General Revelation, Special Revelation, and How to Make It Personal -- a study of Psalm 19
- mww
- Jun 11
- 17 min read
The heavens, the Bible, and our hearts in one beautiful intersection.
Bible Study Ideas and Commentary for Psalm 19
In this beautiful wisdom psalm, David praises God for revealing Himself through His creation, even more through His Word (Law), and most of all in David's own heart. He takes us on a journey from praise to conviction to commitment, something each of us should do every day. "The heavens declare the glory of God..."
Who perceives his unintentional sins? Cleanse me from my hidden faults. (19:12)
Happy Father's Day!
So I want to tread lightly on this one. I've talked to a lot of men who say they can worship God just-fine-thank-you on the golf course or in the deer blind. This week's psalm makes it clear that such an attitude is insufficient for a Christian. If at all possible, I'm hoping our discussions can highlight those dads who both instilled in us a wonder for God's creation and also a love for God's Word and God's people.
Getting Started: Things to Think About
Your Favorite Vacation Spot
Let me say up front that one of the things I want you to establish is that some people prefer to travel to manmade locations, and some people prefer to "get out into nature". There's absolutely nothing wrong with taking a vacation to New York City; I just want to make sure that everyone realizes that this week's Psalm more applies to, say, the Grand Canyon than New York City.
That said, where do your people like to travel and why?
Your Favorite "Natural" Vacation Spot
The follow-up is to focus on favorite "natural" destinations. According to the internet, people recommend visiting Yellowstone, Yosemite, Glacier National Park, and countries like Thailand, Iceland, and New Zealand. How about you? Where do you like to go?
The Most Beautiful Place on Earth
Taking "places you've traveled" or "where you like to vacation" out of the mix, what's the most beautiful place in the world? Do a Google image search for that, and you'll realize that you haven't seen the half of it. (Warning: Doctored images are more and more common for click-desperate sites; some pictures that seem too beautiful to be true are in fact too beautiful to be true.)
What makes a place beautiful? (The presence of water sure seems to help.) What sort of feelings do these pictures evoke in you?
To be clear, my earnest hope is that group members will say things along the lines of how incredibly creative and powerful God is. That's the first thing that comes to my mind, and it's the first thing that comes to the mind of the psalmist.
Experiencing God in "Normal" Places
I don't have to travel to Angel Falls to be amazed by God :). I can be held speechless even in my own backyard. And I mean that -- we have a couple of families of bluebirds that share our property, and the males are astonishingly beautiful. What makes you think about God's creativity in your everyday life?
And an important follow: if someone in your group doesn't have any sense of God in the world around us, encourage them to consider the things other group members are saying and challenge them to intentionally look for God's handiwork all day.
The Heavens Declare the Glory of God
So, this week's passage is a geekfest for me and everyone who loves "outer space". Having grown up in Houston, I can vouch that the night skies are much clearer here in rural Georgia. And yet we have nothing on large swaths of the rural world.
When was the last time you looked at the night sky?
Here are some photos "regular" people took with commercial cameras.
Wow!
Do you have a favorite night sky photo on your camera you can share? I have a decent blood moon photo, and I have some really nice moonrises (when the moon is unnaturally large and overwhelming).
4,500 Stars with the Naked Eye
This starts to drift afield, but I find it really interesting. Even with "perfect" viewing conditions, we can only see a tiny fraction of the stars in the sky.
While there are more than 100 billion stars in our galaxy alone, we can see fewer than 5,000 with the naked eye under optimal conditions (like those Daved would have lived in every day; not a lot of light pollution in ancient Israel).
And then came the Hubble Space Telescope.
Hubble was lifechanging for me. I've never been so in awe of anything the way I was of those early photos NASA released.
Until the James Webb Telescope.
We could look at those incredible Hubble images and then zoom in even more. I'm regularly without words to describe some of the things Webb has captured.
David said that he was amazed by a sky without the aid of technology. What do you think he would say if he could see what we can see today?
My challenge to your group -- bring in some of the incredible photos of space that you have seen. How do they make you feel? What do they make you think? Here's a website of the first Webb images if you need any help:
I come away from those images with absolutely no doubt that a Creator of unimaginable power and creativity is responsible for all of existence. How about you?
This Week's Big Idea: General Revelation and Special Revelation
What Is "Revelation"?
When Bible teachers talk about "revelation", they generally point to two passages: Romans 1, and Psalm 19. So, this seems like the right topic to focus on.
It's important to start here: the only reason we know anything about God is because God has intentionally revealed Himself to us. Our finite minds cannot comprehend the infinite God, so God has chosen to reveal truths about Himself to us in ways that we can comprehend. The Bible talks about three kinds of revelation (and Psalm 19 covers the first two):
General revelation -- in creation itself, we can learn some things about God.
Special revelation -- in the Bible, God has specifically told us more about Himself.
Incarnation -- the perfect revelation of God to humans is in Jesus Christ.
A little more detail:
General Revelation
I can't say this better than Paul did:
Rom 1:18 For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, 19 since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse.
Baked into existence itself, and baked into every human being, is a clear understanding that not only does God exist but that God uniquely and intentionally created them and everything. Denying the existence of God is a willful rejection of plain truth.
What can we know about God from nature?
I've already mentioned His power and creativity. But what about His providential care for all creation?
Matt 5:44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. For he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
And His desire for creation to be joyful?
Acts 14:15 People! Why are you doing these things? We are people also, just like you, and we are proclaiming good news to you, that you turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and everything in them. 16 In past generations he allowed all the nations to go their own way, 17 although he did not leave himself without a witness, since he did what is good by giving you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons and filling you with food and your hearts with joy.
He is a God of order and law (see Psalm 19). He has baked right and wrong into human conscience:
Rom 2:14 So, when Gentiles, who do not by nature have the law, do what the law demands, they are a law to themselves even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts. Their consciences confirm this.
What else can we know about God from nature?
Other resources if you're interested:
(Those resources align Reformed, just FYI.)
Special Revelation
Here's the hardest question I can ask: can knowledge of general revelation be sufficient for salvation? Sadly (for many who want to believe otherwise), no. The "Great Open Sky Cathedral" is not getting anybody into heaven.
Why not? (Make sure you and your group understand the answer to that question.)
The harsh way that those articles on general revelation put it is this: general revelation will help everyone understand why they are damned, not how to be saved.
Because all people have an innate sense of divinity, and because all people have sinned and are sinful, that sense has been twisted into all manner of false religions, superstitions, and philosophies. So, to speak through all that morass, God revealed Himself uniquely and personally to specific people, notably Abraham and his descendants. Psalm 19 highlights the Law, which was given to the Israelites through the mediator Moses. In the Law, God explained in human cultural terms how He wanted people to live and how they could make atonement for the sins that had caused their damnation.
Specifically in the Old Testament, what else do we learn about God?
This simple article does a really cool thing with Hebrews 1, that God revealed Himself at different times, in different ways, to different peoples. He uses that to explain what we call "progressive revelation" as well as why the "canon is closed":
The Incarnation
I believe that Jesus needs His own section when talking about revelation. That's the only way I know to make good on John's words in his Gospel:
John 1:14 The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John testified concerning him and exclaimed, “This was the one of whom I said, ‘The one coming after me ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.’”) 16 Indeed, we have all received grace upon grace from his fullness, 17 for the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father’s side—he has revealed him.
The revelation of God in Jesus is unique even from special revelation, though the Bible is the only place we have an accurate record of what Jesus said and did. The Bible cannot contain everything Jesus said and did, let alone everything there is to know about God Almighty!
John 21:25 And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which, if every one of them were written down, I suppose not even the world itself could contain the books that would be written.
In other words, the people who knew and walked with Jesus knew even more about God than we do -- Jesus Himself is a greater revelation than the Bible. But, the Bible contains everything God wants us to know about Himself and about salvation. The Bible doesn't tell us everything about God; the Bible tells us what God wants to reveal to us, and what He has chosen to reveal to us is enough.
Where We Are in Psalms
Ha!
I didn't put out notes last week; I was on vacation. But I remember saying to my group on Sunday that Psalm 119 is a wisdom psalm like Psalm 1, and for the rest of the quarter we will shifting gears to some of the other themes of the Psalms. Not so fast! We're studying Psalm 19 this week, which is also a wisdom psalm. Wisdom: if you want to experience joy in this life, live according to God's design.
Psalm 19 does say that, but it includes an additional section that will be taken up in many psalms (and through them in many worship songs) -- creation itself inspires worship and awe of God.
But before we get to that, I wanted to highlight one thing from Psalm 119 that I hope everybody caught, that the psalmist tells us clearly how we can "use" the Psalms:
10 I have sought you with all my heart; ... [seek God]
11 I have treasured your word in my heart ... [memorize the Bible]
13 With my lips I proclaim all the judgments from your mouth. ... [speak the Bible]
15 I will meditate on your precepts ... [learn the Bible]
16 I will delight in your statutes; ... [live the Bible]
In my group, we agreed that this isn't rocket science, but that doesn't make it easy.
So, as we study the psalms, let's consistently ask:
What does this psalm teach me about God?
What does this psalm teach me about myself?
How does this psalm help me speak to/about God (prayer, praise, etc.)?
How does this psalm help me follow God in daily life?
In other words, basic Bible study. Just more poetic.
About Psalm 19
The Bible says that David wrote this psalm. It's generally paired with Psalm 18, but we will study Psalm 18 later this summer, so I wouldn't spend much time on that this week.
Let's talk about David. We all know about his catastrophic fall and how disastrous it was for him, his family, and the nation. So, I tend to think of David's psalms in two main groups: the optimistic and bold psalms (like Psalm 18!) which were probably written earlier in his career, and the pessimistic and penitent psalms (like Psalm 51) which were probably written later in his career. Both Psalms 18 and 51 give us specific time markers; Psalm 19 does not, but its tone leads me to believe that it was written earlier rather than later.
Part 1: General Revelation (Psalm 19:1-6)
1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands. 2 Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge. 3 There is no speech; there are no words; their voice is not heard. 4 Their message has gone out to the whole earth, and their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun. 5 It is like a bridegroom coming from his home; it rejoices like an athlete running a course. 6 It rises from one end of the heavens and circles to their other end; nothing is hidden from its heat.
Poetry, poetry, poetry! Why does poetic language actually work better to describe God than technical language?
This psalm is a wonderful demonstration of the parallelism we talked about two weeks ago. In other words, we're not supposed to lose sleep over "the technical distinction between 'heaven' and 'sky'" or "'declare' and 'proclaim'". It's poetic parallelism. In David's day, flying machines were not a thing, so everything about the sky was mysterious and wondrous.
Do the heavens (and in this context, "heavens" basically means the sky and everything in it, which extends indefinitely into outer space) literally speak? What does David mean by this wording?
The Lifeway material points out something important (that we focused on when talking about the plagues in Egypt -- "The Lord" vs. "Pharaoh" is not a contest -- a survey of Exodus 5 and 6) -- parts of the Bible that sound strange to us were written in direct opposition to the pagan cultures that surrounded Israel. Those peoples worshipped things like the sun and the moon and the rain (and terrestrial things like rivers and bulls and so on), but God created those things and is sovereign over them. Let's go back to the poetry of Genesis 1:
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
I'll let you read the rest of it in your favorite translation. Please don't miss the ultimate flex in verse 16 -- "and the stars also"! Just brilliant.
David's point: everything in the heavens is wondrous, and it only makes sense that people who don't know any better would want to worship those things! But don't worship the created thing, worship the Creator. (Paul had something to say about this in Romans 1.)
[Note: this is an important doctrine in Christian and Jewish theology -- God the Creator is distinct from His creation. He is not "in" creation, though He is everywhere (that would make creation itself divine). He is not bound to or dependent on creation, though He loves His creation and is intimately involved in it (that would make God needy).]
David's language is profound; the heavens don't speak words, and yet the entire world has heard those words. Think about that for a moment.
David then highlights the sun. I've mentioned how the sun was a common object of worship. This person did a graphic of the various "solar deities"; there would be some quibbling about a few of those, but that's not my point here -- this person put a lot of work into this:
And David's point? The sun "lives in a tent" that God made for it; the sun is like an athlete running the course God prepared for it. Don't worship the sun -- it's just an agent created by God to do God's bidding.
About the Sun
I have read some rather silly complaints about the Bible with respect to the sun -- "the Bible is not a scientific text -- it claims that the sun rises and sets!" Do you know who else says that the sun "rises and sets"? Literally everyone in the world, including NASA. And for the love of all things holy, this is poetry.
The word for athlete is also "strong man", pointing out how strong and consistent the sun is at its job of providing light and heat to the world. Israel is just a tiny bit closer to the Equator than we are in north-central Georgia, so there's a decent variance between summer and winter daylight hours (and I'm going to assume that David wrote this psalm in the summertime), but no one would doubt the sun's vigor and vitality.
If you want to go down a strange rabbit hole, research what different cultures thought the sun did at night.
Oh, and if you want to go down a really strange rabbit hole, research the history of geocentrism and heliocentrism. Pay close attention to the difference between assuming a circular orbit and an elliptical orbit.
I think the ancients were a lot "smarter" than moderns give them credit for.
Part 2: Special Revelation (Psalm 19:7-11)
7 The instruction of the Lord is perfect, renewing one’s life; the testimony of the Lord is trustworthy, making the inexperienced wise. 8 The precepts of the Lord are right, making the heart glad; the command of the Lord is radiant, making the eyes light up. 9 The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the Lord are reliable and altogether righteous. 10 They are more desirable than gold—than an abundance of pure gold; and sweeter than honey dripping from a honeycomb. 11 In addition, your servant is warned by them, and in keeping them there is an abundant reward.
Hebrew scholars have written extensively about the importance of poetic changes within a psalm -- in this case, the pattern and the parallelism have changed. For our part, let's just note that this is intentional; the psalmist has shifted subjects -- from general revelation to special revelation.
This shift should make sense. We can better understand and appreciate the world around us when we acknowledge that God created it all, and it all functions according to the rules/laws God has established for the universe. (Science itself is only possible because the universe behaves according to the laws set by God.)
Shouldn't people want to live according to the rules/laws God has established for us?
How would you summarize the law of God?
Luckily for you, we recently did that when we studied the Ten Commandments!
Give yourself a refresher if you need it. Otherwise, just cut to the chase: why should people live according to God's laws?
The psalmist just speaks poetically about this. Obeying God makes your heart glad, etc. But there are some very practical outcomes for living life God's way. Talk about those.
But a big part of the point of studying the Psalms is to put ourselves into the mindset of the psalmist. So, when you have obeyed God, how does that make you feel?
We were created to live God's way. So, if we ever don't feel "good" about obeying God, it's because that obedience is rubbing against the pattern of the world around us and perhaps bringing "sorrow" to a person we know. But my personal experience has always been joy in obedience, sorrow/pain in disobedience.
So why do I (or you) fuss so much about obedience?
There's a lot of poetic language in here, so let's make sure we know what David is getting at -- the Bible is completely trustworthy in three ways:
it gives us an accurate picture of God;
the rules it contains are an accurate summary of God's expectations;
those rules are the right and just way to live.
Can you see how each of those is important?
Aside: More Precious Than Silver
Do you remember the old chorus, "Lord, You are more precious than silver..." ?
It's directly based on Proverbs 3, a similar wisdom passage to Psalm 19:
13 Happy is a man who finds wisdom and who acquires understanding, 14 for she is more profitable than silver, and her revenue is better than gold. 15 She is more precious than jewels; nothing you desire can equal her.
Soapbox time! What, in these two passages, is more desirable than gold? Wisdom, and God's law (both of which are rooted in the fear of the Lord). Is it appropriate to write a song that swaps out wisdom for God? The sentiment is true, of course -- God is more precious than silver. But I think the song is unhelpful and confusing for swapping a created thing for the Creator. A person who hasn't thought much about this might stumble on Proverbs 3 and wonder if he is supposed to worship wisdom; or, more concerningly, wonder if wisdom personified is an avatar for God. That same person might read Psalm 19 and wonder if we're supposed to worship God's law.
My lesson: if we're going to use the words of the Bible, let's do everything we can to use them in the same way that the Bible author intended.
And that is a daunting challenge. It demands knowing the Bible well (which is exactly what Psalms 1, 119 and 19 are calling us to do). And it can be upsetting! I continue to learn things that make me realize I have been using a verse or passage improperly. But that's the whole point of learning and growing -- filling in the holes in our knowledge, acknowledging and correcting our errors and mistakes.
Part 3: Personal Revelation (Psalm 19:12-14)
12 Who perceives his unintentional sins? Cleanse me from my hidden faults. 13 Moreover, keep your servant from willful sins; do not let them rule me. Then I will be blameless and cleansed from blatant rebellion. 14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.
I'm hesitant about the title "Personal Revelation" -- I'm not suggesting that God says something different to you than He does to me; I'm just saying that God can help us see how His unchanging Word can apply to your life and my life uniquely.
And yes, the Lifeway lesson ends with verse 11. I don't understand why. These final verses help us take the big-picture topics of General Revelation and Special Revelation and bring them into our own unique lives.
The importance should be obvious. For me, it connects to that aside on "More Precious Than Silver", which I use to illustrate our need to understand and use the Bible rightly. It's hard to do! It takes a lifetime of learning and applying, and even then, we won't be "perfect".
So, just like in Psalm 119, the psalmist has praised God for His wonderful laws and then immediately acknowledged how he doesn't follow them perfectly. We should relate to this passage very well!
In fact, go ahead and memorize vv. 12-14.
Please note the very intentional distinction between intentional and unintentional sins. They are both equally sins. God does not say to someone in judgment, "Oh, you didn't realize that was a sin? Well then, everything is okay!"
But there is a distinction. The law does not make provisions for atonement for intentional sins -- that's something I have always had a hard time swallowing. If a person knows God's law and intentionally breaks it, he has no recourse except to throw himself on God's mercy. I realize that's part of the point. Jesus died for us because we all commit both unintentional and intentional sins; no one can say that they have lived perfectly or close-to-perfectly.
And so the psalmist (King David) makes a very simple request of God:
reveal to me my hidden/secret/unrealized faults and sins so that I will know and will work to eliminate them from my life;
give me the strength and discipline to overcome my known/intentional sins (an intentional sin is basically direct rebellion against God).
On this side of Pentecost, we realize that God has given us the Holy Spirit to work specifically in those ways in our lives.
His desire at the end of it all is for God to be pleased with his words and thoughts. Is that your desire? What do you need to do in your life to take steps that direction? I suggest that David's words are exactly what each one of us needs to do to apply this wonderful psalm to our lives.
Make this prayer your prayer.