March 6, 2017: Day 65 – Psalm 65

This psalm is all about praise.  It is all about praise.  

Think of the listing of attributes that are given to the Lord which allows the author to praise him.  God: answers prayer, forgives, answers us, is the hope, established the mountains, silences the roaring waves (in our life), makes nature shout for joy, visits the earth and waters it, provides grain.  The list goes on.  But what I love about this psalm is the pasture imagery which pervades it.  You can definitely tell that the person who wrote this understood the outdoors and what makes it tick.  The person who wrote this knew what it meant to work hard in God’s nature.

My work is behind a desk, or visiting in hospitals or people’s homes, or behind a pulpit, or at meetings.  My work doesn’t take me outside.  But I love to be outside and I especially love to work outside.  I love to split wood until my arms can’t move.  I love to dig out things until my hands are bleeding with blisters, I love to run until I can’t run anymore, I love to be in God’s creation not just for the sake of being outside, but to actually do something which is demanding.  The person who wrote this psalm understood the value of this even better than I do.

I hope you take pleasure in God’s creation.  I hope you find in your life moments when you can read this psalm and completely relate to what it means when the writer says: The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy, the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy.  That’s the image I have of God preparing this earth of us.