The start of a new academic year always brings excitement and anticipation. At Covenant we begin with a grand Convocation, with all our students gathered in the Chapel and the faculty dressed in their colorful regalia. Singing hymns, offering prayers, welcoming new students, introducing new faculty, and listening to a formal address by one of our faculty, we are reminded why we are here, and we look forward with eagerness to what God has in store.

Then, of course, we settle in to the ordinary work before us — ordinary in the very best sense of the word: not inferior or second-rate, but following the common, repeated, beautiful pattern which gives order and normalcy and daily assurance of God’s providence and provision.

For sure, from time to time God may choose to demonstrate his extraordinary providence through special blessings, miraculous interventions, surprising turns of events. But mostly, when students awake in the morning, their rooms look pretty much like they did the night before; the food in our Great Hall dining room is there just like yesterday; classes and athletic practices start and end at the designated times. And so on we go, amidst the ordinary providences of God.

It is a good and gracious thing, this ordinary, “do-the-next-thing” life, in which and through which we live out the extraordinary educational calling to pursue in our studies the mind and heart of Jesus Christ, who is preeminent in all things.

All of which brings us to the consideration of Psalm 19, a psalm which presents God’s people with a beautiful pattern for grasping, and rejoicing in, the order and pattern of God’s revelation – both general in nature, and special in the Scriptures – and our proper response to such grand and convicting truths.

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.” There is so much here of literary quality; the psalm’s poetic patterns and rhythms and images all contribute to its meaning and power. For those especially interested in the Psalms’ literary and poetic qualities, Leland Ryken’s Words of Delight: A Literary Introduction to the Bible is a wonderful guide.

The point for now is that Psalm 19 one of the most precious treasures of God’s revelation in the Scriptures. It comes in three sections: verses 1-6 lay out what is commonly called God’s general revelation; verses 7-11 lay out what is commonly called God’s special revelation; and verses 12-14 lay out the powerful, sanctifying impact which God intends for us – the “so what” of the psalm.

It is important to recognize that the progression through the sections of Psalm 19 is not intended primarily as a chronological progression, as if people first, chronologically, apprehend God through his general revelation, and then second, chronologically, hear and understand God through his special revelation, and then third, chronologically, respond in faith and obedience. To put it another way, the psalm is not intended as the step-by-step path and pattern for coming to faith, although it’s probably happened that way for many.

Rather, the psalm’s three-part structure portrays a logical and theological framework, for God’s redeemed people, of how God’s general and special revelation are related, ultimately for the discipling and blessing of the believer.

Here is an initial statement of the thesis, the melodic line, of Psalm 19: The study of and delight in God’s general revelation rightly prompts the study of and delight in God’s special revelation, which rightly prompts us to delight in the gospel and to pursue gospel fruit in our lives.

First, in verses 1-6, the psalmist speaks of God’s wordless witness in the creation, often called general revelation or the Book of the World.

The psalmist’s main point here is that the heavens – i.e. created things – witness to their Creator. In the words of James Boice, long-time pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, the Book of the World provides “…a revelation of God’s existence and power so great that it should lead every human being on the face of the earth to seek God out, to thank him for bringing him or her into existence, and to worship him.” (Psalms, Vol. 1, p. 162)

The glory of God in verse 1 is not moral glory; that is, it does not refer to God’s moral attributes such as justice, mercy, love, goodness, and grace. It refers rather to his existence and his creative power and majesty, and to that more general sense of grace – common grace – by which God blesses and provides for every human being who lives and breathes.

Further, in Romans 1, Paul says, “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 men are without excuse.” So general revelation is sufficiently clear in its wordless witness about God, not only to prompt gratitude and worship, but also to condemn the person who does not acknowledge God the Creator.

For our academic work in Christian educational institutions, the study of the creation in all its aspects is, therefore, not a secular, i.e. non-religious or a-religious, study, for it rightly leads everyone not blinded by their own rebellion to an apprehension and appreciation of the powerful God who created all there is. While this is the main point of this first section of the psalm, there are underlying presuppositions and implications which shape our Christian academic approach to the study of the Book of the World.

1. Nature is worthy of being studied. The psalmist validates and encourages our examination of the creation, and we should give ourselves wholeheartedly to it, in all its complexity and detail. If knowing about the heavens a little will prompt us to acknowledge and praise God, then surely knowing it better will prompt us to acknowledge him even more.

2. Nature is observable and understandable. If the heavens and skies and sun testify to God, then they must be susceptible to being studied and known. This is actually a very important starting-point, for some post-modern epistemologies suggest that we humans are so captive to our own subjectivity and our own perspectives that objective observation and true knowledge of the world around us are not possible. Psalm 19, and in fact all of Scripture, rules out such an approach; the Bible consistently presupposes the capacity of the human mind to apprehend and comprehend a world outside and independent of our minds.

3. Nature is orderly in that patterns and regularities exist. The “day to day” and “night to night” of verse 2, as well as the circuit of the sun across the sky of v. 6, suggest that we can observe patterns and repeated events, investigate causal connections, and draw conclusions about the future and how human beings can affect it for good or evil purposes.

4. Nature speaks continuously and universally, as both day and night the “speech” pours out, and the “voice goes out through all the earth…to the end of the world.”

5. The study of nature is good, even delightful. The psalmist clearly takes delight in his examination of the heavens, with an echo in Ps. 111:2: “Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them.”

6. Finally the psalm encourages the study of all the chapters in the Book of the World.
Certainly science: Remember that amazing description in 1 Kings 4 of King Solomon, to whom God gave wisdom and very great insight and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. Solomon described plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the walls; he taught about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. So the wisdom that God gave Solomon was not only moral and judicial: it was scientific as well.

Mathematical study is validated as well, for nature’s orderly patterns can be measured and calculated — an alternate translation for verse 4 is “Their measuring line is gone out through all the earth.”

But what is the form of the psalmist’s writing? It is poetry — magnificent, high art. What are the elements of his poetry? Metaphor, simile, imaginative description, lyrical shape and rhythm. Nature “speaks.” The sun is like a bridegroom and a thoroughbred racehorse. And notice that the psalm is written to the “choirmaster;” it’s a song for singing!

All these aspects of Psalm 19 are glorious affirmation for our study of all the dimensions of human life and the artifacts of human work and creativity

Two further comments are in order before we move to the second section.

1. This ringing affirmation of our studies means that we don’t have to “spiritualize” our studies to validate them, i.e. we don’t have continually to draw cute little “spiritual” lessons or force moralistic applications to make our study “Christian.” It is good to study creation and what human beings have made of its potentialities.

2. Further, it is perfectly alright to recognize that we agree with non-Christians on much of our knowledge of the world. God has created a knowable world, for both believers and unbelievers; we should rejoice that there is common understanding; we should rejoice that we can learn even from those who do not acknowledge God – such is God’s mercy and providence. Non-Christian writers can be great writers; non-Christian philosophers can be great philosophers. We do have much to learn from such folks in all areas of study, even as we acknowledge their spiritual rebellion and the ultimate inadequacy of their views apart from biblical perspective.

Oh, what a marvel is the Book of the World, and how good it is to study it with diligence and delight, and to acknowledge the Creator and to treasure his creation. What a grand calling we have for this good work here at Covenant and in all distinctively Christian educational contexts.

But the psalmist does not stop there; the picture of God’s revelation thus far is not complete. God shows himself not only in the wordless witness of the creation, but also, and far more profoundly, in the word-full witness of the Bible.

So second, in verses 7-11, the psalmist speaks of God’s written witness in the Scriptures, often called special revelation or the Book of the Word.

Verse 7 introduces a new section of the psalm, and it has seemed to some readers to be such an abrupt change from what has come before that they have concluded that these were originally two separate psalms. However, rather than seeing this perceived abrupt change as evidence of two psalms, I think it is evidence of the psalmist’s understanding that the two subjects – the Book of the World and the Book of the Word – are utterly and inescapably intertwined. For, as we study nature and history and economics and art and philosophy, and as we discover patterns and laws and principles, we are drawn to remember that the God who has created all of this, has also spoken.

Listen to how C. S. Lewis describes this connection in Reflections on the Psalms:

First he 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; not of course the mild heats of our climate but 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.” It pierces everywhere with its strong, clean ardour. Then at once, in verse 7 he is talking of something else, which hardly seems to him something else because it is so like the all-piercing, all-detecting sunshine. The Law is “undefiled…clean and everlasting…luminous, severe, disinfectant, exultant…As he 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 out all the hiding-places of his soul. (pp. 63-64)

Lewis is on solid biblical ground here, for Hebrews 4:12-13 tells us that

…the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from its sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eye of him to whom we must give account.

The physical sun, with all its searching light and scorching heat, powerfully points us further, to the penetrating, white-hot, judging and saving glare of the written Word of God.

Having previously used the word “El” for God – the least specific name for God in the Bible – here in v. 7 the psalmist announces that this Creator God, whose existence and power are on display for all to see, is in fact Jehovah God, the covenant God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who named himself to Moses at the burning bush.

And Jehovah God has spoken. He has spoken in the Scriptures, in words that have been written down so that all generations, all peoples, all language groups, in all times and all places, would have this verbal witness to and from Jehovah.

This writing first happened as God’s people were about to cross the Jordan River into the land of promise, as Moses was about to hand over leadership to Joshua. Deuteronomy 31:9 says, “Then Moses wrote this law….” – five game-changing words. This is the very first time a human being wrote down the very words of God, so that, as Deuteronomy 31 goes on to say, generations to come, “…who have not known God’s law, may hear and learn to fear the Lord….” And we now hold in our hands that very word, complete and true and sufficient in all that it says.

Notice the parts of speech in this section of the psalm.

1. All the nouns aggregate to form the idea of God’s comprehensive self-revelation in scripture – law, statutes, precepts, commands, fear, ordinances. This is God’s verbal testimony about himself in all of Scripture, not only in his creational power but now also in his moral and redeeming attributes.

   Whereas the knowledge of the Book of the World demands recognition and worship of “El,” these nouns carry specific spiritual and moral obligations toward Jehovah. This is the distinctive province of the Book of the Word: we are to keep these commands and obey these precepts.

2. All the adjectives – perfect, sure, right, clean, true – are words that admit of no qualification, no hint of incompleteness or inadequacy. The Scriptures are full of similar descriptions, for example in Psalm 119, which is so full of wonder and gratitude for God’s incomparable Word, which is, appropriately for the imagery of Psalm 19, “a lamp to our feet and a light to our paths.” Peter describes the written words of God as “more sure” than even his own eye-witness testimony about Jesus, again and appropriately calling the Scriptures “a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”
3. All the verb-based phrases describe the fruit of God’s words taken in. It is, simply put, wonderful: reviving the soul, making wise the simple, giving joy to the heart, giving light to the eyes, enduring forever, warning his servants, bringing great reward. Stated simply and directly: The Book of the World cannot provide such satisfactions and blessings and joys as these.

The psalmist is pushing us to set our study of the world in the larger, more complete context of his revealed Word, which is more to be desired than gold, sweeter than the sweetest honey. As wonderful as scientific, mathematical, literary, historical, economic, psychological, or artistic studies are, they are incomplete, unredemptive, and ultimately unsatisfying apart from the special revelation of God. In fact, without the saving words of Scripture, they serve finally to condemn, whereas God’s Word, according to James 1, can “save our souls.”

If the Book of the World rightly inspires worship of the Creator God and diligence and delight in the study of creation, how much more – how much more! – should the Book of the Word inspire, in wonder and attentiveness and humility and repentance and worship and obedience and holiness and joy? El is Jehovah, and students and scholars ought to fairly run from our classrooms and our textbooks and our research into every single context – including campus chapel –where we might hear this God speak through the reading and preaching of the Scriptures.

How dare we, as God’s people, be satisfied with the wordless witness when we have the word-full witness which can save our souls! How sad, even how arrogant, to miss this treasure, to forego this food, to neglect this grace.

Come, come, the psalmist cries out, to the God-breathed Word.

But we are not yet at the end of this psalm’s story, for, as the descriptions and effects of the written Word have already implied, that Word drives us somewhere. And we learn about that in the final section of the psalm.

So, then, third, in verses 12-14, the psalmist speaks of the ultimate purpose of God’s revelation and the ultimate end of all our study.

In God’s design, general revelation is not an end in itself. Its study, while a good and useful thing, ultimately is intended to lead us to acknowledge and worship God, and to prod us to consider that the God El, who has created all there is, is in fact God Jehovah, who speaks in words for the salvation and blessing of his people. If we become excellent scholars in our disciplines, by itself that does not fulfill the pattern of God’s intentions for us.

In God’s design, neither is special revelation an end in itself. Knowing the Bible, while crucial to theological understanding and faith, ultimately is intended to lead us by God’s Spirit to repentance, faith, holiness, and trust, i.e. to the person of Jesus Christ himself. If we become excellent Christian scholars who understand the biblical framework and Kingdom implications of our disciplines, by itself that does not fulfill the pattern of God’s intentions for us. We can become like those in John 5:39, to whom Jesus says, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.”

These final verses of Psalm 19 show clearly that what God is after is, as D. A. Carson has said, “…more than awe in the face of transcendent power, and more than personal delight in the personal, talking God…the appropriate response is repentance and faith, and zealous prayer that God himself would purify us within and make our words and meditations pleasing in his sight.”

Notice the repentance: of both “hidden faults,” i.e. those so deeply ingrained and habitual that even I may not be aware of them; and “presumptuous sins,” i.e. those willful transgressions representing intentional disobedience. Notice further that this is not only a prayer of repentance but also a prayer for God’s protection in the midst of temptation: “Keep back your servant from presumptuous sins.”

And notice even further that this is not only a prayer of repentance and for protection, but also a prayer of saving faith: “Declare me innocent,” David prays, and “Then I shall be blameless and innocent of great transgression.” Certainly David acknowledged his sin before the Lord; we know that full well from many other psalms, e.g. Psalms 32 and 51. So he is not praying that God would somehow preserve him in his sinlessness, for he is not sinless. No – here he is throwing himself on the mercy of God, who in his mercy does not treat us as our sins deserve, but forgives, not on the basis of our righteousness – because we don’t have any – but, looking ahead to the shed blood of Jesus, the only Righteous One, and on that basis declaring us innocent and blameless before him.

Here at the end of Psalm 19, then, is the glorious message of the gospel, God’s own “so-what” for general revelation and special revelation, together with David’s humble and contrite response – repenting of his sin, pleading for God’s forgiveness, and resting only on the mercy and grace of God.

The psalm closes with those wonderful, familiar final words of v. 14:

Let the words of my mouth and the
meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Repentance, saving faith, and now the plea for purity and holiness of tongue and heart, of what we say and even of what we think and feel, so that it would all be acceptable in the presence of our holy, sovereign, all-seeing God.

David rightly recognizes again that it is not finally about his own holiness, as earnest as his prayer for holiness is. For the One to whom he prays is his rock and his redeemer: the only One who can redeem, setting us free from our bondage to sin and making us holy, and the only solid rock on whom we can truly stand.

If we delight in the wordless witness to God in general revelation, how much more should we delight in the verbal witness to God in special revelation. Our studies should prompt us to run to the Scriptures, and run to those places where we hear his words read and preached, i.e. where we hear him actually speak.

But then also, if we delight in the verbal witness to God in special revelation, in hearing him speak in the Scriptures, how much more – how much more! — should we lay yourselves open to his convicting, forgiving, saving, sanctifying work. And, humble and contrite, we should fairly run to come before him so that he would do that work in us, not once for all, as if somehow we took care of that way back when, but daily as we rejoice in the good news of the gospel and the One who is our Solid Rock and Redeemer.

There are some who would contend that such gospel faith and gospel piety are irrelevant to, or even inconsistent with, the Christian academic mission. Here in Psalm 19 we find a different view: such gospel faith and gospel piety are in fact the very point of it all, without which general revelation condemns and special revelation becomes the material for lifeless scholasticism.

And here’s a wonder: When God works gospel faith and gospel piety into us, then – and only then – we turn to the Scriptures and turn to the study of the creation with gospel eyes and gospel minds and gospel hearts. We run back to our Bibles, and we run back to our classes, and we run back to our research with a delight in the study of the Book of the Word and of the Book of the World which is ever more intense in the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

I urge you: Do not be satisfied with a “Christian” education which is an intellectual exercise, even if it is explicitly framed in biblical world-view. That’s not the end toward which we strain. God is calling us, not just to scholarship, not just to an intellectual grasp of the Scriptures and the Christian faith, but further, much further, to a life together of his continual saving and sanctifying work, rooted and sustained in the gospel and marked by humility, repentance, faith, love, and holiness.

For God’s glory alone!