Oxford Professor, C.S. Lewis said of Psalm 19, “I take this to be the greatest poem in the Psalter and one of the greatest lyrics in the world.”
| Psalm 19
For the director of music. A psalm of David. |
The Light of the World |
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1 The heavens declare the glory of God; 2 Day after day they pour forth speech; 3 They have no speech, they use no words; 4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, 5 It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, 6 It rises at one end of the heavens |
A. The Illuminating and Cleansing Sun
Since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that everyone is without excuse. – Romans 1 The heavens declare, no one can say, “I didn’t know there was a God.” First [David] thinks of the sky; how, day after day, the pageantry we see there shows us the splendor of its Creator. Then he thinks of the sun, the bridal joyousness of its rising, the unimaginable speed of its daily voyage from east to west. Finally, of its heat … the cloudless, blinding, tyrannous rays hammering the hills, searching every cranny. The key phrase on which the whole poem depends is “there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.” – C.S.Lewis |
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7 The law of the Lord is perfect, 8 The precepts of the Lord are right, 9 The fear of the Lord is pure, 10 They are more precious than gold, 11 Moreover, by them your servant is illuminated; |
B. The Illuminating and Cleansing Law
As [David] has felt the sun, perhaps in the desert, searching him out in every nook of shade where he attempted to hide from it, so he feels the Law searching the hiding-places of his soul … Like the all-piercing, all-detecting sunshine, the law is “undefiled”, the Law gives light, it is clean and everlasting … No one can improve on this. The Law’s beauty, sweetness, [and] preciousness, arose from the contrast of the surrounding Paganisms … Christians increasingly live on a spiritual island; new and rival ways of life surround it in all directions and their tides come further up the beach every day … Some give morality a whole new meaning, some deny its possibility. Perhaps we shall all learn, sharply enough, to value the clean air and “sweet reasonableness” of the Christian ethics which … we have taken for granted. – C.S. Lewis, “Reflections on the Psalms” |
| 12 Forgive my hidden sins.
But who can discern their own errors? 13 Keep your servant also from willful sins; 14 May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart |
C. David’s Prayer Creation has revealed to us that there is a God. Scripture, God’s law reveals to us how to live. Like the bright sun in the desert, the law illuminates, shining into every area of our lives, showing us our hidden sins and errors, allowing us to confess, as David does here, so that we will not be enslaved to our sins. |
Our Creator, our Rock, and our Redeemer, through Jesus Christ, has extended the offer of salvation, of life, to everyone in the world, and having redeemed us and brought us into His Kingdom, His family, knowing just what we His children need, gave us His law, described as more precious than gold and sweeter than honey, to refresh our souls, give joy to our hearts, give light to our eyes, so that we can embrace life and live as we were created to live.
As Jesus Promised, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free.” – Luke 4:18
Accept the freedom offered by Jesus, the Redeemer and let the light illuminate in your life.
Now that is something that everyone should consider/meditate on and sing about.
By Richard Loper