The second greatest book ever written doesn't have a word in it!
Psalm 19 (NIV) For the director of music. A psalm of David. 1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. 3 They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. 4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. 5 It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. 6 It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth.
7 The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. 8 The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. 9 The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. 10 They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. 11 By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward. 12 But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults. 13 Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression.
14 May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. |
Listen to passage & devotional:
Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 2: The Means by Which We Know God
We know him by two means:
First, by the creation, preservation, and government
of the universe,
since that universe is before our eyes like a beautiful book
in which all creatures,
great and small,
are as letters to make us ponder
the invisible things of God:
his eternal power
and his divinity,
as the apostle Paul says in Romans 1:20.
All these things are enough to convict men
and to leave them without excuse.
Second, he makes himself known to us more openly
by his holy and divine Word,
as much as we need in this life,
for his glory
and for the salvation of his own.
Summary
In our polarized, fragmented world, there are very few things that everyone can agree on, but the beauty of God's creation is one of those things. People drive thousands of miles to look out over a grand vista. As busy as life is, almost everybody stops for a moment to take in a glorious sunset.
But God didn't add all of this stunning beauty in creation just so that we could have a nice view to enjoy every now and then. Each part of nature, from the tiniest microscopic organism to the biggest of galaxies make up pages of a 'book,' as our Confession describes it. Notice all of the communication oriented verbs that David attributes to nature:
The heavens declare the glory of God;
The skies proclaim the work of His hands;
They pour forth speech and reveal (tells - LEB) knowledge;
Their voice goes out into all the earth.
All of God's wondrous creation has one unified goal that each aspect of it communicates in a slightly different, yet harmonious way: it declares / proclaims / reveals the glory of its creator!
While it is nice to have at least one thing that still unifies us as people, the sad fact is that most people aren't hearing what their eyes are seeing. Although God speaks through creation, and does so in a way that transcends the language barrier, not "a sound is heard from it (v3)."
The second greatest 'book' ever written doesn't have a single 'word' in it! But yet it still tells so much about the One who wrote it.
Dig Deeper
We understand that God communicates Himself to us in two different ways: through special revelation, meaning scripture (which we'll dig into later), and more generally, through creation.
But as we'll see, sin has drastically impaired our ability to understand what God says about Himself through His creation. Just as you might come to a incorrect conclusion trying to read something without your glasses on, most people come to massively incorrect conclusions trying to read the book of nature with unaided eyes.
But as we'll see throughout this week, as a born again Christian, you've been given a set of 'spectacles' which enables you to correctly understand the knowledge nature declares through the lens of scripture. So learn, explore, study, and analyze as much of it as you can! Eagerly come to know your Creator more and more through it.
Psalm 19 is a great reminder that there is absolutely no dichotomy between faith and science, as long as you learn to properly read what the creation is truly declaring / proclaiming / revealing!
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, whose glory is beautifully testified to by His amazing creation;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Thank God for this beautiful universe, and pray that more and more you will come to know Him through it.
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: Mark 11
