Secondly, in the modern western secular culture, a prime example of evil is oppression and the subjugation of powerless people. That kind of moral value is again a Judaeo-Christian value. Eastern cultures, early Greek and Roman cultures would find this argument incomprehensible. In the world of old if you could oppress and subjugate then it was your moral prerogative to do so. In the most literal sense, ‘might was right.’ Honouring the poor and weak was an idiotic basis for a society. It was Judeo-Christian values that said the oppression and the subjugation of powerless people is wrong.
Thirdly, the modern concept of treating people with dignity, respect and ultimately with equality, is entirely a Judaeo-Christian value. You would find it reprehensible, and so would most (but not necessarily all) people in Australia, if I decided to leave my child on the street to die simply because she was a girl. The very thought of it stirs up anger. Yet we find it hard to believe that 2000 years ago nobody cared. There are historical documents, of husbands writing home to their wives saying exactly what I said and saying it in passing. Like it was nothing (read John Dicksons, ‘bullies and saints’). The only reason this stirs up anger in us is because we have been so taught by God’s word and so shaped by God’s word that we can’t help but have a mind for dignity and respect and equality. Thank God for that.
I haven’t even touched on charity, health care, welfare, the existence of a weekend, science or sexual ethics. These systems and values that we have today find their inception in the Judeo-Christian ethic derived from God’s word.
One might argue, “Of course you would say that Robbie, you are a Christian.” But I would simply say back, “You would only say that if you haven’t read the history.” Every argument I just made was made by a non-Christian historian, Tom Holland, in his book “Dominion”. It is simply profound the impact that God’s word has had on our society (through his people, and sometimes despite his people).
We simply must affirm,
“The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul.”(Psa. 19:7)
That ought to fill us with awe and wonder at God’s moral Glory. It far outshines any sense of awe and wonder that creation inspires in us. Such is the holiness of God as revealed in his word.
Bigvai and Shiphrah 