Mensa Otabil - God Speaks to Us
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Welcome to a brand new week. This week we are starting a very interesting study; we go back to the Psalms and we’re looking at Psalm 19. It’s one of those very grand Psalms, it’s one of my favorites, and I trust that the study this week will be a benefit to you. So, we look at Psalm 19, verses 1 and 2. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge.
Psalm 19 is a very treasured psalm for many people. It’s a beautiful psalm, and it shows the wonderful truth of God revealing Himself to us. It generally says that God is speaking or has spoken and continues to speak to us. The psalm shows that God has spoken to us in two main ways: He has spoken to us through His works and then through His word. The first part of the psalm focuses on the works of God speaking to us, and the second part of the psalm speaks about God’s word speaking to us. The last part discusses what we say out of all this-our God speaking to us. God first speaks to us through His works and secondly through His word.
So, the psalm begins by saying, «The heavens declare the glory of God.» The heavens speak of God’s glory. Every human being wonders at the awesomeness of creation, especially when we look at the vast expanse of the sky, either in the daytime or at night. We see the bodies out there-the sun, the moon, the stars-and all that grand display. The psalm says that when we see that, they are speaking to us. They reveal to us that there is something powerful, something intelligent, and something awesome out there. We may not give it a name; we may not know who He is, but we definitely know that this thing came from something really big.
So, that’s the first impulse we have when we look at God’s creation. Then it says that day by day, night by night, they utter speech. So, God speaks to us through His creation by day and by night, at all times. In the daytime, He speaks; in the nighttime, He speaks. When we look at God’s creation, when we look at the heavenly bodies, they are aware of God talking to us, and we hear that and recognize that. Of course, we respond to that speech in very great ways, and our own speech becomes waxed with poetry. We talk about things like «awesome» and «great,» «splendor» and «splendid,» and we use it to describe God’s creation.
In the nighttime, when we see the stars in the sky dazzling, we know somebody is speaking to us. When we look at the soft light of the moon, we know somebody is speaking to us, and this is what the Bible says is happening. God is speaking to us, and theologians call this God’s General Revelation. That means it’s a general view of God; it helps us to have a general view of a Creator. In every culture, they call Him by a certain name, but we have a general view that there is a Creator out there. We may not know Him, but He is out there, and each time God’s creation tells us, «I am here.»
That’s how the psalm begins with us, and I trust as we go through the week you will encounter God in a very profound way. Let’s pray. Say with me: Heavenly Father, thank You for Your creation. I see Your glory and hear Your voice in Your handiwork. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.