Looking Back – Flashing Forth!
Psalm 66
To the choirmaster. A Song. A Psalm.
1Shout for joy to God, all the earth;
2sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise!
3Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that
your enemies come cringing to you.
4All the earth worships you and sings praises to you; they sing praises
to your name.” Selah
5Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds toward the
children of man.
6He turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the river on foot.
There did we rejoice in him,
7who rules by his might forever, whose eyes keep watch on the nations—let
not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah
8Bless our God, O peoples; let the sound of his praise be heard,
9who has kept our soul among the living and has not let our feet slip.
10For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried.
11You brought us into the net; you laid a crushing burden on our backs;
12you let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through
water; yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.
13I will come into your house with burnt offerings; I will perform my
vows to you,
14that which my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
15I 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
16Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done
for my soul.
17I cried to him with my mouth, and high praise was on my tongue.
18If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have
listened.
19But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer.
20Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his
steadfast love from me!
It has been one of those summer weeks that step outside of
the regular flow of life. We’ve had our daughter, granddaughter and son-in-law
with us since early June and it’s been wonderful. But it’s not the norm. The
very different flow of life has brought my attention back to the blessings of
the Father over and over again. My voice simply has to join the chorus of “Shout for joy to God, all the earth; sing
the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise.”
As we read a Psalm like this one, we are invited to review the
mighty acts of God over His people while they were in such desperate need of
His help as slaves in Egypt. There are illusions throughout these words that
point to being freed from harsh masters, walking through rivers (the Jordan), and
crossing the Red Sea. While I haven’t had to run from a task master lately or
fear death at the hands of said masters, I have to rely on God daily for each
breath. I have a set of brilliant and beautiful grandchildren to marvel at and
their joy is infectious.
Think back over the yesterday. What was poured out onto your
life that was praise worthy? If you can’t think of anything, you aren’t
thinking hard enough. Each day is a blessing and we spend far too many days ignoring
the One who poured out those blessings. This psalmist is expounding on the
greatness of a God who freed His people 2,000 years before these words were
written. This writer is looking back into the distant past and still seeing a
mighty and gracious God. Certainly we can look back through our own lives and
see God’s hand at work.
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