Handywork

If you need a reading plan for wisdom literature, a good place to start is in Psalms. You could read each day’s calendar Psalm +30 until you’re done. For instance, I’m writing this on the 20th of February. Therefore I would read Psalm 20, 50, 80, 110, 140, etc. Whatever the day is +30 until you run out of Psalms. After a month you have ingested quite a bit of wisdom. If you miss a day, you can pick it up again next month. The thing is, I bet once you have begun the habit, you will notice how much you reed it. For me, I am a completely different individual if I don’t get my daily supply. 

Yesterday I read in Psalm 19, because it was the 19th. Psalm 19.1-4 is a familiar passage. One of which I love very much. It’s quite unpopular with the deistic evolutionary crowd, but it’s one of my favorites nonetheless. “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.  Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.  There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.  Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun” 

David is expressing such majesty and command of God. He is in worship here. He is not shallowly worshipping his Creator. No way! He is looking at the cosmos and it has blown him away. Too often the shallowness of our worship of God, is unreasonably justified. We have been required to love with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. This is toes-up worship. This is worship with the mind, eyes, lips, and body. When we notice that the design of the universe is beyond comprehension, yet laid bare before us, how could we not see how magnificent the Designer is. How could we possibly take for granted? If you were to listen the the common Bible study, the common sermon, and the common conversation about God… it’s near blaspheming. 

Today we can see so much more majesty of our Creator’s work than previous generations had ever imagined, and yet our so-called worship looks more like were just not talking about something we read about on a flyer. Where is the proper respect for the Sovereign Creator of the universe? ” We know that the galaxy of which our solar system is a part of is: 100,000 light years across, which is about 587,000 trillion miles. It’s one of about a million such ‘known’ galaxies in the optical range of our most powerful telescopes. And that is increasing daily. As soon as we find a more powerful telescope we just see even more! 

We know better don’t we? We know Who did this, not just What was done. Do you still stop at night and look up? Do you still pay attention to the change of the seasons and all at once thank God for what He has done… for you? We have a personal God who spoke this universe into being. There must then be a certain level of respect, reverence, wonder, and dread when we see His creation and speak of Him accordingly. I pray that bar doesn’t acquiesce, instead it is raised again and again. When we that we come together to talk about Him and to worship Him, do we do it with a Spirit of reverence and joy? Or do we participate in deifying and humanizing God? For far too long we have seen the steady decline of worshippers. True worshippers will seek Him and do so in spirit and truth (John 4). 

Are we worshipping a God who is just slightly more exalted than us? Or are we speaking to, for, of, and about the One and Only! It’s time for His people to raise the urgency, the intensity, and the heart of our worship. And may the Lord be merciful to us for our unrecognized foolishness of living for our own exalted nonsense. I want to be active in the exaltation of Jesus Christ. I just recently read this quote from an unknown source— “There are only two kinds of people in this world: those who are seeking to exalt themselves, and those who are living for God’s agenda.” So true! We are most alive when we live for God’s agenda, and most miserable when we do not. 

David said over and again “shew” or demonstrate. His creation demonstrates how much He loves us, and How really big He is. I can trust Him. Stop looking down at your problem and up at His majesty. It will change you. David also said— “handywork”. He has personally put His designer and authoring fingers into every detail. Stop and stare at it, it’s worth it. Be humbled that we aren’t the biggest or most important thing happening today.