20. Psalm 19:1-6 (“no excuse!”)

The psalms often allude to the glory of God’s creation, “the heavens and the earth” and how His creation reveals so much truth about his existence and his character, if we have eyes to see. Not only this psalm, but consider Psalm 89: 5-6, 11-14 below:

“The heavens praise your wonders, Lord, your faithfulness too, in the assembly of the holy ones. ⁶ For who in the skies above can compare with the Lord? Who is like the Lord among the heavenly beings? The heavens are yours, and yours also the earth; you founded the world and all that is in it. ¹² You created the north and the south; [the mountains] Tabor and Hermon sing for joy at your name. ¹³ Your arm is endowed with power;  your hand is strong, your right hand exalted ¹⁴ Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.”

So, in these 6 verses alone we learn that God is full of wonders, faithful, incomparable, Lord of all, the Creator, all powerful, righteous, a God who is just and yet is love. As one author says, He is “the God whose creative act is an eternal gift of being to the whole of time and space, sustaining all things in existence in every moment” [references: 18) and another states that “everything that exists came out of and is dependent upon the continuing creative impulse” of our God. (references: 19)

Then if we move to the NT, there the words of Paul remind us that:

¹⁸ The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, ¹⁹ since   what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ²⁰ For 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 people are without excuse.” (Romans 1:18-20)

David, like Paul suggests that when we really begin to look at and appreciate God’s creation with our eyes wide open and with minds just as open to the possibility of God, we will “hear” what God is saying to us through the wonders that we observe and be awed by Him. In fact, if we don’t, then there is no excuse, says Paul, because “God has made it plain to” us in his marvellous creation.

Just consider the stars, the moon, the sun, the plants, the animals, the fish, the birds, men, women and children. The wonder of the infinite universe with not only billions of stars but billions of light years apart from each other. The wonder of the animal and plant world with such variety and colour. Then as we move from the telescope to the microscope, the wonder of the microorganisms that inhabit our planet, in fact our very bodies. And then the wonder of our bodies, the wonder of human birth and we could go on.

No wonder Paul agrees with the psalmists when he says that, “the creation of the world [reveals] God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

I recall hearing a friend’s story many years ago. He was a merchant seaman from Scotland and he told of the night be finally believed in Jesus. He said he was looking up at the clear star-filled sky and the immense ocean that surrounded him and suddenly became aware of the One who created all these wonders. That night he became a follower of Jesus.

 

And so David says here in this Psalm 19 that, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.  Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.” No wonder there is “no excuse” for missing it.