Psalm 19
God’s Glory in Creation and the Law
To the leader. A Psalm of David.
The heavens are telling the glory of God;
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours forth speech,
and night to night declares knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words;
their voice is not heard;
yet their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In the heavens he has set a tent for the sun,
which comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy,
and like a strong man runs its course with joy.
Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
and its circuit to the end of them;
and nothing is hidden from its heat.
I tiptoe into the darkness of the wee morning hours, surrounded by a lonely stillness as crisp air awakens my lungs, my limbs. My feet beat a rhythm along my familiar path, my breath sounding in my ears and my pulse quickening with my pace. I am an early morning runner, departing from my warm bed into the sometimes cold, always black predawn to log mile after mile before most of the world is awake.
As my journey becomes one mile, then two or three, the skies awaken into a brilliant contrast of pink and orange as the sun creeps slowly over the horizon. Night becomes day, and I offer thanks for the beauty of God’s creation, for the power of muscle and bone and determination, for the transformative qualities I find in distance and endurance, in pushing myself beyond expectations. This, for me, is a daily spiritual awakening.
In this moment, when the colors of the heavens tell of the glory of God; when the firmament proclaims God’s handiwork; when there are no words but the voice of the sun as it warms the world…dark becomes light, silence becomes sound, and in this moment, I understand. This is resurrection.
Gracious God, grant us the warm comfort of the morning sun as we travel along life’s many miles. Amen.
Lara Schopp
Director of Communications
