We are going through Psalms and today’s psalm is Psalm 19. David takes the first part of the psalm to let us know that nature is a great preacher. That the world God created is constantly telling us things about our Creator. He says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice^[b] goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”

Has the beauty of creation ever told you anything about God? What truths has it communicated? I just went through Desire by John Eldredge, and there is an insight in the book that I want to share. The beauty of creation is a glimpse of what things were supposed to look like. You don’t have to have a terribly strong view on the depravity of man to see that people have messed a lot of things up. Regardless of your theological perspective, I would guess that most of us probably agree that the world is not the way it was supposed to be. Something has gone wrong. Many things have gone wrong. But when you look at a beautiful sunset, or the sun shining in all its’ glory and splendor, you can see a glimpse of perfection.

I think that one of the reasons that is so helpful to us is because that’s what we were created for…perfection. All you have to do is read Genesis 1 and 2 to see that God created everything good. God did not create evil. It was not in his original design. Creation reminds us that when God creates something, he creates perfection. I think it also gives us hope that perfection is coming again. If God did it once, he can do it again. When you stand in front of a huge ocean or take in the glory of a majestic mountain range, some part of you wants to get lost in it…to be absorbed by it. You begin to lose yourself, but simultaneously you start to find yourself. This is what happens in a real relationship with God. You lose yourself in him and then realize that you’re finally beginning to find yourself.

I’ve barely scratched the surface. This psalm affirms that creation has a lot to tell us. What insights about the painter have you gotten from his paintings?