GroshLink

Beliefnet article featured in a display at The Power of Forgiveness: Lessons From Nickel Mines (Sponsored by The Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College. 9/22/2011).

In Responding to "The heavens declare the glory of God" (12/8/2011), I noted the focused attention I was giving to Psalm 19. I have posted the resultant paper for Dr. Dorsey's Psalms class at Evangelical in these posts: 

• Saturday Scripture Series: Psalm 19
• Saturday Scripture Series continues on Sunday: Psalm 19 Part II (Historical Setting/Central Point)
• Monday Question Series: Bible Reading?/Saturday Scripture Series: Ps 19 Part III (Verse-by-Verse Commentary).
• Ps 19 Part IV (Identify several theological insights)

In this final post of the series, I have so much more to say with regard to practical application. None-the-less I offer a few starting places for next steps. Feel free to recommend revisions, corrections, affirmations, and additional practical applications (or work these out further) . . . To God be the glory!

Practical application

The beauty of and the glory of God revealed in creation should lead the people of God to give praise to God. My wife and I studied biology in college. Living surrounded by farms in Lancaster County, PA, we continue to be enthralled by the beauty and glory of God testified to in and by the creation. As a result of this beauty and glory we give praise for the creation, teach our children to do likewise, and invite friends to consider the beauty of creation. In our daily life we hear music such as Franz Joseph Haydn’s “The Heaven’s Are Telling,” part of his oratorio Creation, playing in the background. We pray our readers do likewise.

When one acknowledges the role that creation plays in pointing to the Creator and the call of human beings to steward the creation, one cannot help embracing the imperative of “creation care.” I am convinced that much of the lack of concern for creation care by the followers of Christ in the United States is a reticence to be termed environmentalists, blinding them to the beauty of creation as spoken of in Ps 19 and the call to steward the creation, of which we are members (Gen 1:26-28). This fall I hosted Valerie Weaver-Zercher to speak on Living More with Less (2010) at the Elizabethtown Public Library. Our local congregation had a strong turnout. Since her speaking engagement, we have had conversations about sponsoring a Living More with Less book study, community garden project, and inviting a follower of Christ committed to creation care speak to our local congregation.

When considering the above creation care developments, I am reminded that the beauty and complexity of creation is not lost on unbelievers. As a matter of fact the testimony of the creation provides a powerful bridge for the followers of Christ to give testimony to God in the context of and through the tools of science. Many agnostics and atheists with whom I interact with in the sciences through campus ministry realize the creation is not enough to explain reality; “an Other” truly speaks in some hidden manner. The Book of Scripture opens one’s eyes for a proper understanding the book of creation and one’s place in it. As Isaac Watts wrote

The heavens declare thy glory Lord;

In every star thy wisdom shines;

But when our eyes behold thy Word,

We read thy name in fairer lines (quoted by Anderson, 147).

Praise be to our Lord, who is our rock and redeemer! The word and law of the Lord is to be a delight for the children of the Lord. Goldingay’s reminder of the Adam and Eve’s delight in their own way over the Lord’s way frightens me. How easy it is for the tongue to speak evil. Each and every day I pray for daily sanctification in the midst of the people of God, the larger culture, and the creation a whole.  

May the words of my mouth
      and the meditation of my heart
   be pleasing to you,
      O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Psalm 19 Research Paper Bibliography