Psalm 66 & 67
These Psalms
are a call for all the nations of the Earth to come and give praise to
God, to appreciate his goodness and faithfulness. This is the God
who raised his people up out of Egypt ,
who parted the Red Sea and who rules with
power. This is something that all the nations should be glad of. Yet
within that is the recognition that things aren’t always rosy and light.
Sometimes we are imprisoned with heavy burdens on our backs. Yet the Lord
uses these experiences to refine us and ultimately brings us to
a place of abundance. Our salvation is in him and so we praise his name.
Like the
psalmist our desire should be to tell the nations of what the Lord has
done for us (and will do for us). The Lord who is gracious and just and
longs to bless us. But for that to happen the psalmist knows that his
heart has to be in the right place:
“If I had
cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened” (Psalm 66:18;
NIV)
We can’t
simply come before God without dealing with the sin in our hearts. The
very things we praise him for are because he is a holy God. But having
realised this and dealt with our sin before him, our lives are
free to sing for joy.
“I cried out
to him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue.” (Psalm 66:17; NIV)
(member of the youth
ministry team)