¹The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands … ⁷The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

This psalm could actually be two standalone compositions, the first (vss. 1-6) being descriptive praise to God through the testimony of creation, and the second praising God through extolling the law of the Lord. Both wonderfully lift our minds and souls to the throne of God.

The best way to read psalms of praise is to allow them to sweep our souls up in the poetic flourish of praise. Even when we don’t understand specific details (which exegetes love to ruminate on with big words!) the writer’s drift is apparent. David was an outdoorsman, having spent hour upon hour tending sheep as a youngster and years as a military man. We can easily picture him resting in many places, surveying his natural surroundings and reflecting contemplatively on creation, maybe from a hillside, looking out of a cave, seeing the weather patterns consistently from year to year.

Could the voice that David hears in vss. 1-4 be the thunder during storms or the birds at dawn or the crickets at dusk? We see, along with him, the sun coming out from behind the clouds, like a bridegroom being announced and coming out of his room for his wedding (vss. 4b-5). We all can relate to him seeing the sun rising in the morning and setting at the other end of the sky in the evening (vs. 6). What’s the point of all this? Verse 1 tells us that it all showcases God’s glory and His creative handiwork in nature. This should encourage us to look with open eyes and hearts to see God’s glory in creation and learn to use our own creative imagination like David did to express with our words God’s glory.

The second section of his psalm (vss. 7-14) extols God by exalting “the law of the Lord.” The word “law” is literally “Torah.” Jews (even to this day) referred to the first five books of the Bible, written by Moses, as “the Torah”: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. David loved the Torah, which we can see by his many references to it in the Psalms and, in particular, Psalm 119. In this psalm, we see his praise for God’s law because it reflects the character of God, just like creation reflects the glory of God.

The law of God is perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, and true. The Law restores us, makes us wiser, causes us to rejoice, helps us see clearly, is always relevant, and is completely righteous. As we read in Proverbs 3:13-18, God’s law and wisdom are worth far more than earthly wealth (vs. 10). Further, we are warned and guided into righteous living by studying God’s law. We are reminded of what the apostle Paul wrote: “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16).

The person who has a heart like David’s desires to live a blameless life and seek forgiveness of his sins. We pray like David in response:

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. (Ps. 19:14)