The familiar words open Psalm 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God …”. Brown, Driver & Briggs tells us that the Hebrew word for “declare” here comes from the verb “sapar”, meaning “count”; and its piel (intensive) form here: “recount, rehearse, relate.” The heavens do relate something to us of God’s glory:

— It is interesting, and should probably be instructive to us that a word related to “count” is employed to describe how the heavens tell of God’s glory. The vast number of stars the universe contains gives us some indication of the vastness of God’s glory: infinite, immeasurable, far beyond our knowledge.

— The glory and brightness of the sun and the other stars of heaven also conveys to us something of the radiance of God’s glory.

— The order, laws, and schedule which govern the bodies of the heavens also relay something of the glory of God’s faithfulness and order. It is just as the old hymn declares: “sun, moon & stars in their courses above join with all nature in manifold witness to Thy great faithfulness …”.

It is just as the Apostle Paul writes in Romans 1:20, “His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”

Do you want to understand something about the glory and nature of God? Just look up: “the heavens declare the glory of God”!