God our Saviour, our Deliverer, and our Provider
Oct. 15 – Psalm 65
To the leader. A Psalm of David. A Song.
1 Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion; and to you shall vows be performed,
2 O you who answer prayer! To you all flesh shall come.
3 When deeds of iniquity overwhelm us, you forgive our transgressions.
4 Happy are those whom you choose and bring near to live in your courts.
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, your holy temple.
5 By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance, O God of our salvation;
you are the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas.
6 By your strength you established the mountains; you are girded with might.
7 You silence the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves,
the tumult of the peoples.
8 Those who live at earth’s farthest bounds are awed by your signs;
you make the gateways of the morning and the evening shout for joy.
9 You visit the earth and water it, you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water; you provide the people with grain,
for so you have prepared it.
10 You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges,
softening it with showers, and blessing its growth.
11 You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with richness.
12 The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy,
13 the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy.
In this week of Thanksgiving, this psalm provides three reasons for giving thanks to God (the last being a two-part reason).
God brings us salvation – God answers prayer (vs. 2), God forgives us (vs. 3), and our being with God fulfills our highest calling as human beings – we find satisfaction/contentment with God (vs. 4).
God delivers us from danger. The psalm writer sees this as different from the personal salvation of the first 4 verses – this is rescue from external threat. God offers hope in the face of danger (vs. 5), God is a stronghold where we can be safe (I think this is metaphor at play in vs. 6), and God silences both the storms of the sea and the storms of the nations in tumult – the image goes both ways in vs. 7.
God made the creation with its beauty (vs. 8) – a beauty that brings forth awe from all people. God made the creation which also feeds us – producing a crop through the richness of the soil, the rain as needed, so that the wagon tracks are almost invisible because the crop is so abundant. All of creation rejoices in being part of this provision of abundance.
David in writing this psalm moves from one reason for thankfulness to the next without missing a beat – they are all signs of God’s goodness – and they are linked. The God of deliverance and salvation is the God who brings forth abundance from the earth. They are all of a piece. We want to take them apart and analyze each part – David lets them flow into one another – for God is to be praised for all his blessings to humanity – both physically and spiritually.
PRAYER:
God of good and perfect gifts, you have blessed us spiritually – being our redeemer, you have protected us – physically and spiritually being our deliverer, and you have provided for our physical needs. We give you thanks and praise for the blessings you bring. In Jesus’ name. Amen.