Psalm 19: A Song of Praise

Written by my son Everett, age 18

Today, we’ll be looking at Psalm 19: 1-14 (NASB). Each of the Bible’s 150 psalms is a treasure trove of insight into God’s character and shows us how we should pray to Him. Let’s go through Psalm 19 verse by verse to see what wisdom we can glean from its words.

First, I’ll give some background: Psalm 19 is a psalm of David, written for the choir director. I wish I knew what sort of melody it had, and how they sang it. If you read the words, it sounds like a song of praise about God and how amazing He is. I don’t know how solemn the affairs of singing these psalms were or not, but I imagine this song being more positive and uplifting. I suppose to start, let’s go through all fourteen verses:

1 The heavens tell of the glory of God;

And their expanse declares the work of His hands.

2 Day to day pours forth speech,

And night to night reveals knowledge.

3 There is no speech, nor are there words;

Their voice is not heard.

4 Their line has gone out into all the earth,

And their words to the end of the world.

In them He has placed a tent for the sun,

5 Which is like a groom coming out of his chamber;

It rejoices like a strong person to run his course.

6 Its rising is from one end of the heavens,

And its circuit to the other end of them;

And there is nothing hidden from its heat.

7 The Law of the Lord is perfect, restoring 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 judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether.

10 They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much pure gold;

Sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.

11 Moreover, Your servant is warned by them;

In keeping them there is great reward.

12 Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults.

13 Also keep Your servant back from presumptuous sins;

Let them not rule over me;

Then I will be innocent,

And I will be blameless of great wrongdoing.

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

Be acceptable in Your sight,

Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.

            This is definitely a song of praise unto God and all He’s made, but I think there’s also a lot to think about within these words. Looking closer at verse 1, it says, “The heavens tell of the glory of God; And their expanse declares the work of His hands.”

            When we look around at this world we live in, it’s hard not to be amazed at how expansive and intricately made everything is. If you want to get an idea of God’s might and glory, just look at the works of His hands. All the splendor of this world: the mountains, the oceans, the stars above us, all these things declare just how truly awesome God is.

Verse 2 elaborates on this same subject, saying: “Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge.”

            While we can’t hear what this Earth is saying in the sense of verbal communication, it does proclaim God’s glory in how we inherently recognize beauty in the design of the Earth. Who could look at the Grand Canyon, or the Himalayan mountains, or the Pacific Ocean, and not feel a sense of awe directed somewhere? We may think it’s awe at the world we live in itself, but what if—and this is just a wild theory of mine—what if we are really feeling awe at these wonders of the Earth as they tell us of their Maker? Maybe they speak to us in a way that we can’t fully understand, but their “words” resonate in us by causing us to feel a sense of awe as they describe the God who made them.

Verse 3 says, “There is no speech, nor are there words; Their voice is not heard.”

So, we see how we can’t audibly hear their voices, they don’t speak with words the way we speak to each other, but maybe some part of us does hear them, and that’s why we stand in awe of them the way we do?

Verse 4 says, “Their line has gone out into all the earth, And their words to the end of the world. In them He has placed a tent for the sun.”

            This is an interesting idea: a speechless, wordless, audibly silent message has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. Their line is communicated to us without speech, and their words—their knowledge—are conveyed to us without words. Instead of the verbal communication that we humans use to speak with each other, this world speaks to us through these feelings and sensations of awe and wonder. The part where it says, “In them He has placed a tent for the sun,” threw me off at first. I’ll admit I didn’t understand right away, but Barnes Notes on the Bible helped clear that up. Barnes explained that God has made a dwelling place for the sun; He placed the sun in its home, and that is where it stays.

Verses 5-6 both go on to explain that the sun, “Which is like a groom coming out of his chamber; It rejoices like a strong person to run his course. Its rising is from one end of the heavens, And its circuit to the other end of them; And there is nothing hidden from its heat.”

            It seems that David had the impression that the sun circled the earth, which was the misconception held by everyone until Copernicus discovered otherwise, but that wasn’t until the sixteenth century; and then if you want to want to get into the nitty gritty, it was technically Galileo who popularized it during the seventeenth century, but that is another story for another time. Either way, the language we use today very much describes what Psalm 19 described in verses 5-6: we say that the sun rises in the morning, and that it sets at nighttime. The point is that God is the one who set the Earth on its circuit around the sun. The solar system runs like a perfectly wound watch, and God is the One Who makes it tick. The fact is that the sun, in all of its splendor and magnitude, was created in an instant by God, and it testifies to His might and glory.

            Similarly, the next verses of this psalm testify to God’s glory. Verse 7 says, “The Law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.”

            Our souls have been blemished by the broken ways of humanity and this world, but following the perfect Law of the Lord can restore our souls and make us whole again. Likewise, the testimony of the Lord is sure—it is infallible—and it makes the simple into the wise.

            God doesn’t want us to be intellectually lazy. He wants us to be wise and intellectually sharp. In Matthew 10:16, Jesus warned His disciples, saying, “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be as wary as serpents, and as innocent as doves.”

            To be as wary as serpents, or as some translations say, as shrewd as serpents, is to be intellectually strong so as not to be caught off guard by the Enemy. We need to be ready for the Enemy’s attacks so we aren’t deceived. If we are intellectually weak, or simple—as the psalm says—then we won’t be ready to defend our beliefs against all those who would try to tear it down.

This makes me think of something C. S. Lewis said in his book Mere Christianity. He said, “Anyone who is honestly trying to be a Christian will soon find his intelligence being sharpened: one of the reasons why it needs no special education to be a Christian is that Christianity is an education itself.”

            God can heal our simplicity, for the testimony of the Lord is unerring, educating us with the truth of His doctrine. Reading the Bible is also an education, for the sheer amount of information and wisdom within its pages is remarkable. And on top of that, the Holy Spirit imparts wisdom to us as we surrender to Him, and He replaces our simplicity with wisdom.

            Verse 8 goes along with all of this, saying, “The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.”

            I really like the way the Easy-to-Read Version translates this verse, it says, “The Lord’s laws are right. They make people happy. The Lord’s commands are good. They show people the right way to live.”

            Following the Lord’s laws will make us happy and bring us fulfillment. Similarly, disobeying the Lord’s laws will only bring us misery and death. And the Lord’s commands are good, they are pure, and they enlighten our eyes. They show us the right way to live; anything disobedient would be the wrong way to live, and that—again—will only lead us to misery and death. We should be careful to always follow the Law of the Lord, for as verse 9 states: “The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether.”

            I don’t hear anyone talk about the fear of the Lord, at least not in the church in America. I hear about how God loves us, and how He’s our best friend, but not about how we should actually fear Him. But when you think about it, who is there to fear other than the Lord? Who can stand against Him? Who else decides our fate? The judgements of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether. His word is final, and His word defines right and wrong. Proverbs 9:10 says, “Wisdom begins with fear and respect for the Lord. Knowledge of the Holy One leads to understanding.”

            We need to understand where it is we stand and realize that we are entirely dependent on God. He deserves our respect, awe, and fear more so than anyone else in existence. If the fear of the Lord is clean—meaning it is good and pure—and it endures forever, then maybe it’s that same fear that leads to a faith that endures forever, and if so, that’s what we should desire. I don’t ever want to fall away from the Lord, and I think that fear I have comes from my understanding that God is our Creator; He knitted us together from the dust. But to realize that the same being Who holds the universe in His hand also cares for us and loves us, that should bring us fear and wonder, and we should give Him our love and our respect.

            Verse 10 continues this train of thought, saying, “They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much pure gold; Sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.”

            I believe that David is speaking of all the things he has mentioned so far: the Law of the Lord, the testimony of the Lord, the precepts of the Lord, the commandment of the Lord, the fear of the Lord, and the judgments of the Lord. All of these things, they are more desirable—more precious, more valuable—than gold. Yes, you heard me, more so than an abundance of pure gold. And they are sweeter than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Back in David’s day, I don’t know of any substance that was valued higher than gold, and there wasn’t anything sweeter than honey to eat. He is saying that the Law of the Lord is more precious than anything, and sweeter than anything, so not only is His Law desirable, but it is also more fulfilling than eating honey.

And as verse 11 says, “Moreover, your servant is warned by them; In keeping them there is great reward.”

God’s Law exists for a reason, it warns us about all the things that would do us harm. And God rewards his followers who keep His Law.

It’s paramount that we follow God’s Law. James 1:22 instructs us, “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not just hearers who deceive themselves.”

We need to prove our faith in God by our works. We can’t let the words of the Law go in one ear and out the other, we need to be doers and follow through with what His Law says, otherwise we’d be just hearers who deceive themselves; thinking that we’re following God when we aren’t. Along with James’ words, Jesus also said in John 15:14, “You are My friends if you do what I command you.”

We follow God by following His Word.

              With the knowledge that God rewards those who follow Him and keep His commandments, David understands the importance of obeying God’s Law and striving for purity. I really like the way the New Living Translation translates these next three verses. They translate verse 12 as, “How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart? Cleanse me from these hidden faults.”

            We aren’t aware of all the sins that lurk in our hearts, and if we think we have a lot of hidden faults, odds are, they’re even worse than we think. So, this is a really good prayer to pray: God, please cleanse us of the sin that we aren’t even aware of.

And along with that, we can also pray the words of verse 13, which says, “Keep your servant from deliberate sins! Don’t let them control me. Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin.”

            We need to be careful not to deliberately sin. To sin deliberately is dangerous for our souls, for it sets us on a path that leads away from God. We should ask God to free us from these sins and not let them control us, that way, we will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin. Sometimes sin sneaks up on us, because our enemy is patient, and he waits for us to relax and then he strikes. And often enough, we don’t even realize that what we’re doing is sinful, so that is why we must pray that God cleanses us from our hidden faults. But to be aware that something is sinful and do it anyway, that is a deliberate sin. Those are more grievous than the kind that slips under our radar: one is unintentional, the other is premeditated.

To top this off, we should pray using the words of this final verse, verse 14, and say, “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”

            We should make sure that the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts are both pleasing to the Lord. Let me explain. The words of our mouths are the things we say. We should guard our mouths and not blaspheme the Name of the Lord with our words. And the meditations of our hearts are our prayers and deepest thoughts. They’re the things we meditate on. If you are meditating on something other than God’s Word, then you ought to change it so that you can please the Lord with your thoughts. Our words come out of us, while the thoughts that don’t become our words remain inside of us. So, we should pray that the Lord cleanses us from the inside out. That way, we may please the Lord with the entirety of our beings. To paraphrase the verse: “May the words of my mouth” (what comes out of us) “and the meditation of my heart” (what’s inside of us) “be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”

            We should strive to please the Lord, for He is our rock: the foundation on which we build our lives. And He is our redeemer: He has claimed us, summoned us by name, we belong to Him. As we look around at the world that we live in, at the work of God’s hands, how could we not give Him our highest praise?

Let us ask ourselves: what are we doing, if not following His plans for us, and obeying His Law? As we run the race, we should turn to the words of Psalm 19 as a prayer to sustain us and remind us of why we should keep the Lord’s commands. This psalm tells us that God wants to make us holy and so He will cleanse us of our hidden faults and keep us from deliberate sins, if we just go to Him in faith and obedience.

            Pray: Heavenly Father, we offer You our praise for the work of Your hands, there is truly no one like You. We ask that You would lead us, and help us to always follow Your Law, and keep Your commandments. We pray that You would reveal our hidden faults to us, so that we may be cleansed of them. And we pray that You would keep us from deliberate sin, and not let sin control us, so we may be free of guilt and innocent of great sin. In all this, help us to please You in everything we do, we want to follow You above all else, Lord. In Jesus’ Name we pray, amen.