“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…. Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward. Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults” (Psa 19:6, 11-12).
In one of the most celebrated psalms in the Psalter, King David looks up and listens to the unspoken words of creation, and then looks down at the scroll to hear the commandments of God’s revelation. By repeating the word “hidden,” David draws a comparison between the inescapable heat of the sun and the inescapable light of the Torah (vv. 6, 12). As he looks up at the sun and feels its heat, David begins praising God for His power. As he looks down at the scroll and sees the LORD’s perfections, he begins repenting of his imperfections and sins.
If we long to worship God as our all powerful Creator, we must look up.
Within this extraordinary comparison between two kinds of revelation, it is important to notice the surpassing greatness of God’s spoken words over creation’s unspoken words. In the first half of this psalm, only the general name for God, “El,” is used, and that only once. In the second half, God’s personal name, YHWH, is used seven times. David also adds two more names for God at the end of the psalm: my Rock and my Redeemer.
If we long to worship God as our all powerful Creator, we must look up. If we long to know God personally as our Savior and Redeemer, we must spend time looking down, reading and meditating on the Holy Scriptures.
“For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do” (Heb 4:12-13).
