Does God speak to us today outside of the Scriptures?
My answer is yes! You ask, "Where in the Bible does it state that God speaks to us outside of His Word?" The answer, given by the Scripture, is found in Psalm 19:1-6.
"To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. 2 Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. 3 There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. 4 Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, 5 which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy. 6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat."
Here in this Psalm we learn several important things:
First we learn that the creation proclaims the glory of its Maker. The "heavens," which include even the starry sky at night (last night I was enjoying the beauty of viewing Jupiter and the Moon!), declare everyday that God is truly glorious. Think about all the things we can see at night with the naked eye and all that we can see now through technology into the deep places of space! All of it speaks that there is a wonderful Creator! Truly it "proclaims" His wonderful work! In fact, as I understand it, the words "declare" and "proclaim" here has the idea of continually doing this. Their testimony is totally consistent: God is the Almighty One!
Secondly, we learn in Psalm 19:2-6, that creation's proclamation is continual. Every day the day pours out like a fountain (idea of the word "pour") speech, and the night declares knowledge. We learn from these verses that their proclamation is a silent testimony, available for all people to gain knowledge about their Creator God. Charles Spurgeon said this in his classic commentary on the Psalms, "The witnesses above cannot be slain or silenced; from their elevated seats they constantly preach the knowledge of God, unawed and unbiassed by the judgments of men.. . their teaching is not addressed to the ear, and is not uttered in articulate sounds; it is pictorial, and directed to the eye and heart." Even the Sun [created in day four of the creation week-see Genesis 1:14-19], spoken of in Psalm 19:4-6, demonstrates the all encompassing testimony of God's glory. Some commentators even speak of the Sun's effect and power as a picture of God's grace, mercy and power that effects everyone who comes to Him.
So does God speak to us today outside of the Scripture? The answer is yes. As I type, I am witnessing the Sun's rays blast its way through the trees and warm my Kentucky home. Everyday I can be reminded that there is a God in heaven who is all powerful and all loving.
Before I end though, there is one key thing to understanding this silent but totally powerful testimony. It only provides enough general information to man to cause man to understand that there is a God and Creator and that man is accountable to Him (Romans 1:18-20). The testimony of creation isn't complete in itself to teach us why there is sin, evil, suffering, pain, trouble in the world, or provide solutions to humanities problems. To understand these realities, you need the specific revelation of God's Word (Genesis 3:1-24; Romans 5:12-21).
The power of specific revelation is spoken of in the rest of Psalm 19: 7-14. Here in this part of the Psalm we learn the qualities of God's Word, the blessings of keeping God's Word and even that only the Lord is the Rock and Redeemer of sinners.
Pastor Steve
Psalm 119:89
NOTE: the link I provided to the book above is an excellent resource to understand how astronomy fits better with the testimony of the Bible than with man's big bang speculations. Also, the book contains beautiful photos of deep space.
