Psalms 19:1-14
1 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
2 Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
3 There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.
4 Their linea is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,
5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.
6 His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
7 The lawb of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
8 The statutes 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 for ever: the judgments of the LORD are truec and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.d
11 Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.
12 Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.
13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the greate transgression.
14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength,f and my redeemer.
Gordon Churchyard
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God's Two Books
Psalms 19
Gordon Churchyard
There are many other things that Jesus did. If somebody wrote them down, I think that the whole world would not be big enough for all the books! (John 21:25)
Psalms 19
(This is) a song of David for the music leader.
v1 The heavens are telling us about the glory of God.
The sky is showing the things that his hands have made.
v2 One day pours out the story to another day.
One night tells the next night what it knows.
v3 (But) they do not use words and have no languages.
Nobody hears their voice.
v4 (*Yet) what they say goes into all the earth.
Their words go to the ends of the world.
God has made a home for the sun (in the sky).
v5 The sun comes out from his home like a *bridegroom.
He is very happy to run fast, like a very strong man.
v6 His sunrise is at one end of the heavens.
He travels in a big circle to the other end.
Nothing can hide from the heat of the sun.
v7 The book of the LORD is wonderful.
It makes people feel alive again.
We can trust what the LORD tells us.
He points out the way when we are not sure of it.
v8 What the LORD tells us to do is always right.
It makes us feel happy deep down inside us.
What the LORD *commands us is pure.
It makes our eyes shine with new light.
v9 The *fear of the LORD is a clean *fear.
It will always remain with us.
Every word that the LORD says is true.
Every one of them is righteous.
v10 They are of more value than gold,
even a lot of pure gold.
They are *sweeter than *honey,
even the best *honey that *bees make.
v11 Also, they are a guide to your servant.
Good things come if he obeys them.
v12 Who can know when he has made mistakes?
Forgive me all my secret sins.
v13 Also, stop your servant from wanting to sin.
Do not let sin rule over me.
Then nobody will say that I did wrong.
I will be clean (because you help me).
I will not do anything very bad.
v14 Lord, I want everything that I say to make you happy.
I want all my thoughts to *please you.
You are my Rock and you are my *Redeemer.
The story of Psalms 19
We do not know when David wrote Psalms 19. Perhaps it was one morning when he had been out all night with his sheep. He saw the sunrise over Moab. What David saw spoke to him about God. David remembered the stars that he saw at night. God made the stars. In the morning, David saw the sun. God made the sun. All that David saw told him about God. He heard no words, there was no language. But David knew that everything was telling him about God.
Then David remembered something else. He remembered the word of God. We call it the Bible. That told him about God as well. David did not have the whole Bible. He only had the start of the Old Testament. But it told him about God. And it made David very happy. But it also made David think. It made him say to himself, 'Am I a good or bad man?' He prayed that God would forgive him. David was, perhaps, sitting on the top of a great rock. That spoke to him about God as well! God was like a rock to David. So David called God 'My Rock'. He also called God his Redeemer. A Redeemer is someone that pays the price to make a slave free.
What Psalms 19 means
Psalms 19 is about words. In verses 1 - 6, nobody speaks the words. We see the moon and the stars and the sun. We see the earth and the animals and the plants. They all make us feel inside ourselves, "Somebody made all this". The psalm tells us in verses 1 and 4 who that is. His name is God. We have a special name for all these things that God made. We call them all "nature". Nature is like a very big book. It tells us, "God made everything".Now look at verses 7 - 11. Can you find the name "God" in it? No, because here God has a different name. Here he is the LORD. This is the name that people use when they decide to follow God. He becomes their LORD. This part of the psalm is not about the book of nature. This is about the book that we call the Bible. Psalms 19 is a very small part of the Bible. You are reading Psalms 19 in a small book. It has only 112 pages. Bigger books have a lot of pages. David did not have books like ours. He had scrolls. These were long piece of paper. Scrolls were several metres long. God did not write the nature scroll down. It is just a picture to give us help.
So, here are 2 important books about God. In the book of nature we learn how great God is. We learn that he is wonderful. We may feel afraid of him. Christians call this "awe". It makes us want to tell God that he is wonderful. We call this "worship". The other book is the Bible. It tells us how to follow God, and make him our LORD.
Verses 12 - 14 tells us how to start following God. Look on after Psalms 1 if you want help.
Something to do
Learn to say Psalms 19:14 by heart.
yet ~ another word for but
bridegroom ~ a man that is marrying a woman
command ~ tell (with authority) someone to do something
fear ~ here it means awe, thinking that someone is great
sweeter ~ more than sweet
honey ~ sugar made by bees
bee ~ a small insect
please ~ make happy
Redeemer ~ another name for God (it means that he made us free)