PONDERING PSALM 19

This is a lovely Psalm. No complaints, no cries for vengeance, no weeping or seeking of great penitence. It simply talks about the glory of God and the delightful ways we can benefit by heeding God’s law. The Psalm is attributed to David but there is no hint as to where or what his circumstances were when he composed it. I can imagine it to be during his early years, as a shepherd in the fields watching over his sheep. I can imagine him at night, his sheep finally settled, simply lying on the ground looking up at the clear star filled sky. All is silent and yet that silence is completely filled with the glory of God and all of creation. Spending one’s life out in nature, away from the hustle and bustle of city life, one can connect with the silent rhythms of God. In those rhythms we find that the natural law within us is not so different from the external law that God asks us to live by. The law is not the heavy burden we at times think it to be. It is a natural response to the love of the One who created us. It revives our soul, it makes us wise, and it gives joy to our heart and light to our eyes. God’s recipes for life are more precious than gold and sweeter than honey. How could there be any other response than a desire to obey a God that loving and gracious? I can feel the peace of that quiet night, lying on the ground being surrounded by God’s Presence. My heart would cry out as David’s did…to have the words that come out of my mouth and the things that I think about and meditate on, be pleasing to God and match the glory that surrounds me.