Psalm 66

To the choirmaster. A Song. A Psalm. 

1 Shout for joy to God, all the earth;

2 sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise!

The first of a couple of psalms at the end of Book 2 that are not “of David”, the opening lines flow quite naturally from the previous psalm. The hills, meadows and valleys are singing for joy over the harvest and the bounty of the earth, and Psalm 66 begins by inviting the whole earth to join the song. The word “glory” occurs twice in the second verse, recalling Psalm 8, the first of the great creation hymns (“How majestic is your name in all the earth, You have set your glory above the heavens...You have crowned [man] with glory and honor). The weightiness and absolute beauty of God is on display throughout the earth. This is an example of personification, applying human capabilities to non-living things like hills and valleys and “all the earth.” Non-living, geographic features of the earth praise God in two different ways. First, by their very existence they attest to the wisdom and power of God to create and sustain them. This entire planet is a marvel of symbiosis and engineering, the orderly cycles of nature are evidence of design that can be only willfully overlooked. They exist as testimonies to the existence and activity of a benevolent God. This is one of the messages of the 19th Psalm -- “the heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”  Second, their mute praise begs us to vocalize on their behalf. Human beings are the ones who actualize worship on behalf of all created things. The earth can’t literally shout, so we must shout for her. This is one way that science, the pursuit of knowledge about the universe, is a fantastic way to shout for joy to God. Revealing the mysteries of the creator doesn’t steal his glory, it magnifies it. For every mystery revealed is an opportunity to marvel at the wisdom behind it. Finally, “all the earth” may also simply refer to the people of the earth, highlighting the missionary purpose of God. It’s not enough that God be the praise of Israel. The psalmist invites everyone to acknowledge and loudly proclaim the glory of God’s name, and sound aloud praise for his reputation. Shout! Sing! Give praise! These are commands, imperatives for all people. We’re not there yet. There are still many people who do not acknowledge God, and it is the mission of those who do to share the truth with those who don’t. This is a psalm that will not allow us to be quiet. 

3 Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you.

4 All the earth worships you and sings praises to you; they sing praises to your name.” Selah

The psalmist gives us the words of worship. Here’s what you are to say: How awesome are your deeds! Your power is so great that your enemies bow before you. In fact, the whole earth worships you, making music to your name.” The word “awesome” means to inspire fear and reverence. God does things that make us go, “Wow!”  His power is so absolute that his enemies understand that they are no match. This most certainly includes principalities and powers in the spiritual realm, a host of heavenly beings powerful beyond imagination that cringe before him. It also includes the enemies of Christ and his church throughout history. As much as God loves everyone, he has endowed us with free will and in the end, his justice is everyone getting what they want. If you want God, you get God. If you don’t, you get a life (and an eternity) without him. This means that the enemies of God, those who don’t believe in him or willingly resist him will find themselves on the outside looking in at all the singing. “All the earth” can refer to creation itself or it could be hyperbole for the people of the earth. Certainly not all of the people of the earth worship God, but a good number do, and that has never been more true that at this time in history, even though there is more work to do. This could be the personification of nature singing or it could be the actual singing of people who’ve acknowledged the awesome deeds of God. I think it’s probably the latter, and as such it compels us to labor all the more to take the gospel to the ends of the earth so that even more voices will join the earthly choir. The word for “sing praises” here is the word “psalm” at its root which inherently contains the idea of the making of music. “They psalm to you, they psalm to your name.” The psalms remind us that musical praying is a powerful way to express worship because it is both true and beautiful, stirring the soul, moving the emotions, and engaging the mind. 

5 Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man.

6 He turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the river on foot. There did we rejoice in him,

7 who rules by his might forever, whose eyes keep watch on the nations— let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah

Having invited all people to sing, shout, and make music, the psalmist invites us to come and see what God has done, his awesome deeds on behalf of the sons of Adam. He begins with the exodus from Egypt which culminated in the crossing of the Red Sea, and then the parallel event for the next generation who crossed the Jordan during flood stage and went into the promised land. At that time there was incredible celebration and excitement at the new thing that God was doing. Not only is God a deliverer, but he’s a keeper. He rules by his might forever, keeping watch over the nations that might be a threat to his people. The psalmist warns anyone that might think of exalting themselves above God’s authority. Take a lesson from history. It doesn’t end well for those who do. Israel would have her ups and downs, exile, captivity, a brief period of independence and then foreign dominance again. The lesson through all of this is that God was still ruling through it all and keeping his people alive and in community through history. The story of the Jewish people is truly remarkable given the many attempts to eradicate them. The same is true of the church. What began as a small movement in a corner of the Roman empire within three centuries achieves some level of cultural dominance. There’s a story there, but much of it is simply the patience of God’s people to trust and obey even when there didn’t seem much hope. This belief that God “rules by his might forever” is powerful in sustaining individuals and communities of faith. Even as governments and cultures change, the eternal truth of God and the certainty of his rule do not. I find great comfort in this and in the historical perspective that the psalmist reminds us of. He is looking back at least 400 years for his examples of God’s deliverance in the exodus and conquest, and this is enough to sustain him in the present. I can look back 2,000 years to the cross of Jesus and his empty tomb, and this is enough to sustain me as well. 

8 Bless our God, O peoples; let the sound of his praise be heard,

9 who has kept our soul among the living and has not let our feet slip.

The psalmist speaks to and for the people in these verses. First, he tells them to bless God and let the sound of his praise be heard. This is a summons to loud music-making and shouting of psalms and prayers to God. This psalm may very well have been used at one of the feasts so we might imagine thousands of people gathered around the temple, singing as one. Second, he reminds them of two things that God has done for them: he has kept them alive and he’s kept them from stumbling. These seem like too fundamental things to be grateful for - being alive and mobile. I assume that life was much more precarious back in those days -- poor nutrition and hygiene, lack of medical care, invading armies, infant mortality, seasons of famine, plagues, and pestilence -- life expectancy was probably half of what it is today. These are all things in the west that we don’t worry about too much, so we take a long life for granted, as if it were due us. The metaphor of feet sleeping is usually just that, a metaphor, referring to losing one’s faith either intellectually or morally (Psalm 73:2 and elsewhere). God has not allowed his people to stumble on the path of faith, to fall by believing in things that just aren’t true, to disobey by trusting in themselves. This is why we might stumble on a path -- we are not looking at where we are going. Our eyes are looking away from what is right in front of us. Perhaps we’re distracted by the scenery or by the people around us. In either case, we take our eyes off the path and onto a distractor and before we know it, boom, we’re on the ground. Eugene Peterson said that the Christian life is a long obedience in the same direction. It is a hike, a journey, a trip. Along the way there will be plenty of distractions and temptations to stop, turn around, or go a different direction. There will be obstacles that can cause us to stumble and fall. But if we keep our eyes on the path and the destination, he will not let our feet slip. Praise God that you are alive today and that you are traveling on a path from which you cannot fall if you keep your eyes on Him. 

10 For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried.

11 You brought us into the net; you laid a crushing burden on our backs;

12 you let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.

The psalmist reminds us of the founding story of the nation, the account of the exodus in a few verses. The nation was forged in trial, like silver is purified in a fire. There’s nothing hotter on earth that a person might experience then the heat generated with a bellows that is hot enough to melt metal. In the case of silver that is 1,753 degrees. At this temperature the metal liquifies and in the process, impurities are burned off and disappear as smoke. In addition to its purifying function, the refining process allows the metal to be shaped in different ways. It is an apt metaphor for the testing that Israel experienced in Egypt. Hundreds of years of slavery where God allowed men to ride over their heads and place a crushing burden on their backs. Perhaps it even felt like they were caught in a net that God had set for them. After all, it was God who orchestrated the move to Egypt during the days of Joseph. That was seen as providential at the time, but in the centuries that followed, conditions changed and the refining began to take place. The psalmist doesn’t mention it, but there was also significant refining in the desert before they crossed the Jordan into the land (referenced above). Personal and national trials are the crucible through which we are purified and shaped. To be purified is to become “more of the same” as impurities are burned away. This “sameness” might also be called “integrity”, the same all the way through, inside and out. It’s helpful to see testing this way, even though it doesn’t make it any less pleasant. It does give us hope that something better will come of it, even though it’s absolutely impossible to see it in the moment. When you’re in the fire, all you want to do is scream bloody murder and complain about the injustice of it all. But when it’s over you’re a better, stronger person for it. The psalmist speaks of this in terms of abundant land and wealth, but it might just as well be describing a good life, a life that is overflowing with good things. What shaping and purifying fires have you been through? Has the removal of the heat caused you to return to your previous shape, or has it permanently altered you from the inside out? Have impurities that were once burned away returned to make their home in your life? There are no short-cuts to character and virtue. To be a person of integrity, there must be a fire. 

13 I will come into your house with burnt offerings; I will perform my vows to you,

14 that which my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.

15 I will offer to you burnt offerings of fattened animals, with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams; I will make an offering of bulls and goats. Selah

The author moves to the first person singular voice as he describes his response to all that God has done. The corporate worship he has summoned and the communal history he has reminded the congregation of have moved him to a personal response, as should all corporate worship. He begins with promises of ritual sacrifice, burnt offerings of fattened animals -- rams, bulls and goats. These represent the best that he has, and he is giving them to God to be completely destroyed by fire. This seems like a strange (and wasteful) thing when viewed through our modern lens. Subsistence living was the norm in the ancient world, so it seems  unconscionable to burn perfectly good food while there are hungry people everywhere. And yet, in the modern world, we have hungry people everywhere. Globally speaking, poverty and hunger are pervasive (although they are declining per capita). And yet we build massive and expensive temples for corporate worship (church buildings). I have attended one regularly my entire life. I give ten percent of my income to the church and kingdom causes that aren’t entirely about feeding the hungry. In fact, most are about meeting the spiritual hunger of people. And I live quite comfortably on the remaining 90%. The psalmist offered something good and costly, and this begs the question today, what am I actually giving to God that corresponds to that? The New Testament teaches that these offerings are no longer required. Instead Romans 12:1-2 commands us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. This is our response now, the surrendering of our very lives for the kingdom cause. Help me to work that out every day.

16 Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul.

17 I cried to him with my mouth, and high praise was on [under] my tongue. [and he was exalted with my tongue]

The psalmist continues in the first person voice to tell what God has done for his soul. He invites everyone who fears God to come and listen to his personal testimony, namely, that he cried to God and he was heard. He praised God and he received an answer to his prayer. David Crowder has written a wonderful song based on these verses, a testimony to God’s goodness. The thing about a testimony is that it cannot be disputed. It is your experience, your perception of reality. In the modern world, personal experience trumps every other type of argument for something. In some cases this is not a good thing because feelings get in the way and supersede facts. Emotion can cloud our judgment of reality and the way the world really works. However, that doesn’t negate the value of a personal testimony. Paul used his conversion story multiple times in Acts to prove the veracity of his claims. In many psalms David does the same thing. To whom are you telling your story? Are you calling out to anyone who would listen? And these days that includes people on the internet and social media. Are you telling the story of all that God has done for your soul, the deepest part of you? Without being obnoxious, we are called to tell our story, the good news of God’s intervention in our lives. This truth really matters because it affects both how we live and how we die. And many are not living well, and if they are not living well, they are probably not dying well either. Tell your story to any who would listen. Don’t make excuses or underplay it. The enemy wants you to keep quiet, but when he whispers to stay silent, you cry aloud as the psalmist does, and offer high praise with your tongue. 

18 If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

19 But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer.

20 Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!

The author links God’s answer to his prayer with his own willingness to repent of his sin. The word “cherish” here is simply the common word “see”, and the word order places the emphasis on iniquity. If iniquity in my heart is the central thing that I’m looking at, God would not have listened. Hence the word “cherish” is appropriate here. Of course God hears every prayer even when it comes from hypocrisy, even when we don’t really mean it, but he doesn’t respond. And more likely, if we are cherishing sin in our heart, we’re not likely to be in communion with him anyway because we’ve found another god to worship. As Psalm 51 tells us, God desires truth in our inner being. Verse 18 compels us to confess our sin and turn away from it in order to maintain communication with God. This is a call for humility and honesty before God. This is essentially what God requires of us to experience his steadfast love, simply our willingness to receive it. The verse demands that my regular conversation with God include a time of self-evaluation where the word of God is allowed to penetrate my defenses and shine its piercing light on my false gods, my disgusting iniquities, my self-indulgent habits that reveal my lack of trust in Him. Search my heart and know me, O God. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.