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Psalm 19:1
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Introduction
I appreciated the mockery of one of my Facebook friends who wondered why she had to put mosquito spray on her children just to get into the van!
Another friend quipped that he regrets saying in January that he could hardly wait for the first mosquito bite.
Someone else wrote, “Let’s see.....thick socks – check; long pants – check; fully zipped jacket - check.......mosquito season, here I come!!!!
Psalm 19:1 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God and the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”
How do we see the glory of God through the dense layer of mosquitoes?
Of course, mosquitoes are not the only cause of suffering, difficulty and trial.
There are many much more serious things which we struggle with.
There is all the rain and disease and conflict and tornadoes and evil and the list goes on.
These things blur our vision so that we are not able to see the glory of God.
But if we see the glory of God, what difference will it make?
Will seeing the glory of God take away the mosquitoes?
What will seeing the glory of God do for us while we swat mosquitoes?
This verse says “The heavens declare the glory of God.”
What does glory mean?
Glory refers to that which is the best.
It refers to that which is so amazing you can hardly describe it.
So when this verse says, “The heavens declare the glory of God” it invites us to look into the heavens and see how amazing and wonderful God is.
I invite you to look to the heavens.
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I. The Heavens Declare the Glory of God’s Power
Look up to the heavens and see the clouds.
The clouds in the heavens declare to us the glory of God’s power.
I want to ask for a volunteer, a strong young man who thinks he can hold up this glass of water for a long time.
On the second day of creation we read in Genesis 1:6, "And God said, ‘Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.’
So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it.
And it was so.
God called the expanse ‘sky.’"
I have wondered about this passage.
I understand the meaning of the water under the expanse, but I wasn’t so sure about the waters above the expanse.
But because of the great rain storms we have had recently, the waters above the expanse have come to make a lot of sense.
________ is holding about 8 oz. of water which weighs about ½ a pound.
How long would he be able to hold it up?
My yard is 2 acres.
If half an inch of rain fell on that yard the rain collected would weigh 226,645 pounds.
What is most amazing is that all that water is held up by air in the “expanse above the heavens.
Can you imagine the weight of water held in the clouds which roll across the sky from the Pacific Ocean all the way to Rosenort and Riverside?
Psalm 77:17-19 says, "The clouds poured down water, the skies resounded with thunder; your arrows flashed back and forth.
Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind, your lightning lit up the world; the earth trembled and quaked.
Your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen."
Isaiah 40:12 says, "Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand…?"
You tell me, do the clouds not declare the glory of God’s power?
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II.
The Heavens Declare the Glory of God’s Wisdom
Look up to the heavens and see the weather systems.
They speak to us of the glory of God’s wisdom.
When I went to university, I began with the intention of taking a major in economics and a minor in philosophy.
During my second year, I had to take a science course and took a course which mostly studied weather and climate.
I so enjoyed the course that I changed my minor to geography and most of the courses I took in geography were in weather and climate because I was so fascinated by the way the weather system works.
For example, did you know that at the equator and at the poles the prevailing winds go from east to west.
In the whole rest of the world the prevailing winds go from west to east.
That is why when Sylvia describes the weather systems, she always shows us what is coming from Colorado or Alberta.
The reason for this weather system is that the earth is warmest at the equator.
If there was no way to move all that hot air away from the equator, all that lived there would soon burn up and the cold at the poles would move even further south.
The earth is really a big engine which moves air from the equator to the poles and so cools the equator and heats the poles.
Another fascinating part of the weather system is the way in which low pressure systems create enormous lift so that huge amounts of moisture are lifted off the surface of the oceans and lakes.
They form clouds and travel thousands of miles to drop rain far inland where there is little surface water.
How did God ever conceive such amazing systems?
Job 36:29 asks, "Who can understand how he spreads out the clouds, how he thunders from his pavilion?
Proverbs 3:19, 20 answers that question when it says, "By wisdom the Lord laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place; by his knowledge the deeps were divided, and the clouds let drop the dew."
So as we consider the wonder of the worldwide weather systems, we are introduced to the glory God’s wisdom.
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III.
The Heavens Declare the Glory of God’s Goodness
Look up to the heavens and see the sun and the rain.
The provisions of both declare to us the glory of God’s goodness.
What is the right amount of sunshine and rain?
If you listen to the weather forecast on TV, you get the impression that sunshine is necessary all the time, especially on the weekend so that people can enjoy the outdoors.
Right now we would be quite happy if it did not rain for a long time.
We have gotten a little tired of the rain and all the damage it has caused.
But I have lived in places and visited places where people desired rain with an even greater desperation than we now desire sunshine.
In Israel I saw the barley crops in the Negev.
The Negev is a desert region southeast of Jerusalem.
In the lowest valleys the farmer had planted his crops hoping that any rain that came would find its way to these low spots.
But the crop was very poor.
It was a small patch and there were few stocks of barley.
The shepherds spoke of it as a disaster.
Last year when I was in Paraguay, all the people were speaking of the desperation they had for water.
Their only source of water is the rain.
They have huge roofs on their houses that collect water into cisterns and their cisterns were getting empty.
Their cattle didn’t have water to drink and they didn’t bother planting crops because they wouldn’t grow anyway.
These things happen and we either long for rain or for sunshine, but over the whole earth and over the years, we find that there is a balance between rain sunshine.
God doesn’t send only rain or only sunshine.
Both are needed.
Plants need moisture to draw nutrients from the ground and they need sunshine so photosynthesis can take place.
Both are needed for plants to grow and God provides both.
Because He does, we have a picture of the glory of His goodness.
Psalm 147:7-9 says, "Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; make music to our God on the harp.
He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills.
He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call."
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IV.
The Heavens Declare the Glory of God’s Infinity
Look up to the heavens and see the sun and beyond the sun, the stars – which are all out there twinkling brightly, even though they are not visible to us right now.
They tell us of the glory of God’s infinity.
I would like to have a few volunteers.
I need someone to hold this globe, which represents the earth.
We are going to do a little representative math.
Suppose that 1cm = 1 million miles.
If this represents the sun, how far away from the earth would the sun be?
Sun is 93 cm away.
The nearest star is Alpha Centauri which is about 4.2 light years away.
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