The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
(Psalm 19:1, ESV)
I just finished teaching a three-week intensive course at
Point titled Scripture: How We Use It. It is a required course for students at
Point if they are not biblical studies majors. We use a textbook in the course
written by Ben Witherington III, Reading
and Understanding the Bible. One of the important items Witherington
addresses early on is that when we make the Bible something it isn’t, we do it
nor God a favor.
One of my favorite psalms is Psalm 19. I read it often,
think about it practically every day. The first stanza of the psalm (1-6) is
focused on creation – its glory in proclaiming the glory of God’s handiwork. The second stanza (7-11) is
focused on the “law of the Lord” and the great value such Law has for God’s
people. The psalm ends with these words – words many of us have memorized:
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
It seems to me that when I put these two stanzas together –
the testimony of creation and the testimony of God’s words - I can truly petition God to let my words and
thoughts be acceptable to Him. (As a side note, I would encourage you to spend
more time outside in the midst of
creation’s testimony while reading Scripture!)
Unfortunately, some would interpret words like those in
verses 1-6 (and other places in Scripture where the world is described) in a
way that makes the Bible something it isn’t. The Bible’s kind of naked-eye
description of parts of the universe weren’t intended to be chapters in a
modern science textbook – and when we make them that, we miss the point.
Psalm 19:1-6 isn’t giving a technical description of the
place the sun occupies in the universe nor how it works. But, if we listen to
David’s words, we see a Spirit-inspired interpretation of what the universe
means! Apparently, regardless of the mechanics of how, God intends creation to
be a voice that points to His glory. How many times a day do we see some part
of this marvelous universe in ways that convince us of the greatness of our
God?
God reminded Israel, through Isaiah the prophet that we
humans don’t always think and behave like He does. (55:8-11) Thus we were given
“His Word” so we could learn to think and behave as He does. It is that “Word”
that often interprets creation for us. Not so much in terms of mechanics as in
terms of God’s divine intention at creation.
My summer session students almost always seem like a little
light bulb is going off in their still young brains. Use the Bible as it was
intended to be used and it becomes this marvelous collection of words from God,
given through a number of different humans He used to write them down, that can
change life!
If that is going to happen in our lives, we have to learn
not to make what it isn’t!
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