Praising God's Mighty Works - Psalm 66:1-9 & 16-20

explores God’s mighty acts toward Israel - God’s acts were so great that every nation had to take notice and react. Traditionally, the Psalms are seen as a collection of five books. Book I - ; Book II - ; Book III - ; Book IV - ; Book V - . Our texts today and last week fall in the second of these five books. The psalms of the second book feature relatively many songs of trust and/or complaint plus some praise hymns.

Today’s text from is a collection of four songs that focus on the entire earth and all her nations. The nations are depicted as confessing God’s power and praising him for his just rule. The concern in with other nations’ worship of God has led scholars to wonder if an international crisis was the background for its writing.

Remembering that psalms are ancient Israel’s worship songs, presents itself as five stanzas. Although not all of is printed with the lesson today, it is a call to worship God, a prayer to God, and a personal testimony about God.

A Call to Worship an Awesome God -

Psalm 66:1–4 NRSV

Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth; sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise. Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds! Because of your great power, your enemies cringe before you. All the earth worships you; they sing praises to you, sing praises to your name.” Selah

The hymn opens with a roar as all the earth is charged to shout for joy in acknowledgement of the one true God. Since his works are not constrained within the borders of Israel, every nation is challenged to join Israel in worshipping him. The word worship point to God’s sovereignty. We do not come to God in worship as an equal approaches an equal but as a servant approaches a king, “shouting joyfully.” Worship of God acknowledges that we are not our own, but God’s.

reminds us that the Lord deserves praise not only because of sovereignty but also because God works for our benefit: “Come and see God’s deeds; his works for human beings are awesome”. The nature of the joyful noise is refined in terms of glory that God is due. The challenge for the crowd and for us is sing in such a manner as to make our praise glorious - no allowing for half-hearted or insincere praise.

The Hebrew words for glory and glorious are based on a root that means “heavy” in various contexts. Some students propose, therefore, that to glorify someone is to add weight to his or her reputation. We may wonder how our singing glorifies God’s name. Is it through the skill of our voices, the level of our sincerity, the volume that results or the nature of the lyrics? The psalmist doesn’t specify, but undoubtedly the level of our sincerity is the starting point for honoring the name of God.

Other than congregational singing, what are some other ways we can bring honor to God’s name and reputation?

There is a sense in which worship is a practice session for life outside of church and what we practice is the presence of God. There, in the safety of the sanctuary, in the company of other believers, we praise and thank God together. Then, when we are out on the mean streets surrounded by people who may be indifferent to our faith, we can recognize that God is there too. To say it another way, worship helps us develop “theological memory.” Life is hard, but God is good. And one way we discover that latter truth so that it is available to us when we are dealing with the former reality is by hearing the witness of hymns, prayers, liturgy, Scripture, sermons, etc.

In essence the writer of was calling people to praise God now while it is easy so that when troubles come, they’ll remember God’s awesomeness, and still be able to praise. As stated in verse, all the earth bows down to you; they sing praises (worship) to you, they sing praises to your name.

How specifically does worship help you when you are in the midst of difficulty?

Come and See -

Psalm 66:5–9 NRSV

Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds among mortals. He turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the river on foot. There we rejoiced in him, who rules by his might forever, whose eyes keep watch on the nations— let the rebellious not exalt themselves. Selah Bless our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard, who has kept us among the living, and has not let our feet slip.

Psalm 66_5-9

Here the psalmist echoes his own words, stressing anew why everyone should worship the Lord: his works toward humanity are awesome, again in the sense of inspiring terror or awe. The psalmist implores everyone to come and see. The invites his audience to ponder anew what God did in the exodus. By the time God turned the sea into dry land to allow the Israelites to pass through the waters on foot, he had already worked 10 miracles in the form of plagues. We are being given a tangible way that the Lord established his reputation with humanity.

What steps can we take to remind each other of our victorious history with God?

In verse 7 the readers cannot be reminded too often of God’s eternal rule in power. It is God who is the king of all the earth. In that capacity, he rules with great power and his accomplishments are awesome. As he rules he see everything. Nothing escapes his notice. He is able to watch the nations easily because he is sovereign over them as well as over Israel.

In verse 9, the reason for this renewed praise is God’s continuing care for his people. The God who rescued an entire nation in the exodus is more than capable of preserving every individual life. The fact that he kept our feet from slipping should assure us that we need not rely on our own power.

Come and Hear -

Psalm 66:16–20 NRSV

Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for me. I cried aloud to him, and he was extolled with my tongue. If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. But truly God has listened; he has given heed to the words of my prayer. Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me.

As we rejoin the psalm in the final stanza, the scene has changed again. In the first stanza (), all the nations are challenged to praise God. In the second stanza (), Israel is to lead the praise before the nations by recounting God’s mighty rescue of his people from Egypt. The third stanza () recalls either the exodus or a more recent time of trouble and rescue. In the fourth stanza (), the psalmist personally vows to offer sacrifices extravagantly to God as a response to his recent rescue. Now in the fifty and final stanza (), the psalmist begins a personal testimony regarding God’s work in his life. His personal experience is about to become one of public declaration.

What preparations can you make to ensure that the story of what God has done in your life endures as a witness to the next generation? Should drafting your personal eulogy be part of this effort? Why or why not?

In verse 17 we see something interesting - parallelism, which so often characterizes Hebrew poetry. The words cried, him, and my mouth in the first statement reflecting praise, his and my tongue in the second expression, respectively. Thus it would be a mistake to think the psalmist is saying two different things. He is actually offering one thought, which he repeats with similar words. This singular thought is important: instead of immediately asking for help or complaining about something. the psalmist praised God. This reminds us that our praise of God should come first, no matter the circumstances of life.

In verse 18, the psalmist knows that the condition of heart matters to God. There are certain conditions that hinder the effectiveness of prayers, and unconfessed sin is certainly one of them.

What plan can you enact to ensure that you take inventory on the condition of your heart on a regular basis?

In verse 19, the psalmist recognizes that God has, in fact, heard him. Given the successful outcome, the reader may be tempted to draw up a checklist of the various point of the previous verses that lead up to here. We should always caution ourselves that God is not like a fictional genie who grants our wishes as long as we follow a certain procedure.

In closing, the psalmist voices a praise blessing to God for attending to the psalmist’s prayer. Prayer to fictional gods are never heard, and praying to the one true God is no guarantee that he will listen. Here “Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘I will bring on them a disaster they cannot escape. Although they cry out to me, I will not listen to them’”.

Conclusion

Despite the circumstances in the psalmist’s day, God was still sovereign and all-powerful. He was still worthy of praise. He was still the judge who ruled all nations and knew the condition of every individual human heart.

This still remains true today. Although we are surrounded by those who do not fear God, we can do so nonetheless. Although we are surrounded by those who do not praise God, we can do so nonetheless. We can make a commitment to remind ourselves continually of his history with us. We can also encourage each other by sharing our personal testimonies of how he has demonstrated his strength in our lives. As we do, we will find ourselves submitting to his ways, regardless of whether those around us do so as well.

Prayer

O God, even as you receive our praise while we worship, let what happens there also open our eyes to your work on our behalf in the world; in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

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