The World Seen Differently

"The law of the LORD is perfect,

    reviving the soul;

decrees of the LORD are sure,

    making wise the simple;"

(From Psalm 19:7-14)

On our way to Brattleboro, VT, we were following directions I downloaded from Google Maps. 

We had been following Rt.9 when it seemed as though we had made a wrong turn when we came to an intersection where we had to turn right or left. 

I knew this was wrong, but realized our accommodations were on Main Street.

Following that prompting of the Spirit, we turned left and in faith we kept on eventually we arriving at our accommodations. 

Psalm 19 celebrates God’s ordering activity through the use of two different literary elements.

The heavens give witness

The psalms' initial claim is that the heavens provide a witness to God’s establishment of order (verses 1–6). 

Though the heavens cannot speak the words of humans, they tell a clear story nevertheless. The sky stays high above the world. The movement of the heavens can be seen as regular and orderly because the sun rises and sets and the constellations move about

 

The power of God’s law 

The God-ordained movement of the heavenly bodies resonates with the order that God gives the community through the law. 

This order emerges through the words of the 10 Commandments which arrange the life of God's People.

Seeing the world differently 

We can also see the ordering work of the law embodied in Jesus Christ.

Jesus brings the order of God to us in the most immediate way.

And in Jesus, God speaks a new word, the Word made flesh. Order comes to the world through Christ’s very life, death, and resurrection. And the Word made flesh issues commands that still go out through all the earth.