September 19 I Sunday

Ecclesiastes 1-3

2 Corinthians 11:16-33

“The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes.”   —Psalm 19:7-8

While the heavens declare the glory of God, they do not declare His will. God’s self-disclosure in His Word reveals who He is, what He is like and how we are to live our lives. When we compare the first six verses of Psalm 19, which calls our attention to the heavens, God is referred to by His relationship of power with the cosmos. In fact, David, who penned the psalm, wrote God’s name as El, which is the singular form of God. But when David turned our attention to God’s Word and the covenant relationship that we can have with Him, David used God’s covenantal name “Yahweh,” or “LORD,” seven times. This name of God speaks of His hesed, or His steadfast love and faithfulness, towards His creation. David’s transition from referring to God as El to Yahweh is significant. God never intended for us to stop at the cosmos and worship the cosmos. He meant for people to enter into a covenant relationship with Him, and it is through His Word that we discover who He is.

      The words that David used to describe God’s Word are: perfect, trustworthy, right, radiant, pure, firm, more precious than gold and sweeter than honey. Do these words describe our relationship to God’s Word? Do we delight in it? Treasure it? Find it radiant? Enjoy its purity? Value it more than gold and more than honey, which were invaluable in David’s days?

      If we have never experienced God’s Word this way, then something is wrong. In our culture today in the West, some people describe God’s Word as boring or hard to read, and they are not interested in it. When we consider the rest of the world, like Asia and the Middle East, where the church is growing and advancing in leaps and bounds, there is a dearth of the Scriptures—what these people would give to have access to God’s Word!

      David described some of the impacts and benefits of studying God’s Word: refreshing the soul, making wise the simple, giving joy to the heart, giving light to the eyes and enduring forever. What Scripture is calling our attention to in Psalm 19 is a parallel truth—just as the sun gives light to our planet and sustains life, so God’s Word enlightens the eyes and illuminates the people of God. As we study God’s Word, we are refreshed, wise, joyful and enlightened. However, just as we can take the sun for granted, we, too, can take God’s Word for granted and just assume that it is always there. David reminds us that the glories of nature indicate that there is a God, but the glories of Scripture reveal who God is.

Prayer: Glorious God, thank You for Your Word that reveals who You are, what You are like and how I am to live my life. Let me never take for granted the access that I have to Your Word.