“Praise is due You, O God in Zion, and to you shall vows be performed. O You who hear prayer, to You shall all flesh come. You crown the year with your bounty.” -Psalm 65:1-2, 11a. (ESV)
The first day of a brand New Year! Welcome, New Year! I stayed awake to see the New Year in. I wasn’t with a church group in a “Watch Night Service.” In fact, all the last day of the old year had been a somber day alone with few telephone calls and not many e-mail and facebook messages. Time to think, time to pray, time to remember, time to look ahead. And this morning as I read my Bible, the Lord turned my attention to Psalm 65. This English Standard Version has a title or section heading for this Psalm: “O God of Our Salvation” (These headings are not a part of the original text but were added to help identify important themes and topics throughout the Bible and to serve as Bible study aids).
Do thoughts come to you about your purpose in life, about why you are living here at the beginning of 2012, in this “year of our Lord”? We could allow depression to overcome us as we consider the condition of our country and our world, the injustices in high places, the wrecked economy, the uncertainties and problems that exist. This Psalm is attributed to David. No doubt, in his time, too, he faced grave problems of leadership. But this Psalm shows his firm affirmation of God’s providence and salvation. It affirms that the people will make their prayers to God and pay their vows. And God will visit the earth, water it, make it produce. “You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.” What, then, is my purpose, your purpose in life as 2012—a new year—dawns? Could our purpose be to praise and honor God, to live close to Him, to recognize His favor? Psalm 65:4 gives us an answer: “Blessed is the one You choose and bring near to dwell in Your courts!” God has chosen each of us for this particular time in the vast span of time and eternity. What a sobering and awesome thought!
Recognition of God as the Giver of good is paramount throughout this Psalm. Dare we do less than David in recognizing God’s sovereignty, His power and His provision? “By awesome deeds You answer us with righteousness, O God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas; the One who by His strength established the mountains, being girded with might: who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples, so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at Your signs. You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.” (Psalm 65:5-8)
In 2012 I will look about me, rejoice in what is still good, beautiful, bountiful and steadfast in this world where I dwell. I shall declare, “You (O God my Father, Provider and Sustainer, Maker and Keeper of Heaven and Earth) crown the earth with your bounty!”
The first day of a brand New Year! Welcome, New Year! I stayed awake to see the New Year in. I wasn’t with a church group in a “Watch Night Service.” In fact, all the last day of the old year had been a somber day alone with few telephone calls and not many e-mail and facebook messages. Time to think, time to pray, time to remember, time to look ahead. And this morning as I read my Bible, the Lord turned my attention to Psalm 65. This English Standard Version has a title or section heading for this Psalm: “O God of Our Salvation” (These headings are not a part of the original text but were added to help identify important themes and topics throughout the Bible and to serve as Bible study aids).
Do thoughts come to you about your purpose in life, about why you are living here at the beginning of 2012, in this “year of our Lord”? We could allow depression to overcome us as we consider the condition of our country and our world, the injustices in high places, the wrecked economy, the uncertainties and problems that exist. This Psalm is attributed to David. No doubt, in his time, too, he faced grave problems of leadership. But this Psalm shows his firm affirmation of God’s providence and salvation. It affirms that the people will make their prayers to God and pay their vows. And God will visit the earth, water it, make it produce. “You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.” What, then, is my purpose, your purpose in life as 2012—a new year—dawns? Could our purpose be to praise and honor God, to live close to Him, to recognize His favor? Psalm 65:4 gives us an answer: “Blessed is the one You choose and bring near to dwell in Your courts!” God has chosen each of us for this particular time in the vast span of time and eternity. What a sobering and awesome thought!
Recognition of God as the Giver of good is paramount throughout this Psalm. Dare we do less than David in recognizing God’s sovereignty, His power and His provision? “By awesome deeds You answer us with righteousness, O God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas; the One who by His strength established the mountains, being girded with might: who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples, so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at Your signs. You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.” (Psalm 65:5-8)
In 2012 I will look about me, rejoice in what is still good, beautiful, bountiful and steadfast in this world where I dwell. I shall declare, “You (O God my Father, Provider and Sustainer, Maker and Keeper of Heaven and Earth) crown the earth with your bounty!”
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