Psalm 66: 1 – 20
Beating Mother Nature
To the Chief Musician. A Song. A Psalm.
1 Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth! 2 Sing out the honor of His name; Make His praise glorious. 3 Say to God, “How awesome are Your works! Through the greatness of Your power Your enemies shall submit themselves to You. 4 All the earth shall worship You and sing praises to You; They shall sing praises to Your name.” Selah 5 Come and see the works of God; He is awesome in His doing toward the sons of men. 6 He turned the sea into dry land; They went through the river on foot. There we will rejoice in Him. 7 He rules by His power forever; His eyes observe the nations; Do not let the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah 8 Oh, bless our God, you peoples! And make the voice of His praise to be heard, 9 Who keeps our soul among the living, and does not allow our feet to be moved. 10 For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us as silver is refined. 11 You brought us into the net; You laid affliction on our backs. 12 You have caused men to ride over our heads; We went through fire and through water; But You brought us out to rich fulfillment. 13 I will go into Your house with burnt offerings; I will pay You my vows, 14 Which my lips have uttered and my mouth has spoken when I was in trouble. 15 I will offer You burnt sacrifices of fat animals, with the sweet aroma of rams; I will offer bulls with goats. Selah 16 Come and hear, all you who fear God, And I will declare what He has done for my soul. 17 I cried to Him with my mouth, and He was extolled with my tongue. 18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear. 19 But certainly God has heard me; He has attended to the voice of my prayer. 20 Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer, nor His mercy from me!
Have you ever developed a youth outdoor sports program? Has Mother Nature ever tried to ruin your ministry plans?
Our Precious Holy Lord God used sports to keep me out of trouble. As He picked me to minister to youth, it was natural for me to include sport programs. One program which has drawn hundreds of kids each year has been our soccer league.
We try to do all things first class, so each team has the same uniforms worn by the pros. Our referees are all trained in soccer certification schools and we outfit them with professional outfits.
A trouble with outdoor sports is that mother nature does not cooperate with us. Since all our games are on Saturdays, we have to cancel the scheduled games if the weather makes the fields un-playable. I remember one season that it rained every weekend for 5 weeks strait. Needless to say it ruined our season. I think each team wound up playing only 4 games for the whole soccer season.
I am not one to just accept defeat so I investigated and found some material that will dry a field in a short time. The best all round material for water management and infield conditioning for most conditions is calcined clay.
Calcined clay is a popular soil amendment used on baseball infields for water management and soil conditioning. Clay is heated at a high temperature, about 1500 degrees Fahrenheit to expand the clay forming calcined clay. On baseball fields calcined clay is used to fill in infield depressions caused by cleats and smooth the surface to provide a true baseball bounce, which contributes to the safety of the field. Calcined clay absorbs water that can help dry a field after a rainstorm, and firm the surface.
Versions of calcined clay include vitrified clay and finely ground calcined clay products. Vitrified clay is similar to calcined clay but in the case of vitrified clay it is heated to over 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. The result is vitrified clay will absorb and hold water longer than calcined clay. Many sports field managers will combine calcined clay and vitrified clay in various proportions. During wet periods the proportion of calcined clay to vitrified clay will be higher to absorb water quickly and during dry periods the proportion of vitrified clay will increase. During dry periods the vitrified clay holds moisture longer allowing for a little more moisture on the infield surface than calcined clay.
Calcined clay can be ground into a finer product, almost like a powder. Finely ground calcined clay like Rapid Dry can absorb water quickly. It is often used after a heavy rainstorm to absorb puddles of water quickly on the infield. The disadvantage of the finely ground materials is that once the infield dries out it becomes hard and dusty.
Now you might be asking yourselves why on earth is this guy getting into sports field maintenance? I am glad you thought about this issue.
In verse 6 in today’s Psalm we read “He turned the sea into dry land; They went through the river on foot. There we will rejoice in Him.”
You know the story, right? This is when our Holy Creator God dried up the Red Sea using His own systems of ‘Insta Dry’. When He separated the waters, so the Israelites could go through the Red Sea the paths were totally dried out. We focus so much on the waters being held up that often we forget that another of His miraculous touch was drying the ground that was formerly underwater.
Let us see how our Precious Holy Spirit uses this fact to teach us some important truth.
To the Chief Musician. A Song. A Psalm.
This Psalm is dedicated to the Chief Musician or Choirmaster. It probably indicates that it has been adapted for Temple worship. It is described as both a song and a Psalm, but it is noteworthy that no reference is made to authorship. The dedication of anonymous Psalms to the Chief Musician was rare (only this and Psalm 67). The situation in life for the Psalm was probably the amazing deliverance of Jerusalem from the armies of Sennacherib, for it clearly indicates connection with a great deliverance and a short, sharp shock. If this was so the Psalm is written in the time of Hezekiah.
A feature of the Psalm is that the first part (verses 1-12) is in the plural, and clearly has in mind the whole congregation of Israel, whilst the last part (verses 13-20) is in the singular.
The theme of the Psalm is clear. Initially, speaking on behalf of the people, the Psalmist reminds the nations of the past actions of God on Israel’s behalf, something which demonstrates God’s sovereignty, and then goes on to praise Him for a special deliverance. After this the king (or high priest, or even the people, each speaking as an individual) takes over and deals with the question of the ritual response to God’s goodness. If it is the king who responds then, as the one who sums up the people in himself, he promises the performing of vows made at the time of trial and outlines the offerings and sacrifices that will be made. And then again on behalf of his people he declares what God has done for him by answering his intercession. Great stress is laid on the importance of a guileless heart when approaching God. Throughout the ancient East kings were playing an important role in ritual activity as representatives of the whole people, so it would not be unusual for the King of Israel (Judah), to share the same role.
If this is so the Psalm well exemplifies the connection between king and people in Israel’s thinking. All the people (or at least the assembled males) initially offer their worship, and then the king as summing up the people in himself, deals with the ritual side of things. When saying ‘I’ he would be instinctively aware that he was speaking on behalf of all (‘I’ as embodying the people), for he embodied all that they were. To us it may seem strange, but to Israel it would seem perfectly natural. What seems to us to be a startling contrast was to them not a contrast at all. The whole people saw themselves as a composite unity, and the king as summing them up in himself. As the Anointed of YHWH, he was their life (Lamentations 4.20). This was preparing the way for the concept of all true Christians as members of one body (1 Corinthians 6.15-17), summed up in the One Whose body it is, and with Whom we are made one, our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 10.17; 12.12-13). As the body of Christ, we are united with Him and made one with Him. We are not separated from Him as though He were the head in Heaven and us the headless body on earth. In 1 Corinthians 12 the head is part of the body.
Alternately the idea may of general worship and gratitude for deliverance, followed up by each individual Israelite personalizing the deliverance and declaring what his response will be. (Compare how in our worship services we may pray in unison as ‘we’, and then individually recite the Apostle’s Creed as ‘I’).
The Psalm may be divided up as follows:
This consists of:
a) A call for the whole earth to praise and worship, and to express appreciation of God, in view of the deliverance that He has accomplished (66.1-4).
b) A call for them to remember and take note of what God has done for His people in the past (66.5-6).
c) A warning to the nations to remember in the light of His historic activity that He Is observing them (66.7).
d) A call to the nations to take note of the wonderful deliverance from a disastrous experience that His people have experienced (66.8-12).
e) Deliverance having been accomplished each individual in israel (or the king as the representative of his people) approaches God and glories in the ways in which he himself will express his gratitude ritually through offerings and the fulfilment of vows (66.13-15).
f) A call to consider the way in which God has answered his (or their) prayer because his (their) heart was right towards God (66.16-20).
1 Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth! 2 Sing out the honor of His name; Make His praise glorious.
When a king returned in honor after victory over his enemies all the people would give joyful shouts of victory and acclamation as they welcomed him. So here all the nations of the world are called on to make such a joyful noise, as God, as it were, returns in victory. They are to sing forth His glorious Name, and His triumphs which gave Him that Name, and give Him splendid and overwhelming praise in accordance with what He deserves. He is to be given the honor due to His Name.
3 Say to God, “How awesome are Your works! Through the greatness of Your power Your enemies shall submit themselves to You. 4 All the earth shall worship You and sing praises to You; They shall sing praises to Your name.” Selah
The peoples are even told what to say. They are to declare how awesome are His works, amazing beyond belief, and terrible for those on whom they were perpetrated and in the eyes of the onlookers. They are to recognize that so great and awesome is His power that it will continually make His enemies submit to Him. And as a consequence, the whole world will of necessity worship Him, and sing to Him, and sing to His Name.
When Sennacherib returned from besieging Jerusalem to Assyria leaving behind an unconquered Jerusalem, the whole world would have been amazed. Who was this God Who had ensured that Judah remained unbowed and unbroken, when all the other nations in the conspiracy had fallen before Him? And the humiliation of their common enemy Assyria would indeed have filled them with rejoicing, and praise towards the God Who had done this.
The nations are now called on to consider what God has done in the past (the crossing of the Red Sea and the crossing of the Jordan are to some extent combined in the description), in revealing His divine activity in the opening up of the sea and in the destruction of the pursuing Egyptian army, demonstrating through it that He is awesome, all-powerful and fierce in His activity.
5 Come and see the works of God; He is awesome in His doing toward the sons of men.
The nations are called on to consider what God has done in the past, His great ‘works’. For these reveal that He Is mighty and awesome in His dealings with men; towards His people He Is great and powerful on their behalf, amazing them by His activity (verse 6), towards those who would harm them He Is fierce and terrible, One to be feared.
6 He turned the sea into dry land; They went through the river on foot. There we will rejoice in Him.
The emphasis here is on His greatness and might exercise on behalf of His people. He made a way for them over the Red Sea, turning it into dry land (Exodus 14.21-22, 29), so that they could go through the waters on foot.
The Psalmist sees himself and his people as ‘one’ with the people of the Exodus. At the Red Sea deliverance, they had rejoiced, and they continued to rejoice in that event for they felt that in some way they had been a part of it. We too, as Christians, can rejoice at God’s deliverance of His people through the centuries, for we are truly a part of that too.
7 He rules by His power forever; His eyes observe the nations; Do not let the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah
Just as God observed what the Egyptians were seeking to do at the Red Sea, so are the nations to recognize that He observes their activity against His people as well. He rules the world by His power, and His eyes sees all that they do (Zechariah 4.10). Those who rebel against Him by exalting themselves over His people should watch their step. They should recognize that He is not unaware of what they do.
The words that follow indicate some special trial that His people had faced. While it is possible that these words reflect the Exile, with the people seeing themselves as a continuing unity so that what some suffer their descendants suffer with them, it is more natural to see the words as the expression of people who have themselves gone through deep trial and have themselves been delivered. This would point to some experience like that of the deliverance of Jerusalem from the Assyrians (2 Kings 18; Isaiah 36-37).
It is probable therefore that we are to see in this Psalm an expression of worship in the days of Hezekiah, when the Assyrians withdrew from the siege of Jerusalem, with Hezekiah playing a prominent role.
For us it is an assurance that, although He might allow His true people to go through fire and water, He will in the end bring them through into a place of abundance.
8 Oh, bless our God, you peoples! And make the voice of His praise to be heard,
These verses now open with this call to give praise and worship to God, which will be immediately followed by an explanation as to why this call to praise God is expressed. All peoples are called on to ‘bless God’ (offer Him praise and worship) and to make the sound of their praise heard.
9 Who keeps our soul among the living and does not allow our feet to be moved.
The reason for such praise is that God maintains their lives, not allowing them to be tossed aside. He keeps them alive in dire situations and establishes their way. And there had been no situation direr than that when the Assyrians surrounded Jerusalem, bent on great slaughter once Jerusalem surrendered. (A city which surrendered immediately was usually treated leniently, but once it had shown stubborn resistance it was deserving wholesale slaughter.
10 For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us as silver is refined.
The first illustration is that of metal tested for purity in the fire. God Is seen as having tested out the trueness and obedience of His people by putting them through great trial.
11 You brought us into the net; You laid affliction on our backs.
The next two illustrations are of being captured in a net, and of having been put through a hard time. They had been free like a bird until they had suddenly found themselves ensnared by the surrounding Assyrian armies. And the consequence had been that life had become hard and difficult, almost too heavy to bear.
12 You have caused men to ride over our heads; We went through fire and through water; But You brought us out to rich fulfillment.
Prior to the siege of Jerusalem Judah as a whole had been trodden down by the Assyrian armies. One by one their great cities had been taken. The land had been trodden underfoot. And they themselves had been mowed down by the advancing Assyrian horsemen. The enemy had ‘ridden over their heads’ as they had yielded before them. As a consequence, the people of Judah, had passed through great dangers, ‘through fire and through water’. God’s way is never an easy one for His people, because they must be refined. But in the end, He had brought them out ‘into abundance’, their wealth and freedom restored. This will always be true for His persecuted people, whether it be in this world or the next.
The change of person from plural to singular (from ‘we/us’ to ‘I/me’) is vivid and expressive. But there is no reason for seeing it as any other than intended. It expresses the thoughts of each individual worshipper, each speaking individually, but as part of a whole. Alternately it may be the words of the king as he acts in gratitude as mediator for his people. In this sense it would essentially mirror what our Lord Jesus Christ has offered up in the offering up of Himself on our behalf.
13 I will go into Your house with burnt offerings; I will pay You my vows, 14 Which my lips have uttered and my mouth has spoken when I was in trouble
The speaker asserts that he will come into God’s house with ‘burnt-offerings’ (‘whole-offerings’), offerings which would be wholly consumed and not partaken of, being the expression of a full-hearted praise and dedication to God.
He says that he would fulfil the vows that he had made at the time of his distress. While death, and worse, had threatened at the hands of the enemy, both the king, and every one of the people, would have felt constrained to make promises to God of full-hearted future obedience if only He delivered them. In their case this would include the offering of a multiplicity of offerings as here, but it would also include promises of loyalty and obedience. Now each is assuring God that those vows would be fulfilled.
We are all good at making promises to God when trouble threatens, and we feel dependent on Him. Would that we would all afterwards also say, and mean, that we would fulfil those promises. Sadly, for so many, as the danger recedes, so does the likelihood of our fulfilling our promises. When we consider this Psalm, we should ask ourselves afresh, ‘have I truly fulfilled the promises which I made to God when I was in distress?’
15 I will offer You burnt sacrifices of fat animals, with the sweet aroma of rams; I will offer bulls with goats. Selah
The multiplicity of offerings suggests either the wide variety of people included under ‘I’ as each individual speaks, while conscious of others speaking along with him. Along with him these others will offer other different sacrifices. Alternately the ‘I’ may be the king, who, as representative of his people, offers a wide range of offerings in gratitude for God’s deliverance.
In verse 13 he had said, ‘I will come to your house with burnt offerings’. Now this idea is expanded on further as the burnt offerings are seen to include:
. The fattest of the lambs (fatlings; the fat was always seen as the best part of the offerings - Genesis 4.4, and regularly).
. The sweet smelling of rams (compare Genesis 8.21 where God smelled the sweet savor of the sacrifices).
. The offering of bullocks with he-goats. Bullocks and rams, and he-goats, were seen as the very best of offerings. Bullocks were the sin offerings required on behalf of priests (Leviticus 4.3) and of the whole people (Leviticus 4.14), and he-goats were required of rulers (Leviticus 4.23; Numbers 7.17). Rams were a priestly burnt offering (Exodus 29; Leviticus 8.18-22; 9.2), but also offered as a burnt offering on behalf of all the people (Leviticus 16.5). Thus, the thought here is of the offering of the very best.
The Psalm ends with an emphasis on the fact that God has answered prayer. The king was an intercessory priest after the order of Melchizedek (see introduction to the Psalm above). But this would do no good unless his heart was pure before God. He recognized that it was only when he approached God as one who was right with Him, that his prayer was heard.
The cry is also that of each individual (as part of the whole) as he recognizes the wonderful way in which God has answered his prayer.
16 Come and hear, all you who fear God, And I will declare what He has done for my soul.
First, he calls on all who ‘fear God’, that is who recognize the Almightiness of YHWH, to come and hear while he declares what God has done for him which has so benefited his life. ‘All who fear God’ acknowledges the fact that even among the godless nations there were those who recognized and acknowledged the greatness of the God of Israel. While Judah were His people ‘the fear of God’ was not limited to them.
17 I cried to Him with my mouth, and He was extolled with my tongue.
What he wanted them to recognize was that he had cried to God with his mouth, and had extolled Him with his tongue, and that God had heard him (verse 19). Note the combination of prayer and praise. The idea is not that we somehow persuade Him to act by praising Him (the extolling comes after the praying), but that we not only look to Him to answer our prayers, but also give Him the worship and gratitude due to Him for His goodness.
18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear. 19 But certainly God has heard me; He has attended to the voice of my prayer.
However, he stresses the importance of approaching God with a pure heart. Unlike the so-called gods of other nations, the God of Israel is concerned with the moral behavior of His petitioners. He will only hear the prayers of those whose hearts are right with Him as revealed in their response to His covenant requirements and their behavior towards others. There is nothing automatic about it. They will not be heard for their much speaking, but only when they approach Him with their hearts purified and free from known sin. Cherishing sin in the heart will result in God not hearing them. What they pray for must be right, and so must their attitude of heart. The importance of this fact cannot be overstated.
It reminds us that God is only ‘bound’ to hear the prayers of those whose hearts are right with Him and whose motives are pure. And in this case God had truly heard his prayer, and had heard him as he prayed, precisely because he had prayed from a true heart and with a cleansed conscience. This was the basis on which their great deliverance had been enjoyed.
Again the idea is not that by our behavior we somehow earn the right to be heard. Rather it is that a righteous and moral God will only act in accordance with righteousness.
20 Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer, nor His mercy from me!
He finishes his prayer by blessing God for having heard him in accordance with His covenant. He never turns away from those who approach responsive to His covenant. For He Himself is always faithful to those to whom He has covenanted to act in love, that is to those who have responded to His freely offered love by entering a covenant relationship with Him.
