"Praise awaits you, O God, in Zion; to you our vows will be fulfilled. O you who hear prayer, to you all people will come. When we were overwhelmed by sins, you forgave our transgressions. 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.…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” (Psalm 65:1-4,9).
Reading through the psalms can feel like riding a rollercoaster. Psalm 64 is a deep introspection into the cunningness of our hearts. From the darkness of the human heart, Psalm 65 ushers us into the glories of God’s movements in the cosmos.
Yet the distance between the two is but the blink of an eye. This psalm does not ignore the realities of human sinfulness. Rather, it recognizes that the disasters we create are overwhelming. We get buried under the chaos our schemes create. The only way to get ‘unburied’ is to turn to God and God alone. In his goodness, God comes to the rescue. That is what this psalm is about.
If we are stuck in the darkness of the misery we have caused, or others have caused for us, this psalm offers us profound hope.
It plays two melodies. The first is the praise that describes the power of God. Those who are near him are blessed. He is the God of salvation, whose power controls the raging of nature and of human affairs. It is our Lord who gives the land fertility and brings about the joy of its great productivity. His awe-inspiring deeds bring about the reverential fear of all who dwell in it.
For Israel, God's presence was centred in Jerusalem, His holy city. But His works extended out to immense horizons of creation and history. He is the Hearer of Prayer unto whom all people may come. For Christians, we believe that, through Jesus, everyone is invited to come before God in prayer (Hebrews 10:19-22) and receive his grace.
God visits the earth and moves through it like a conqueror, but unlike human conquerors he does not leave it desolate. His trail through the land leaves fertility and abundance behind, unlike armies of old and today who leave destruction and famine and starvation in their wake. Fatness drips from the tracks of the great Hearer of Prayer. This is the first melody of Psalm 65.
The second are the petitions which ask God to pour forth His blessings. In God's rule of the universe, He does not need our prayers, yet He desires them. The strong word of Scripture is that we don't receive if we don't ask.
Thus, we turn to the great Hearer of Prayer for forgiveness of our transgressions. And he forgives, true. But the word translated ‘forgave’ has a richer meaning. It says, “you make atonement for”. God not only forgives, he also sets things right. That is what this psalm leans into. We wreck relationships, we devastate the planet, we refuse to give justice, but God does not do these things. He is the God of redemption.
The strongest impact of the psalm is surely in the joy over the gift of rain and the flourishing which results from God’s coming. He sustains His creation with active involvement in its mountains and oceans, its water supply, and its harvests, bringing life amid human devastation.
His work is to undo all the damage we bring. Surely, this is what Jesus meant when he said, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working”. This comment after he enabled a lame man to walk (John 5:17).
The melodies of this Psalm sing of His saving power throughout creation and of our prayers for complete redemption. They are in captured in the yearning of the Bible’s closing prayer, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20). A good psalm for a new year.
As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.
