Day 137

Psalm 66: Read here – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2066&version=NASB

The first psalm since Ps50 not attributed to David. 

In his introduction and call to praise, the psalmist understood that God was not only God over Israel but the whole world. One may begin to praise God by thinking upon the greatness of His works in creation & salvation. (v3-4) Then, by telling God ‘how awesome His works are.’ 

C.F.v3 with Philippians2:10-11. Acceptable worship not only praises God as the mysterious Lord but is rendered fragrant by some measure of knowledge of his name (character.) Selah: No meditation can be more joyous than that excited by the prospect of a world reconciled to its Creator. 

He then turns to their holy history(V5-7) and remembered how God showed His power in bringing Israel through the Red Sea and through the Jordan River. He could have picked anything to describe the works of God, but chose two events that showed how God participates in human affairs.  God’s work is never antiquated. It is all a revelation of eternal activities. What He has been, He is. What He did, He does. Therefore, faith may expect the repetition of all that history contains until it embraces the world (V8). C.F. Matt24:14 

More serious worship is pictured in v13-15. Yet the vow of the psalmist was not fulfilled through sacrifice alone. He also had an obligation to proclaim God’s goodness,(v16) to ‘declare what He has done for my soul.’ His actions spoke but did not take away the need for his mouth to also speak. 

We may picture the scene of public worship in which corporate praise gives way to the voice of this single worshipper, who stands with his gifts before the altar, and speaks of the God whose care is not only world and nation-wide, but personal. 

The conclusion Is a final and wonderful reminder that the answer to prayer did not come from what the psalmist deserved, but as a gift from the great ‘lovingkindness’ of God. He puts the crown on God’s head! Excellent logic. The main end of our life is not to do, but to become. For this, we are being moulded and disciplined each hour.