As
this year draws to a close, it is right that we should pause to give thanks to
our Father in heaven for the fact that
“He
has crowned the year with His bounty ….” (v.11)
Background
The
Psalm before this one (Psalm 64) reveals David’s complaint to God concerning
the plots of his enemies against himself. Psalms 65,66,67,68 by contrast are Psalms of profoundest praise
and thanksgiving , whilst in Psalm 69 we find David back in the pits, saying “Save me Oh God for the waters have come up to my neck” (Ps. 69:1).
That
is the way we experience life, and if we do not have the complete perspective
of Scripture in our minds, our lives would indeed be an up and down. The wonderful truth is that above all the “ups and downs“ of the Psalmists, and our own experience, we have a faithful,
stable rock - the God
who has made us to praise Him! God has made us to praise Him, whether we
are in physical need or whether we have
plenty (Phil. 4:11-13), whether we feel spiritually dry or whether we are on a spiritual high; whether we are emotionally drained or whether
we are happy. This God remains our God,
not so much because we because hold on to Him, but because in Christ He holds
on to us with His covenantal love[1]. At the end of our pain, grief and
sorrow, or at the end of our joy, happiness
and blessings, there is the same
faithful God.
Psalm
65 is most likely written as a song of praise after a successful harvest (see
vv. 9 -13).
Outline of Psalm 65
1.
Verses
1- 4 The forgiving God
2.
Verses
5 – 8 The sovereign God
3.
Verses
9 – 13 The providing God
1.
Verses 1- 4 The forgiving God
“Praise is due to you,
O God, in Zion, and to you shall vows
be performed. O you who hear prayer, to you shall all flesh come. When
iniquities prevail against me, you atone for our transgressions. Blessed is the
one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied
with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple!”
This
Psalm of thanksgiving and praise at the
end of the year begins with a reminder
of the greatness of our sins, followed by a wonderful reminder of
God’s rich forgiveness and also
of His electing love for His people.
Let
us constantly remember that there can be no proper approach to God without
an awareness and confession of who
we are and who He is.
We are redeemed sinners and He is the eternal,
infinity holy God.
We are able to come into his presence only because of
atonement (v.3).
In the OT it was unthinkable to come into
God’s presence (manifested on earth in the
holiness of the temple (v.4)
without a sin offering or a guilt offering. All this was obviously done in anticipation of
the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, but the basic fact
remains. He is a holy God, and we may only enter into His holy presence by the
One who has taken away our sin. The awesome holiness of God remains a reality to this very day, and from this
perspective nothing has changed! It is a
grievous thing to appear in the presence of God in our worship thoughtless and unprepared
for such a meeting.
I have a friend who once had been a staff member of our Namibian
embassy in Sweden. He told me that he shook the hands of the King Gustaf of
Sweden. What qualified him to do that? Well, he stood in the service
of our country and in the name of our President. He would not have been able to
do that as an ordinary Namibian citizen in his own right.
So
too Christ our Head alone can facilitate our meeting with our holy God and eternal
King. He alone can bring us near to God: Blessed
is the one you choose and bring near to dwell in your courts!” (v. 4a)
Today,
the church (ekklesia – lit. Called
out ones) are brought to live in the courts of God. We must never forget
that the church is the chosen gathering place of God for God’s
people. And it is in the context of His
church that we are amply provided with “the
good things of your house“ (v.4b).
As
we reflect on God’s grace and mercy this
year, let us remember where we have come
from. Let us own the fact that we are what we are, we are by the mercy
of God who owns the ministry of
this church.
He has crowned our year with His bounty
by continuing to help us to keep the Word of God central to all
we do at Eastside.
He has provided materially
for our spiritual home.
We have been able to share with others.
He has continued to supply his spiritual gifts
in the form of men and women that serve Him.
He has given men to lead us.
The
first four verses remind us that God is the heart of our praise.
He is the
focus of our prayer;
He is the hope of our forgiveness from sin and guilt;
He draws
us near to Himself and into His church and He blesses us there.
2.
Verses 5 – 8:
The sovereign God
“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.”
In vv.
5 – 8 we take note of some further attributes of God which will move us to praise and worship.
His deeds are awesomely righteous.
He is the God of our salvation.
He is the hope of all those in the world who
trust in Him (v.5).
His creation
is awesome.
He created the majestic Himalayas. (v.6)
He made the mighty
Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
He causes
the great waves - and He stills them (v.7).
He stills the turmoil of the peoples (nations) (v.7b).
His wonders and
works are seen and acknowledged around the world, both in the East (where morning dawns) and the West (where
evening fades) (v.8).
Truly, says David, God has not left Himself
without a witness in this world.
But more significant is the fact that the
gospel has been forcefully advancing in the whole world.
The Word of the Lord
has spanned the globe from east to west.
On every continent there is a gospel witness.
His witness is even found
in the hostile Muslim nations.
We
rejoice to know that in the most populous nation of the world,
China, there may be more
than 100 million (50 times the population of Namibia) believers that are
praising His Name, singing songs of joy!
He is the only hope of all the
ends of the earth (v.5a)
Truly,
God has crowned this year with His bounty by continuing to let His
glory shine in all that is created in the heavens above and on the earth below.
His gospel continues to be proclaimed in the world, plundering hell’s captives
and daily adding many sons and daughters to His family of worshippers. This year more souls have been added to the
number of the saints in glory. At the end of this year the coming of Christ
will be nearer!
3. Verses 9 – 13: The providing God
“You visit the earth
and water it; you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you
provide their grain, for so you have prepared it. You water its furrows
abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its
growth. You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with
abundance. The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves
with joy, the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck
themselves with grain, and they shout and sing together for joy.”
Having
said all this, God’s nearness is mainly felt in His personal providence for us. David
looks back over the year and rejoices in the rains which God has given.
This
rain has provided the food for the nation.
The people have grain; the flocks
have food – all because He has ordained it.
When we pray for rain, and give
thanks for the harvest, we are doing a biblical and God-honouring thing.
We recognize that rain and harvest are not
simply a product of arbitrary weather patterns, or of luck, or of the “El Nino” effect. Weather and harvest are ordained of God.
Note
the repeated use of the word “You“in
this section: "You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly; you drench its furrows; you soften it with showers. YOU
CROWN THE YEAR WITH YOUR BOUNTY!
APPLICATION
We
have come to the end of the year and we too want to say to the Lord: “Lord,
you crown the year with your bounty”.
We are thankful for
another year in which our God has preserved our country from war and civil
strife. How quickly
the moods of politicians can change. How quickly the land can become ravaged
with war, sickness and famine. And though our country is ravaged with lingering illnesses like AIDS and cancer, yet we must also thank God for this
kind affliction. Not only is God
teaching us to fear Him and to live a
life of reverence, but we thank Him that
so many men and women have gone to
heaven, having repented of their sins, and have trusted in Christ when they realized that they had cancer or HIV. They took stock of their lives, and
fled to Jesus, and they are now with Him in heaven, where there is no more sickness,
weeping and sorrow and pain. Though they had to leave their mortal bodies
behind (as we all shall do sooner or later) yet their spirits are now soaring
and singing with the assembled multitude in glory. What a blessing! He has crowned this year with His bounty!
We are thankful that we
are a country that has freedom of worship. Although much of
what goes for worship in this country does not honour God, because it is man –centered and even
blasphemous, yet for the sake of His
chosen people God has not handed us over
to ruthless men who would destroy our
freedom of worship. He has crowned this year with His bounty!
We are thankful that we
have a free economy and opportunity to work to make a living for ourselves. To all who want to work, there are opportunities.
People do not have to starve in this country. He has crowned this year with
His bounty.
We also give thanks for
our homes. We are
thankful for our families and our dear friends that encourage us so much. We
give thanks for our spouses. We thank God for our children, even though some of
them do not yet believe. And because of that we thank God for the gift and reward
of believing prayer. Surely we have the promise
that if we pray and believe, then we shall also receive whatever is in God’s will (1 John 5: 14). He
has crowned this year with His bounty.
We are thankful for our
church. We thank God
that His word may rule here. We pray that it may do so more and more. We thank
God that He has drawn our attention to the curse of man-centredness , and that
He is helping us to focus on the Lord Jesus,
the One who truly frees us from
every form of enslavement . He has crowned this year with His bounty.
But above all we give
thanks to God for
His love and mercy that has brought us near to live in His courts through the
Lord Jesus Christ, who has covered our sin and who has removed our transgressions
as far as the East is from the West. If it wasn’t for the fact that He had
brought us near to live in His presence, we would never have known what it means
to be truly thankful. Because he lives
and because we live through Him, we know
that “He
has crowned the year with His bounty “!
We realize of course
that not everybody in Namibia has reason to say that.
The
atheists of our country cannot say that,
for they do not believe that there is a God.
There is no one to thank for the beauty of His creation. How do you
thank impersonal evolution? How do you praise chance? The last thing they want
to say is: “He has crowned this year with His bounty”.
The
disobedient in our city cannot truly
say that, for how can they expect God to bless disobedience? Disobedience is
the death of thankfulness. The
disobedient want to run from God and hide from His presence. The last thing
they want to say is: “You have crowned this year with your bounty
…”
The
religious hypocrites cannot say that.
A hypocrite may speak the truth, but they do not walk in the truth. They are
not driven by the love of God; Hypocrites are not bound to a personal
relationship with God; they are obsessed with externalities. Therefore they
cannot have a thankful heart. They cannot say “Oh Lord, you have crowned my
year with your bounty “
But, you dear people
can do it!
Say it! “Oh Lord,
you have crowned this year with your
bounty!” AMEN!
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