Listening to the Sky

Psalm 19

What do you hear when you are outside? I’m sitting at my dining room table, leg elevated (I fell and ruptured my Achilles tendon and am in a cast for nearly a month), listening to the sounds of the neighborhood. It’s quiet. Most of the neighbors have left for work or running errands. If I listen carefully enough I can hear the sky proclaiming the work of God’s h hands, or so the psalmist claims. If should be able to hear the joy of the sun as it runs its course, according to the psalmist.

I am not proficient in listening to the sound of the sky or the joy of the sun. Yet God speaks whether I hear or not. I am an expert in discerning the stars and the messages they proclaim.

So, God speaks through His Word. In the Holman Christian Standard translation of the Bible the psalmist reminds me that God gives instruction, He testifies, He expresses precepts, He gives commands, He communicates ordinances. These I can hear. These I can train myself to hear, analyze, examine, remember, and think upon.

The psalmist closes with a prayer:

“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to You, Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.” (Psalm 19:14, HCSB)

For my words to be acceptable, for my thoughts to meet His criteria challenges me to learn to listen to the sky, listen to the way God speaks through the natural environment. God’s word, revealed in what we call ‘The Bible’ serves to underline what God is saying – even if we aren’t proficient in listening to the sky, hearing the joy of the sun.