Psalm 19 is David's praise of the testimony of the speaking of the universe and his appraisal of the law leading him to a deeper seeking after perfection before Jehovah.
Verses 1-6 are David's praise concerning the speaking of the universe created by God. No doubt, in these verses, David was in the line of life. The entire universe speaks every day and even every moment. "The heavens declare the glory of God,/And the firmament proclaims the work of His hands" (v. 1). In verses 4b-5, the sun signifies Christ as a bridegroom and as a mighty man. We know that Christ is typified by the sun because David refers to the sun as a bridegroom. Christ is the Bridegroom with the bride. Christ's rising, as typified by the sun, is a circuit around the globe, and nothing is hidden from His heat (v. 6). The word circuit here indicates that the earth is round.
After David's praise concerning the speaking of the universe in verses 1-6, he highly appraises the law in verses 7-11. In verses 1-6, he was "Abel"; in verses 7-11, he was "Cain." We have to give David the credit in the line of life and the debit in the line of the knowledge of good and evil.
David's appraisal of the law was very high. Verse 7 says, "The law of Jehovah is perfect,/Restoring the soul;/The testimony of Jehovah is faithful,/Making the simple wise." The law of God is God's testimony (Exo. 31:18; 32:15). In verse 11 David said there is much reward in the keeping of God's commandments. This concept is not according to the divine concept of the New Testament economy of God.
David said in Psalm 1 that the one who delighted in the law would be like a tree planted beside streams of water (vv. 2-3). But in the Gospels, John the Baptist said, "Already the axe is laid at the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not produce good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire" (Matt. 3:10). In Luke 13:6-9, the Lord told a parable indicating that God came in the Son to seek fruit from the Jewish people, who were likened to a fig tree. If they would not repent and produce fruit, they would be cut down. Israel was like a tree planted by the law as the waters, but God would cut them down if they did not repent and receive Christ. We have seen that the spirit of the Bible does not exalt the law. It only exalts Christ. In the whole Bible there is no other portion which uplifts the law as highly as Psalm 19:7-11.
After David's uplifting of the law, he offered a prayer to Jehovah as his rock and as his Redeemer (vv. 12-14). In verse 12 he asked God to deal with his secret faults. All of us have some secret faults which only we know. David also prayed to be kept from presumptuous sins (v. 13). To be presumptuous is to be too bold without consideration.
David prayed that he would be acceptable before Jehovah in his words outwardly and in his meditation inwardly (v. 14). Sometimes you may be acceptable outwardly just in your words, but what about your inward meditation? Such a prayer indicates that David was endeavoring to keep the law to such an extent that he would be dealt with in his secret faults, in his presumptuous sins, in the words of his mouth, and in the meditation of his heart. He wanted to be perfect and clean.
Whether or not David could arrive at such perfection is not the issue. Even if he could be perfect, would this make God happy? In considering this, we must take care of the entire principle of the Bible. The entire principle of the Bible tells us that God does not want anything from man. Regardless of how good it is, as long as it is human, God will put it aside. What God wants is not a good man, but a God-man. God's desire was to be incarnated as a man by the name of Jesus, to die on the cross, to be resurrected, and in resurrection to become a life-giving Spirit to indwell us, to live in us, and to live Himself out of us. When Christ lives through us, our conduct is not our goodness but Christ. "To me, to live is Christ." We have to interpret Psalm 19 in view of the entire principle of the Bible.
If David could have been a perfect person, he would have been highly exalted. But the Bible does not exalt anyone but Christ. Christ must have the preeminence in everything. This is why Paul said, "It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me" (Gal. 2:20a). According to the divine concept, we can see that David was wrong. Abel was accepted by God, not because his secret faults and his presumptuous sins were dealt with, but because he realized that he was a sinner. He needed Christ to be his offering. He offered to God not what he was, but Christ. Thus, he was accepted in Christ. He was accepted by God, not in himself, in what he did, or in what he raised up, but altogether in Christ. At the end of Psalm 19, however, David was not in the line of Abel but in the line of Cain.
We may not have agreed with what Cain did in Genesis 4, but we surely have agreed with David's prayer at the end of Psalm 19. This is a very deep prayer. Over fifty years ago, I prayed David's prayer in Psalm 19 every morning over a long period of time. We can pray this prayer, but no one can attain the standard of this prayer. In verses 12-14, David prays, "Who can discern his errors?/Clear me of my secret faults./Keep Your servant from presumptuous sins;/Do not let them have dominion over me;/Then I will be blameless and cleared/Of great transgression./May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart/Be acceptable before You,/O Jehovah, my rock and my Redeemer." This prayer seems marvelous, but actually David was in the line of Cain here. Like Cain, he was trying his best to bring the produce of his harvest to God. In other words, he was bringing his doing, his working out, and his result to God, while putting Christ aside. In Psalm 51, however, David applied Christ to the uttermost because he realized that he had sinned greatly and that he needed Christ.