Give thanks to the God of the Waters
Psalm 65
I am struck by the similarity between this psalm and number 93. In both,
• God arms Himself with strength
• The thundering of the waves is referenced
• God is shown in His relationship to both land and sea
Psalm 93 is in book 4 of the psalms, so it might normally be considered a later psalm. However, the similarity shows that even though no indication is made, either it is written by David or was strongly influenced by him.
1 Praise awaits you, O God, in Zion;
to you our vows will be fulfilled.
2 O you who hear prayer,
to you all men will come.
3 When we were overwhelmed by sins,
you forgave our transgressions.
4 Blessed are those you choose
and bring near to live in your courts!
We are filled with the good things of your house,
of your holy temple.
5 You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness,
O God our Savior,
the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas,
6 who formed the mountains by your power,
having armed yourself with strength,
7 who stilled the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
and the turmoil of the nations.
8 Those living far away fear your wonders;
where morning dawns and evening fades
you call forth songs of joy.
9 You care for the land and water it;
you enrich it abundantly.
The streams of God are filled with water
to provide the people with grain,
for so you have ordained it.
10 You drench its furrows
and level its ridges;
you soften it with showers
and bless its crops.
11 You crown the year with your bounty,
and your carts overflow with abundance.
12 The grasslands of the desert overflow;
the hills are clothed with gladness.
13 The meadows are covered with flocks
and the valleys are mantled with grain;
they shout for joy and sing. Psalm 65:1-13 (NIV)
We praise the God who forgives and blesses us
The God who hears prayer will be praised!
• In Jerusalem
• And all around the world
Deuteronomy 28 makes no bones. If the Israelites did not obey God’s commands they would be struck with all kinds of disasters. Among the problems prophesied, they knew that their crops would suffer drought and they would suffer famine.
The story that probably lies behind this psalm is a long and complicated one.
During the time when the Israelites were clearing out the Canaanites, a town about 14 miles from Jerusalem called Gibeon sent a delegation to make a treaty with Joshua. They made him think they came from a far country. Joshua, thinking there was no problem, made the treaty only to find out a little later that they were really right along his path of conquest.
So what is a leader to do? He was supposed to destroy the city, but he had promised not to. Under the circumstances, he decided to keep his promise, but put the people of Gibeon to work for the Israelites as common laborers. During all the centuries between the coming of Joshua and the beginning of the monarchy this treaty was kept.
At some point though, the treaty was broken. We don’t know the exact circumstances, but we know that Saul broke the treaty.
Consequently, there is only one famine spoken of during the reign of David. It lasted 3 years. The account is in 2 Samuel 21. When David inquired of the LORD to find out why they were suffering, God told David that it was because Saul, in his blood thirst, put some Gibeonites to death.
So David went to the Gibeonites and asked what he could do to make amends. They demanded 7 prisoners from the household of Saul, so they could take out vengeance. This sounds horrible to us now, but in those days it was how justice was done. So David complied, and the men were killed just before the harvest. He was careful though to keep his own vow to Jonathan and to Mephibosheth to be loyal to that household.
After vengeance was satisfied, the mother of the men who had been killed went into an extreme mourning. In respect to her, David went and retrieved the bodies of the men as well as the bodies of Saul and Jonathan and had them buried in the family graveyard. The Bible says that after that, "God answered prayer in behalf of the land" (2 Samuel 21:14). In other words, the famine was over.
This says something very important about the beginning of this psalm. When David says, "To you our vows will be fulfilled" it is a significant event.
• The vow that a treaty would be observed between Israel and Gibeon
• The vow that David would be loyal to Jonathan
• The vow that the Gibeonites would receive satisfaction
• The vow to hold Saul, God’s anointed, in honor
These are not small things. They are huge and life changing promises that David made in keeping with the law of the LORD and with his own duty. They were the landmarks in a repentance process that David led his nation through. When David says that their sin almost overwhelmed them, he may have been speaking of this 3 year famine that had the capacity to destroy the land. That statement is the thematic centerpiece of the Psalm. It is the whole reason for David’s thanksgiving:
When we were overwhelmed by sins,
you forgave our transgressions. Psalm 65:3 (NIV)
The blessings in the psalm are the visible evidence of God’s forgiveness. The story in 2 Samuel 21 shows how David repented of the sin of his office and nation and bore fruit in keeping with repentance. And God forgave. David likely then went to the Tabernacle and gave a thank offering to God and sang this very psalm. He does not go into the trouble; he only alludes to it. He isn’t there to talk about problems and the sin of the land. He is there to proclaim God’s goodness and he does it. When David and the people repented, God blessed them. David is there to give thanks.
Our powerful God inspires the wonder of the whole world
David, in this psalm, talks about how God blesses Israel and how He receives praise from the whole world. And it is no wonder. When David speaks of why God is worthy of praise, he gives many reasons that are seen worldwide. Let’s look at them. God:
• Hears prayers (2)
• Forgives (3)
• Chooses people to dwell in His presence (4)
• Answers prayer (5)
• Delivers (5)
• Saves (5)
• Creates the mountains (6)
• Demonstrates strength (6)
• Calms the seas (7)
• Calms the nations (7)
• Strikes the nations with awe (8)
• Inspires praise of the nations (8)
• Sends rain on the earth (9-10)
• Makes the earth fertile (9)
• Makes grain grow (9)
• Ripens crops (9-10)
• Blesses the annual cycle (11)
• Gives abundance (11)
• Provides rich pasture (12-13)
When we read psalms of lament or trust, often the psalmist is the main character in the song. Not in this one. God is clearly and profoundly central. His great deeds are scattered over the psalm like rain.
David is impressed with the great benefit that God has delivered. There is great blessing to those who are close to God, but also, part of that impression is the international effect God’s blessing is having.
The middle section of the psalm is a painting of the power of God. The picture begins with time itself. When the Earth was first created it was covered in water. The opening verses of Genesis picture the world as being utterly and frightfully chaotic. The water is violent and unpredictable.
Just like the natural state of the nations of the world. From Israel’s point of view, who can say what the godless pagans will do next? They are like the wild, destructive, brackish water of the sea.
• But just as God is sovereign over the sea, He is sovereign over the nations
• Just as the Sea obeys His voice, the peoples of the world obey His voice
• Just as in its power and magnificence the sea praises God, the nations will praise God
• All people, from the farthest East to the distant West praise God
• "Where morning dawns and evening fades"
Because He is worthy of praise. God has done wonderful things for which we should always give thanks.
God, you water the land and bless us with abundant crops
The wonderful things God does continues the image of water. Now however it is not the chaotic violent nations symbolized by the sea, it is the gentle and life-giving fresh rain that falls from the sky like a gift. The image is enough to make you thirsty.
This is no surprise. After a three year famine, probably brought on by drought, the falling rain was more precious than gems.
And the rain has its effect:
• It waters the grain
• It fills the streams
• It softens the hardened ground
• It nourishes the crops
• It makes the desert green with grass
• It sustains the livestock
• It makes the entire earth sing for joy!
This is a blessing that many of us don’t see clearly. Farmers see it, but the rest of us experience rain in a different light. Often it is inconvenient or dreary. We know our grass and flowers need it, or we have to water them by hand.
I remember when I was a kid thinking that rain was a pain. Easy for me to say, a suburban kid from near Detroit. Probably many of you have had the same wish. It should always rain at night and be clear during the day.
Since I grew up, I’ve learned some of the side effects of rain during the day. I’ve seen that an overcast sky can cool the hot sun. I’ve seen that driving at night in the rain is infinitely harder than driving during daytime in the rain. Oh, yeah ... and it makes crops grow.
Verse 11 has a particularly wonderful image.
Your carts overflow with abundance.
Other translations speak of God’s paths or footsteps dropping abundance.
The picture is of the clouds and the way they streak the sky like paths or rows through a field. Picture also God walking through the field spreading seed and water and growth and harvest everywhere He steps.
There is a story of an old woman and her grand-daughter walking a path to the well. The woman is carrying a bucket to the well, filling it, and bringing it back to fill the barrel to use the water at his house. As the two return from the well, the girl notices that there is a small hole in the bucket and it leaks.
"Grandma," she says. "Why don’t you fix this bucket or get a new one. You would not have to make so many trips to the well."
The old lady says, "I don’t want all the water in the barrel."
The girl responds, "why not?"
Her grandmother says, "be patient. You’ll see."
All through the spring they carry the bucket with its small leak dripping water along the path as she and her granddaughter walk back and forth.
Early in the summer, the two went out to get water and all along the path was a trail of bright flowers. The water the woman was leaking along the way had softened and moistened the earth and fed the flowers that would now adorn the path. And she said, "See ... that’s why I don’t get a new bucket."
All the plant life of the earth is the result of God’s leaky bucket. The paths formed in the clouds drip the abundance of His global well and waters the earth that gives us
• our crops
• and our trees
• and our grass
• and our flowers
• and our weeds
• and our dandelions
I am struck by an idea of G. K. Chesterton. We are unworthy to receive any gift at all from God, and we are unaware of our unworthiness until we realize that we are unworthy of even the gift of a dandelion. This weed we would like to remove from our yard grows naturally and completely by the grace of God and spreads its flowers everywhere. The naive children see it as a blessing.
There are two serious implications from this passage
How aware are we that needs might not be met because we have sinned?
Neither David’s gratitude nor the blessings of God are in a vacuum. The king is aware that God’s goodness began with forgiveness. He is aware that God’s forgiveness came after the acknowledgment of sin.
It was only after the repentance of the people that the blessings of God fell, literally, like rain. David saw the consequences of sin, the drought, as the sin itself overwhelming them.
Sometimes we may catch ourselves thinking,
"I don’t have anything to be thankful for."
If that is the case, our next thought should be like David’s,
"Why is that?"
We are fond of saying, that all negative things in our lives are not punishment for sin.
We should be equally ready to admit that problems in our lives could be the result of sin. For David, it was a national debt that needed to be paid. All were suffering for the policy that had been exerted.
If your drought is more personal, then it may be time to ask,
"What did I do to deserve this?"
Not in the tone we usually ask the question. That tone is rhetorical. The obvious answer is,
"I haven’t done anything to deserve this."
And that is the answer we expect from others when we complain. The result is a cycle of personal affirmation that may be wonderful for our self-esteem and disastrous for our spiritual well being.
Perhaps, like David, we need to ask the question and steel ourselves for the answer. The answer may involve something that we see as not our fault, but our fault or not, the resolution is our responsibility. Repentance may be, like David, taking steps to repair damage that we or someone else has done, and in so doing, build up the reconciliation that is appropriate to the Kingdom of God, whether it is between others and us, or others and God.
Many of you are saying, but I haven’t done anything wrong. You are just making me feel guilty.
But then, has your garden been getting enough rain?
The other implication is in addressing how thankful we are
Someone might observe that David did a profound work to see the end of the famine. However, that isn’t the way David saw it. He saw
• Every stalk of grain
• Every rivulet of water
• Every drop of rain
• Every blade of grass
• Every moist spot on the earth
• Every healthy flock
As a blessing from God. That gift stirred in David a fountain of praise for everything that God gave.
Thanksgiving is an important part of prayer. If we neglect it, our prayer life is out of whack. For David and others of his day, it was a natural and formalized part of the process. Every time a person
• was released from prison
• returned from a journey at sea
• returned from a journey in the desert
• recovered from a sickness
They made a formal trip to the sanctuary to give thank offerings to God. We don’t know exactly what form all of this took, but there are a number of psalms that fit this format. It involved praying thanksgiving in public before the LORD, maybe using one of these psalms if a person didn’t feel personally poetic.
• In this case, the chaotic seas of the earth
• and the chaotic nations of the world
are proven under God’s control
• The rains that fall in the mountains and the valleys
• The rains that water the flocks and the crops
• The rains that feed the streams
are gifts from God after repentance
All are blessings from the God of the waters.
• Have you repented from sin that may have brought trouble?
• Have you thanked God for blessings after restoration with Him?
Figure out what is still missing from the process and take care of it today. Don’t wait, like David for the trouble to last for years before you take care of it.
