Psalm 66
Psalm 66
"Shout with joy to God, all the earth!
Sing the glory of His Name; make His praise glorious!
Say to God, 'How awesome are Your deeds!
So great is Your Power that Your enemies cringe before You.
All the earth bows down to You;
They sing praise to You,
They sing praise to Your Name.
Come and see what God has done,
How awesome His works in man's behalf!
He turned the sea into dry land,
They passed through the waters on foot -
come, let us rejoice in Him.
He rules forever by His Power,
His eyes watch the nations -
Let not the rebellious rise up against Him.
Praise our God, O peoples,
let the sound of His Praise be heard;
He has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping.
For You, O God, tested us;
You refined us like silver.
You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs.
You let men ride over our heads;
we went through fire and water,
but You brought us to a place of abundance.
I will come to Your temple with burnt offerings
and fulfil my vows to You -
Vows my lips promised and my mouth spoke
when I was in trouble.
I will sacrifice fat animals to You
and an offering of rams;
I will offer bulls and goats.
Come and listen, all you who fear God;
Let me tell you what He has done for me.
I cried out to Him with my mouth;
His praise was on my tongue.
If I had cherished sin in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened;
but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer.
Praise be to God,
who has not rejected my prayer.
or withheld His Love from me!"
This morning I found a bookmark in my Bible - and I didn't remember when or why I had put it there. I decided to flip to the page to look at it. It turned out to be Psalm 66. From reading this psalm, with Selahs in between each paragraph for reflection, I was reminded of the true posture of worship we should seek to adopt in our lives.
1. Joy
"Shout with joy to God, all the earth!" v. 1
Right from the outset, the psalmist is already declaring the joy He has in God. And this isn't the kind of lukewarm happiness and still contentment with which we often approach stagnancy in our faith. Instead, it's a celebration. The psalmist implores the people to "shout", "sing", to "make His praise glorious"! This is the kind of joyous celebration which is often missing from our lives. God delights in our delight in Him. As Jonathan Edwards wrote (paraphrased) - it's more glorifying to God that we rejoice in His Glory, than if we just say that He is glorious. We should personally rejoice in having the Lord Jesus as our Saviour - and celebrate it.*
2. Awe
"So great is Your power that Your enemies cringe before You. All the earth bows down to You" vv. 3-4
We must never forget God's magnificent majesty. We mustn't get carried away and forget that God is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and that He reigns in heaven and on earth. He is our Maker and we are all at the mercy of Him who is on high. Our realisation of this fact makes it all the more wonderful and beautiful that this Glorious King chose to send His only Son to die for us, that He may save each one of us who has faith in Him. In our lives as part of our worship, we should remember that His worth is of supernaturally kingly value.
3. Testimony
"Come and see what God has done, how awesome His works in man's behalf!" v. 5
"Come and listen, all you who fear God; let me tell you what He has done for me." v. 16
The psalmist just couldn't wait to tell the world of God's goodness in His life. When we are blessed with experiences and demonstrations of God's faithfulness even in the little things of life, we should share it. We should encourage other people with our testimonies, and bring glory to God by showing how His deeds are so worth telling the entire community. There are some particularly important things to note about how this psalmist testifies of God's goodness:
(a) He rejoiced in God's goodness in others' lives
The first testimony the psalmist gives here is of God parting the Red Sea (v. 6) - "they passed through the waters on foot". This testament of God's faithfulness had not happened personally and presently to this psalmist (it happened a long time before this psalm was written), yet he urges the people - "come, let us rejoice in Him". We must learn to rejoice and be encouraged by God's goodness in other people's lives, not just in our own. Often what keeps us from rejoicing in other people's testimonies of God's provision and blessing is jealousy, greed and the repetitive question - "What about me? Why couldn't this have happened to me?" Conversely, what often keeps us from sharing our testimonies of provision & blessing is the fear of coming off as conceited and prideful. Perhaps if we all learnt to be built up and encouraged by each other's testimonies, we would all be far more driven and motivated as a community of fellow believers.
(b) He rejoiced in situations that seemed like unfortunate circumstances
The psalmist doesn't only look at the 'explicitly good' situations. He rejoices just the same - and perhaps places even more emphasis - on the things that seemed like curses, yet turned out to be 'implicitly good' blessings at the end of the day. In vv. 11-12 he writes of these unfortunate circumstances: "You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but You brought us to a place of abundance." It surely sounds like the people referred to here have been through a lot, and have travelled a tough road (an understatement, probably). Yet the psalmist knows that these situations were part of the Refiner's Fire (v.10 "For you, O God, tested us; You refined us like silver."). For us, when we go through tough times, our lives of worship should demonstrate an understanding that God's worth doesn't diminish with the things He allows to happen to us - simply because His worth is not defined by the 'good' smooth-running of our lives. Despite the things that go on in our lives, we should still be able to sing "Great is thy faithfulness" and "God is good". Even at the end, coming out of these trials & tough times, the new "place of abundance" perhaps wouldn't look like lush floral gardens and an overflow of new opportunities and miracles. Perhaps this "place of abundance" is simply a state of peace of the heart - of knowing that God has been faithful through it all, and yet has even used these tough circumstances to refine our faith instead, making our silver shine brighter than before.
4. Response
"I will come to Your temple with burnt offerings..." v. 13
The psalmist speaks of sacrifice and offering. He speaks of these not as a complete 'repayment' for God's good works - for that is impossible! God's mercy is absolutely boundless and it is nowhere within our capacity to even dare attempt a complete repayment for it. Instead, the psalmist's sacrifice & offering are a response to God's goodness. Acknowledging that we are unable to repay God for all He has done, we instead do the best that we can. We respond by giving "fat animals", "rams", "bulls and goats" - these are all valuable animals, and they were assets of great wealth in the time of the psalmist. To offer these things in sacrifice to God would be equivalent to us offering the best of what is valuable to us - to show to God that I can't even begin to repay you, but here's my two cents worth. It means giving the best of our time, effort, abilities and resources, to show God what He is worth in our lives, and to demonstrate how much we love Him.
5. Loving Holiness
"If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened" v. 18
What I find interesting in this verse is how the psalmist is very clear: "If I had cherished sin in my heart". He does not claim to have been sinless. He does not claim that his heart had harboured not a single hint of envy, selfishness, impatience, anger... He claims only that he had not "cherished sin". He had not exalted selfishness. He had not exalted envy. He had not given anger a foothold to remain in His heart. He had not let impatience take root. God understands and God knows that we sin. He knows that sin creeps into our imperfect hearts - but what matters here, the psalmist says, is that we do not "cherish" it. We war against this sin that seems to keep coming back. When we are in this posture of being against sin, not "cherishing" it, but detesting it, that is when we are in a posture where God can effectively work in us. And this gives us the capacity to appreciate and see God's good refining work in our lives, which the psalmist testifies to in v. 10 ("you refined us like silver").
So that's what I learnt from Psalm 66. A life of worship is a life of joy despite seemingly unfortunate situations, understanding that God is good and loving, administering His Refiner's Fire so our sheen of faith shines yet more lustrously. A life of worship involves response and demonstration of God's worth in our lives, not just a fizzling out of "vows my lips promised and my mouth spoke", but an actual doing of these things to demonstrate our faith. A life of worship also means we can't wait to tell everyone of God's goodness! We can't wait to share testimonies of His provision & refining work. And especially, we can't wait to share the best news ever - namely, the Gospel.
*Jonathan Edwards: "God is glorified not only by His glory's being seen, but by its being rejoiced in. When those that see it delight in it, God is more glorified than if they only see it ... He that testifies his idea of God's glory [doesn't] glorify God so much as he that testifies also his approbation of it and his delight in it."
"Shout with joy to God, all the earth!
Sing the glory of His Name; make His praise glorious!
Say to God, 'How awesome are Your deeds!
So great is Your Power that Your enemies cringe before You.
All the earth bows down to You;
They sing praise to You,
They sing praise to Your Name.
Come and see what God has done,
How awesome His works in man's behalf!
He turned the sea into dry land,
They passed through the waters on foot -
come, let us rejoice in Him.
He rules forever by His Power,
His eyes watch the nations -
Let not the rebellious rise up against Him.
Praise our God, O peoples,
let the sound of His Praise be heard;
He has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping.
For You, O God, tested us;
You refined us like silver.
You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs.
You let men ride over our heads;
we went through fire and water,
but You brought us to a place of abundance.
I will come to Your temple with burnt offerings
and fulfil my vows to You -
Vows my lips promised and my mouth spoke
when I was in trouble.
I will sacrifice fat animals to You
and an offering of rams;
I will offer bulls and goats.
Come and listen, all you who fear God;
Let me tell you what He has done for me.
I cried out to Him with my mouth;
His praise was on my tongue.
If I had cherished sin in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened;
but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer.
Praise be to God,
who has not rejected my prayer.
or withheld His Love from me!"
This morning I found a bookmark in my Bible - and I didn't remember when or why I had put it there. I decided to flip to the page to look at it. It turned out to be Psalm 66. From reading this psalm, with Selahs in between each paragraph for reflection, I was reminded of the true posture of worship we should seek to adopt in our lives.
1. Joy
"Shout with joy to God, all the earth!" v. 1
Right from the outset, the psalmist is already declaring the joy He has in God. And this isn't the kind of lukewarm happiness and still contentment with which we often approach stagnancy in our faith. Instead, it's a celebration. The psalmist implores the people to "shout", "sing", to "make His praise glorious"! This is the kind of joyous celebration which is often missing from our lives. God delights in our delight in Him. As Jonathan Edwards wrote (paraphrased) - it's more glorifying to God that we rejoice in His Glory, than if we just say that He is glorious. We should personally rejoice in having the Lord Jesus as our Saviour - and celebrate it.*
2. Awe
"So great is Your power that Your enemies cringe before You. All the earth bows down to You" vv. 3-4
We must never forget God's magnificent majesty. We mustn't get carried away and forget that God is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and that He reigns in heaven and on earth. He is our Maker and we are all at the mercy of Him who is on high. Our realisation of this fact makes it all the more wonderful and beautiful that this Glorious King chose to send His only Son to die for us, that He may save each one of us who has faith in Him. In our lives as part of our worship, we should remember that His worth is of supernaturally kingly value.
3. Testimony
"Come and see what God has done, how awesome His works in man's behalf!" v. 5
"Come and listen, all you who fear God; let me tell you what He has done for me." v. 16
The psalmist just couldn't wait to tell the world of God's goodness in His life. When we are blessed with experiences and demonstrations of God's faithfulness even in the little things of life, we should share it. We should encourage other people with our testimonies, and bring glory to God by showing how His deeds are so worth telling the entire community. There are some particularly important things to note about how this psalmist testifies of God's goodness:
(a) He rejoiced in God's goodness in others' lives
The first testimony the psalmist gives here is of God parting the Red Sea (v. 6) - "they passed through the waters on foot". This testament of God's faithfulness had not happened personally and presently to this psalmist (it happened a long time before this psalm was written), yet he urges the people - "come, let us rejoice in Him". We must learn to rejoice and be encouraged by God's goodness in other people's lives, not just in our own. Often what keeps us from rejoicing in other people's testimonies of God's provision and blessing is jealousy, greed and the repetitive question - "What about me? Why couldn't this have happened to me?" Conversely, what often keeps us from sharing our testimonies of provision & blessing is the fear of coming off as conceited and prideful. Perhaps if we all learnt to be built up and encouraged by each other's testimonies, we would all be far more driven and motivated as a community of fellow believers.
(b) He rejoiced in situations that seemed like unfortunate circumstances
The psalmist doesn't only look at the 'explicitly good' situations. He rejoices just the same - and perhaps places even more emphasis - on the things that seemed like curses, yet turned out to be 'implicitly good' blessings at the end of the day. In vv. 11-12 he writes of these unfortunate circumstances: "You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but You brought us to a place of abundance." It surely sounds like the people referred to here have been through a lot, and have travelled a tough road (an understatement, probably). Yet the psalmist knows that these situations were part of the Refiner's Fire (v.10 "For you, O God, tested us; You refined us like silver."). For us, when we go through tough times, our lives of worship should demonstrate an understanding that God's worth doesn't diminish with the things He allows to happen to us - simply because His worth is not defined by the 'good' smooth-running of our lives. Despite the things that go on in our lives, we should still be able to sing "Great is thy faithfulness" and "God is good". Even at the end, coming out of these trials & tough times, the new "place of abundance" perhaps wouldn't look like lush floral gardens and an overflow of new opportunities and miracles. Perhaps this "place of abundance" is simply a state of peace of the heart - of knowing that God has been faithful through it all, and yet has even used these tough circumstances to refine our faith instead, making our silver shine brighter than before.
4. Response
"I will come to Your temple with burnt offerings..." v. 13
The psalmist speaks of sacrifice and offering. He speaks of these not as a complete 'repayment' for God's good works - for that is impossible! God's mercy is absolutely boundless and it is nowhere within our capacity to even dare attempt a complete repayment for it. Instead, the psalmist's sacrifice & offering are a response to God's goodness. Acknowledging that we are unable to repay God for all He has done, we instead do the best that we can. We respond by giving "fat animals", "rams", "bulls and goats" - these are all valuable animals, and they were assets of great wealth in the time of the psalmist. To offer these things in sacrifice to God would be equivalent to us offering the best of what is valuable to us - to show to God that I can't even begin to repay you, but here's my two cents worth. It means giving the best of our time, effort, abilities and resources, to show God what He is worth in our lives, and to demonstrate how much we love Him.
5. Loving Holiness
"If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened" v. 18
What I find interesting in this verse is how the psalmist is very clear: "If I had cherished sin in my heart". He does not claim to have been sinless. He does not claim that his heart had harboured not a single hint of envy, selfishness, impatience, anger... He claims only that he had not "cherished sin". He had not exalted selfishness. He had not exalted envy. He had not given anger a foothold to remain in His heart. He had not let impatience take root. God understands and God knows that we sin. He knows that sin creeps into our imperfect hearts - but what matters here, the psalmist says, is that we do not "cherish" it. We war against this sin that seems to keep coming back. When we are in this posture of being against sin, not "cherishing" it, but detesting it, that is when we are in a posture where God can effectively work in us. And this gives us the capacity to appreciate and see God's good refining work in our lives, which the psalmist testifies to in v. 10 ("you refined us like silver").
So that's what I learnt from Psalm 66. A life of worship is a life of joy despite seemingly unfortunate situations, understanding that God is good and loving, administering His Refiner's Fire so our sheen of faith shines yet more lustrously. A life of worship involves response and demonstration of God's worth in our lives, not just a fizzling out of "vows my lips promised and my mouth spoke", but an actual doing of these things to demonstrate our faith. A life of worship also means we can't wait to tell everyone of God's goodness! We can't wait to share testimonies of His provision & refining work. And especially, we can't wait to share the best news ever - namely, the Gospel.
*Jonathan Edwards: "God is glorified not only by His glory's being seen, but by its being rejoiced in. When those that see it delight in it, God is more glorified than if they only see it ... He that testifies his idea of God's glory [doesn't] glorify God so much as he that testifies also his approbation of it and his delight in it."
A hibiscus flower. May our love for God be as fresh as the morning dew, and our posture of worship be humbled like the bowing flower.
