Psalm 19 at 2:30 AM

I awoke about 2:30 this morning. When I did, I knew the Lord had something for me to read. I didn’t know what, but I knew that when the Lord ‘worketh in me to will; ‘ I do; lest I quench His Spirit (discourage Him from encouraging me.) So, I headed downstairs, picked up my Bible and turned to Psalm 19.

What joy is found in His Word when Christ is tutor! There are three main subjects that David addressed in this psalm. The first (v. 1), David told of God’s glory in the creation and how, “Day after day they (the heavens) pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.” In the second (v. 7), David spoke of the perfection of God’s law. Then, in the third (v. 11), he addressed his sin; both of those he committed unknowingly and those that were presumptive or willful.

When I started thinking about why David discussed the creation, the Law, and his own sin in the same writing, I was at first confused, but then the Lord graciously brought my attention to the verses related to God’s creation of the day and ‘its speech; ‘ and of the night, ‘knowledge.’ What was the day telling him? What did the  night reveal?  What David heard and learned was God’s perfection and wisdom in His creation. God set a heavenly course; a course by the sun by day, and moon and stars by night that we as men can trust 24/7, without deviation.

With that realization, it was no Davidic sheep path (OT bunny trail equivalent) that led me to understand why David next extolled the virtues of God’s law, in which he also saw the Lord’s perfections and wisdom.  Therein, David also realized that God would allow no deviation in the course of men. It was at that point that David saw his sinful nature; the violent break and rebellion that sin posed against all that was good. As a creation of God, David, who was known as a man after God’s own heart, wanted desperately to live as the sun and the stars and in accordance with God’s law.  How do I know this? By the words, David used when he concluded his poem: “Let the words of my mouth(as the day) and the meditation of my heart (as the night) Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer.”  

In conclusion, what a glorious time is to be had in the wee hours of the night, when an adopted son may find himself seated at Jesus’ feet and taught by His Spirit. I can imagine David sitting on his roof that night, and rather than looking below to see who bathed, he did rightly by looking up and observing a billion stars. He meditated on God’s Word. As a matter of fact, I now wonder if he awoke around 2:30 am when he penned Psalm 19.