Psalm 19:1-6 - Natural Revelation

Psalm 19:1-6
1 The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.
2 Day to day pours forth speech,
And night to night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words;
Their voice is not heard.
4 Their line has gone out through all the earth,
And their utterances to the end of the world.
In them He has placed a tent for the sun,
5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber;
It rejoices as a strong man to run his course.
6 Its rising is from one end of the heavens,
And its circuit to the other end of them;
And there is nothing hidden from its heat.
Message: Natural Revelation

Time: The psalms were written by many different people across a period of a thousand years in Israel's history. They are thought to have been compiled and put together in their present form by some unknown editor shortly after the captivity ended about 537 B.C.

What the Lord is Saying:

The Protestant Reformation wanted to return the church to its commitment to Scripture as the only infallible authority. The problem that had occurred is human traditions had supplanted the revealed Word of God. The Protestant Reformation occurred about 500 years ago. This is the same time period in which the whole Bible began to be translated into Germany and English after the printing press was invented in 1436. Portions of the Bible had been translated previously from the Latin Vulgate.

Prior to this time, it was the charge of monks to copy Scripture and this process generally took 1000's of hours. As such, it was common for only certain people to have the scripture and therefore Scripture was often told to you rather than read yourself. This often resulted in interpretations and sometimes human traditions of what people thought the scripture meant to be applied.

Revelation from God is generally broken down as either natural revelation or special revelation. Natural revelation refers to revelation towards humanity in general. It is also called general revelation. Special revelation is wherein God speaks directly to his people through a prophet or an Apostle.

Natural revelation is referenced in Psalm 19:1 - The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. As one looks up to the sky, to see above, the heavens, the view of them declare God's glorious being or existence. It speaks to the work of God's hands. Each person upon seeing the expanse of the sky, the heavens, sees a vast and spacious expanse, richly adorned with stars and planets -- all of it declares the work of His hands. All people are left without excuse when they can see before their eyes the created work of God. 

I've always loved the words of Paul in Romans 1:19-20 - that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

The changing of day to night, one after the other, continually means that there is a constant, daily, throughout the day communication by God of Himself. Day to day pours forth speech,
And night to night reveals knowledge. There is no voice to be heard, but the communication is still there. There is no speech, nor are there words; Their voice is not heard.

Promise: As we speak truth, we can always appeal to creation as proof of His existence. We can use God's natural revelation to point to Him.

Prayer: Lord, I have always been partial to the fact that Your creation testifies to who you are. I've always loved the words of Paul that express this. It is the creation that we have before our eyes each day - before we even utter a word or hear a word - that expresses You. Perhaps it is the simpleton to me, the person that was adverse to learning growing up and reading, and the knowledge that springs forth without a word being uttered. I'm thankful for how you communicate to us through your creation. Thank you that the sky above, the heavens are telling of the Glory of God. It is sort of painful that people don't see this. It is painful that they don't realize what you are speaking right before their eyes. We see the creativity of each person and each person's appearance. And we see the creativity in our land and all the different places of beauty that there are throughout our world. There is uniqueness in each part of the World. Lord, thank you for the display of Your Glory in creation. 

Note: I follow the readings from the Tabletalk Magazine devotional, though I am a little behind and working through 2017 devotionals. 2017 is a study of key biblical doctrines with February being about the doctrine of revelation and the various aspects of the doctrine of Scripture that sola Scriptura seeks to preserve.