Good Morning Lord … Psalm 19
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.
Psalm 19:14
Psalm 19 is one of the best daily prayers I’ve ever found. Commit this Psalm to memory and use it in your morning prayers each day. Just as your bath or shower makes you physically clean and helps prepare you to meet the day, Psalm 19 gets you spiritually clean and ready. It’s the New Testament Christian’s version of the lamb that was sacrificed as a burnt offering on the Temple Altar every morning and every evening in Israel (Exodus 29:38-41).
I have copied the Psalm in its entirety below and will offer commentary where appropriate to assist you in forming this important daily habit.
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 display knowledge.
There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.
The Gospel In The Stars
These verses refer to the Hebrew Mazzaroth, later corrupted into Babylonian Astrology. Hebrew tradition holds that Adam, Seth, and Enoch picked 12 constellations of stars, each with a major star and 3 minor ones (called decans) and named them in such a way as to tell the gospel story. Being a nomadic people who slept in the open with their flocks, fathers would point out these constellations to their sons at night and use them to teach the redemption story. This was to give hope to the sons, who had heard stories of the fall of Man and his expulsion from the Garden, showing them that one day God would send His Son to redeem them. Their faith in God’s promise, written in the stars, is what saved them from their sins. Evidence shows that the Sphinx in Egypt is a monument to the Mazzaroth with the head of a woman (Virgo) and the body of a lion (Leo) combining the 1st and 12th signs and completing the circle of redemption. Some experts contend that the peculiar kind of erosion the sphinx has experienced could only have occurred if it had spent a period of time under water. If so, it’s a pre-flood memorial to the Gospel in the Stars.
In ancient Babylon, the 12 constellations were given different names, most of which bore no resemblance to the original Hebrew, and the 12 signs of the Zodiac were born taking God completely out of the picture. It’s the reason the Tower of Babel was destroyed and the people dispersed (read ). These Babylonian names survive to this day and are the basis for the abomination we call Astrology. In Israel the study of Astrology was a sin punishable by death (Deut. 18:9-12 KJV).
In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat.
The rising and setting of the Sun each day also give evidence of God’s creative powers in providing the light and warmth necessary to sustain our lives day in and day out. How could this happen by chance?
The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.
The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.
The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous.
They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.
By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.
The Secret To Success
God’s Laws, while impossible to keep in their entirety, are the standard for behavior that pleases Him. Not arbitrary or oppressive, they are perfect as He is perfect, and great blessings derive from striving to keep them. These blessings are spiritual, emotional, and physical in nature, the sure path to success (Joshua 1:8)
Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults.
Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression.
Our behavior, on the other hand, is so contaminated by our sin nature that we don’t even realize the extent to which we violate God’s laws. David’s prayer was not just for God’s help in preventing him from consciously sinning, but also for forgiveness for the sins he wasn’t even aware of committing. John the Apostle reminded us that if we think we’re without sin we’re liars, fooling ourselves. But if we confess our sins, as David did, including even those that are so much a part of our behavior that we’re not even aware of them, God Who is faithful and just will forgive us and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:8-10)
The evening and morning burnt offerings set aside the unintentional sins of the nation Israel. This offering was part of their daily lives all during the time of their ancient existence. The evening offering burned all night to atone for the sins they committed during the night and the morning offering covered them during the day. It was intended to show them the extensive degree to which sin had permeated their lives, literally causing them to violate God’s laws day and night.
Intoxicating Grace
When Jesus offered Himself once for all times. He replaced this twice-daily offering for unintentional sin as well as the other offerings for conscious and willful sin. Today we’re so intoxicated with the Doctrine of Grace that we don’t even think of the sin in our lives. Yet John admonished us *
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.
God, Who judges the motives of our hearts knows the difference between the sincere confession of a humble and contrite heart and the mindless mouthing of some words we’ve learned to say without feeling. David closed his prayer with the hope that God would count him sincere as he offered his confession, and judge his motives favorably. Good advice for us too.
Giving Credit where Credit Is Due
In this day when there’s so much emphasis on self; self-esteem, self-actualization, self-determination, it’s easy to forget that we’re created beings who’ve been given incredible talent and ability to use as we see fit and a guide to living that will assure success beyond our wildest imagination. Beginning each day by confirming God as the maker of all things, acknowledging and confessing our short comings, and restoring our relationship with the Giver of every good and perfect gift and the Author of all our victories, is a great antidote for pride, our most frequent and insidious sin. Enlisting His help in making our daily lives more pleasing to Him by protecting us against our own fallen nature is a great way to show our gratitude for all we’ve been given.
