Sermon

Psalm 19

Sweeter Than Honey

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Psalm 19

Sweeter Than Honey

Richard Niell Donovan

“(God’s) law is perfect, restoring the soul….
(God’s) precepts are right, rejoicing the heart….
(God’s) commandment is pure, enlightening the eyes….
(God’s) ordinances are true, and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, yes, than much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey and the extract of the honeycomb” (19:7-10).

More to be desired than gold? Sweeter than honey? God’s mercy is sweet, but his laws? We don’t usually love laws. Laws keep us from doing things that we want to do. How could the Psalmist say that God’s laws are sweeter than honey?

It certainly was not that God’s laws were easy to keep. There were 613 Old Testament laws, and the rabbis multiplied them into thousands of laws. These laws prescribed:

• What to eat
• When to work
• How to deal with neighbors
• How to worship God
• Even how many steps you could take on the Sabbath.

People could try to keep God’s laws, but they could never fully succeed. How could the Psalmist love God’s laws?

• Some people think that the Psalmist could love God’s laws because they make life “simple”. If the Bible tells us every move to make, we don’t have to think. We become like children again. If we follow the rules, the rule-maker bears all the responsibility.

• Others think that the Psalmist saw God’s laws as an exciting “study.” He could say “I love God’s laws” much as we might say “I love history.”

• Still others think that the Psalmist saw God’s laws as a “challenge”. Like Nintendo, they beat us most of the time, but they let us win just frequently enough to keep us coming back.

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But the Psalmist told us why he loved God’s laws. He said:

• God’s law is perfect. It restores our souls.
• God’s law is sure. It makes simple people wise.
• God’s law is right. It rejoices our hearts.
• God’s law is pure. It enlightens our eyes.
• God’s law is clean. It endures forever.
• God’s law is true, and righteous altogether.

God’s laws are trustworthy. They serve as faithful guides. They will not lead us astray.

That isn’t always true of human laws. Human laws are imperfect, because we humans are imperfect.

But the Psalmist assures us that God’s laws are trustworthy. His laws will be as faithful to us as we are to them. This is clear with regard to God’s physical laws. We cannot break God’s physical laws. We cannot break the law of gravity. If we ignore the law of gravity, we will not break the law. We will break ourselves.

So it is with God’s spiritual laws. They are trustworthy. We can make our lives better by observing God’s spiritual laws, and we can make our lives worse by not observing them. It is that simple! We cannot break God’s spiritual laws. If we ignore them, we will only break ourselves.

God’s laws are like the railing on a bridge. The railing serves as a guard; it protects us. Nobody resents a bridge railing for abridging their freedom.

God’s laws also serve as a guard. They protect us against injury. God’s laws are trustworthy, and were given for our benefit.

However, the New Testament tells us that we are now in a new relationship to the law. People in the Old Testament tried to follow the law, not just because it was trustworthy, but also to obtain salvation. The law was not adequate for this, because nobody could follow it perfectly.

In Galatians, Paul speaks of the Old Testament law as a “our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith” (3:24). Jesus Christ has done for us what the law could not do. He has given us the salvation that we could not earn ourselves. We receive salvation by the grace of God.

But this same Jesus said:

“Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets.
I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill”
(Matthew 5:17).

Thank God that we no longer have to follow the Old Testament laws. But thank God that the scriptures still provide us with the faithful guidance that they have always provided.

• The scriptures teach us how to treat each other.

• They teach us about sex.
• They teach us about money.
• They teach us about power.
• They teach how to live in families.
• They teach us how to raise our children.
• They teach us how to worship God.

Robert Fulghum wrote a best-selling book that said,

All I Really Need to Know,
I Learned in Kindergarten.

But we did not learn everything that we need to know in kindergarten. We are still learning. But God has revealed himself through his scriptures, so that we might drink at the fount of eternal wisdom.

“(God’s) law is perfect, restoring the soul.
(God’s) testimony is sure, making wise the simple.
(God’s) precepts are right, rejoicing the heart.
(God’s) commandment is pure, enlightening the eyes.
The fear of (God) is clean, enduring forever.
(God’s) ordinances are true, and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, yes, than much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey and the extract of the honeycomb.
Moreover by them is your servant warned.
In keeping them there is great reward” (19:7-11).

Scripture quotations from the World English Bible.

Copyright 2006, Richard Niell Donovan