‘The Eloquent Heavens’

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork.  Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge.  There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.  Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.  In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoices like a strong man to run its race.  Its rising is from one end of heaven, and its circuit to the other end; and there is nothing hidden from its heat.” –Psalm 19: 1-6 (NKJV).

‘The Eloquent Heavens’ is the title the New English Bible study helps writer gives to Psalm 19:1-6.  Perhaps you, as I, memorized these verses in the King James Version when  young.  The beauty, insight and wisdom of these verses indicate that God manifests Himself in His creation.  Indeed, as one considers the magnitude of God’s creation, how can one but wonder about the power and superiority of the One who formed the heavens and the earth?  They are, indeed, ready testimony to the omnipotent God, declaring His glory throughout the earth.  Regardless of what ‘speech or language” is spoken anywhere in the earth, ‘their voice (meaning that of the heavens, of the firmament, of night and day) is heard.’  The whole creation is such a perfect revelation of the Lord that one wonders, as expressed in the words of Paul the Apostle, in Romans 1:24 how people cannot figure out that One all-powerful made and rules over all that is, but instead:  “who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever.”

This story is told about the remarkable life of Helen Keller, who was both deaf and blind but who accomplished great things with her life.  The noted minister, Dr. Phillips Brooks, had been asked to give the blind/deaf child her first instruction about God.  Her response to Dr. Brooks, when revelation came to her was “I have always known there was God, but I didn’t know what His name was!”  If one who could never see the heavens stretched above and the earth in its beauty and  majesty, how much more should we, with both sight and hearing, take into account the power and might of the Creator. As Dr. Brooks, in giving instruction to blind Helen Keller, we too who know and recognize that God is the Lord have a responsibility to help others relate to the Voice that is already calling to them through the creation.  Paul quoted the Septuagint Version of Psalm 19:4 in Romans 10:18:  “But I say, have they not heard?  Yes, indeed:  ‘Their sound has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.’”  But how often do they, as the young blind and deaf Helen Keller, need someone to tell them about Jesus?  And that’s where God asks us to be His partner in spreading His message. David looked at the sky above the Judean hills, and contemplated the heavens and looked to the earth that fed and watered animals and people and was awed.  But how much has been learned since David’s day!  Scientists have taught us that there could be as many as 1.6 million species of fungi, 10,000 species of ants, and at least 300,000 species of flowering plants, and these numbers only begin to enumerate the countless plant and animal kingdoms that operate with precision within the universe.  And then there are “the heavens,” that space exploration has discovered is larger and more complex than our finite minds can imagine.  We can but declare with awe as did David:  “The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handiwork!”