Praise awaits[b] you, our God, in Zion;
to you our vows will be fulfilled.
2 You who answer prayer,
to you all people will come.
3 When we were overwhelmed by sins,
you forgave[c] our transgressions.
4 Blessed are those you choose
and bring near to live in your courts!
We are filled with the good things of your house,
of your holy temple.
5 You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds,
God our Savior,
the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas,
6 who formed the mountains by your power,
having armed yourself with strength,
7 who stilled the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
and the turmoil of the nations.
8 The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders;
where morning dawns, where evening fades,
you call forth songs of joy.
9 You care for the land and water it;
you enrich it abundantly.
The streams of God are filled with water
to provide the people with grain,
for so you have ordained it.[d]
10 You drench its furrows and level its ridges;
you soften it with showers and bless its crops.
11 You crown the year with your bounty,
and your carts overflow with abundance.
12 The grasslands of the wilderness overflow;
the hills are clothed with gladness.
13 The meadows are covered with flocks
and the valleys are mantled with grain;
they shout for joy and sing.
- PSALM 65
Good morning. From where do bad things come that bring us so much pain? Sometimes the answers come easy in the poor choices we make. Yet even when we succeed in living for God, there are times when bad things still come. While our minds concede that God is not the perpetrator of bad things, there are moments our hearts wonder if God serves as an unwitting accomplice when God seemingly does nothing to stop bad things.
In such moments the heart of the believer can turn to Psalm 65 to have strength renewed and faith restored. Psalm 65 makes it clear that God has absolutely no affiliation with the bad things that descend upon us. Rather through prayer and provision, the psalmist professes the enduring truth that God provides ONLY that which is good. Far from being the accomplice of bad things, Psalm 65 teaches that God stands as the great manufacturer of ALL the good we've known or will come to know.
How can we know God to supply and produce only that which good? First, Psalm 65 reminds the believer of God's earnest desire to keep us close. Being the Creator of the universe, this faithful God could have chosen keep His distance from an unfaithful people. Yet Psalm 65 proclaims God is so close to us that He can hear our prayers. And how reassuring is it to know that God chooses us before we can choose Him. Even when our sin threatens to take us away, Psalm 65 tells how God is always ready to forgive in order to keep us near.
Second, Psalm 65 recounts the goodness of God through His awesome deeds. For it is through His breathtaking works that Psalm 65 sees God bringing order to chaos. Psalms 65 discovers hope for all of creation in the power contained within God's righteous deeds. Psalms 65 finds that joy permeates every inch of God's creation.
Finally, Psalm 65 possesses a conviction that the goodness of God's love will ensure we want for nothing. When our commitment is feeble and our assurance parached, Psalm 65 believes that God's love will come to enrich our every vow and drench our every doubt. While isolation and rejection can leave us hungry and afraid, Psalm 65 trusts that God's love will nourish all our loneliness and clothe all our naked fears. What grief mutes and suffering silences, Psalm 65 relies on God's love to overcome by shouting our every praise and singing our every song.
If bad things have found you this week, then I urge you to hear the encouragement of Psalm 65. For there is no bad thing that keep God from staying as close as we need. Nor can any bad thing confiscate the joy teeming in God's creation. Above all, there is no bad thing that can prevent the God of the universe from blessing us with all that is good.
CJE