By Randy Dillon
Psalm 18:46 “The Lord liveth, and blessed by my rock, and let the God of my salvation be exalted.”
Psalm 19:1 “The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork.”
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King David of Israel was the writer of many of the Psalms. Some were cries for help in time of sorrow. Others were admissions of sin and fault. Still others were celebrations of thanksgiving, forgiveness, trust and praise. The two verses cited above seem to exemplify the praise psalm. The underlying theme is that God is the creator and the one to whom we, as believers, ought to pay homage for His vastness.
While Psalm 18 is one of thanksgiving for God’s deliverance of David from his enemies and Saul, it is also a message of glorifying God as a living being who provides a firm foundation, a “rock” upon which to lean and to trust when difficulties arise. To know David’s travail in his journey to becoming king is to understand why the living God had become his rock. He therefore blessed God as his foundation for strength in time of trouble.
But beyond this trust in God for deliverance, David also recognized the need to remember God as the author of his salvation. This recognition of God’s power caused David to exalt God above all other powers and people.
Turning to Psalm 19 we find that God is not only to be exalted for the power of deliverance and salvation, but He is also to be exalted and worshipped as we mere mortals observe the heavens and the firmament. In the sky we see the vast stretch of the heavens, that is, the expanse of the universe in which we dwell including the planets, the sun, the moon, and the stars. Firmament is a word which also signifies the same thing as heavens although it is often used in reference to the atmosphere surrounding planet earth and the things which occupy our sky such as clouds, rainbows, meteorites, rain, snow, ice and sunshine.
It is the heavens which announce the glory of God as creator and sustainer. If we fail to see God in nature or in mankind, we should not fail to see Him in the vast expanse of the universe. When we acknowledge the size and wonder of the universe the sight alone of the stars should direct us to the glory which we should give God. Likewise, if we simply take for granted our own sky and the wonders it presents, the atmosphere and all that surrounds us demonstrates what God has created for our benefit and what we should think as we consider the glory that is God’s alone and the exaltation that is due to God.
It is too often the case today that people are all too willing to glorify humanity and cosmic accidents to the development of our world in spite of the obvious complexity and ingenious design of God’s creation. Exalting mankind, they ignore God despite the glory represented by His creation. As believers, we are called upon to give God glory in all things and to Him alone.