The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech, night after night they reveal knowledge.

                                                                                                               Psalm 19:1-2 (NIV)

Ok, let this be a personal challenge. It’s a friendly challenge but a personal one. In light of the fact that for the past two days we have been looking at meditating on God’s word (Psalm 1) and placing an emphasis on knowing God (Psalm 16), it’s time for us to move into the practical phase where the spiritual “rubber meets the road.” I want you to get off of your media. No, I’m not asking you to entirely abandon your media, just put it down for a few moments each day. In fact, this challenge will operate on a 4 to 1 ratio, media to alone time with God. For every hour you spend on media (television, computer, phone, etc), you owe yourself 15 minutes of alone time with God. You will still be spending four times as much time on media as you will in quiet contemplation, but because God honors our making Him a priority, I believe the results will be life changing.

Today’s passage reminds us that by looking up, we can not only get a glimpse of God’s glory, we can hear God speak through His creation. “The heavens declare” and “the skies proclaim” are two references to such an event. The sky and all of its vastness and beauty serve as a backdrop to God’s “speech” and “knowledge.” So what am I suggesting? Go outside alone, away from busyness, distractions, and media and soak up the knowledge displayed in the heavens. This can be done anytime of the day but I would highly recommend you go out at night. Choose a safe, quiet place free of distractions. If you can, get where you can observe as many stars as possible. If you have memorized scripture, you can recite some passages that mean a lot to you. If you don’t have any, let me recommend today’s passage. Just speak the words of the Psalmist back to God and spend some time talking to Him. I am challenging you to do this for one week. After one week, I believe you will want to incorporate this into your daily schedule. Today’s comments will be shorter than usual because I want you to spend the time you would ordinarily spend reading this and go outside and spend that time with God. Challenge accepted? Good!

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

                                                                                                                 Psalm 19:14