The Heavens Praise God

Scripture: Psalm 19:1-4 (NIV)

¹ The heavens declare the glory of God

the skies proclaim the work of his hands

² Day after day they pour forth speech;

night after night they reveal knowledge.

³ They have no speech, they use no words;

no sound is heard from them.

⁴ Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,

their words to the ends of the world.

 

Devotion:

            Scientists have discovered that the stars and planets in the Universe do indeed make noise. While they do not make noise that we can hear they still speak. Only recently have we begun to decode the language of the stars. The Lord has put us in a very noisy universe. It seems science cannot understand what all this noise is about yet. The believer understands this cacophony of sounds to be the very universe praising its creator. What sounds like an avalanche of sounds to the astronomer is really the heavens praising the Lord.

            Astronomy has given us the ability to listen in on what David (the author of this psalm) could only proclaim by faith. Astronomers seek to find some sign of intelligent life out in the distant corners of the universe with their high-tech radio telescopes. So far, they have not found any intelligent language anywhere out there.

            Meanwhile believers await a trumpet blast from the heavens. Meaning that God is at last coming to rescue those who trust in him and wait patiently for his coming. You will not need a sophisticated radio telescope to hear God’s final call. Then all the world will hear God’s voice together. Some will rejoice and some will be deeply troubled by God’s final revelation of his glory. God’s final judgement will fall, and the earth will quake at his coming.

            The world would do well to pay attention to the noise coming from heaven. We may not be able to make out what the universe is saying, however God hears what to us is just noise, and he discerns praises amid the noise. Those who follow Jesus should be making praises to God that never cease like the stars and planets in the universe.

            We must wonder what exactly David was thinking about when he first wrote this psalm. He had no powerful telescope capable of hearing the sounds our astronomers now hear. Perhaps he was simply in awe at the sight of the stars and planets as they lit up the sky in the night. Without all the light pollution that fills our modern sky’s it must have been a remarkable sight. May we be listening to what the heavens are telling us today.

Prayer:

            We give all glory to you O God. You have created the heavens and the earth, and we thank you for them all. Help us to see your hand at work in the great universe. Thank you that we can now “hear” the stars speak to us. Help us to stand in awe of all you have done in creation. We marvel at the abundance and variety of celestial bodies we have seen with the aid of powerful telescopes. We, like David, see what your hands have done, and we praise you for it.