One of the readings for this Sunday will be Psalm 66.8-20. This section of the Psalm has three parts.
Part 1 Verses 8-9
Bless our God, O peoples; let the sound of his praise be heard, who has kept our soul among the living and has not let our feet slip.
This is a call to the Gentile nations (the ‘peoples’) to praise the God of Israel. And a reason for this call is given. God has been faithful. He has cared for His people. He has kept them alive and secure. (This is evangelism that is motivated by the desire to see God praised.)
Part 2 Verses 10-12
For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried. You brought us into the net; you laid a crushing burden on our backs; you let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.
Here, the psalmist recounts some of Israel’s history. God had put His people to the test. And that test was very difficult. The psalmist uses some rather powerful images to convey how harsh these tests were: being purified like silver in a hot furnace, being curshed by an overwhelming weight, being snared in a net, being surrounded by fire and then by water.
This is where a couple of questions might pop up. First, does God actually do these sorts of things to His people, bring them into such harsh times? Well, what does the Psalm say? But that leads to the second question. Why would God do such things? In this Psalm, it's not about dealing with sin. The psalmist is clear at the end of the Psalm that there was no sin involved. Take a look at verse 18 ('cherished iniquity').
So, why would God do this to His faithful people? The image of silver in a furnace helps us here. It's to purify us. Even when we are working hard at being faithful, hidden sins remain. By trials like the ones described here, those sins are revealed to us so that they can be dealt with by repentance and faith. As a result, we grow in our experience and enjoyment of eternal life and thus can serve God better. God's trials are an expression of His concern for His people. He wants us to flourish. Sin needs to be dealt with for that to happen.
However - and this is so very important - the trials don't last forever. Just like the psalmist, we will be brought out into a place of an abundance, an abundance that God intends for us to enjoy. We will enjoy that partially in this life but to an extent that will simply amaze us in the life to come.
Part 3 Verses 13-20
Here we see the psalmist's response to what God has done in his life. First, there is worship.
I will come into your house with burnt offerings; I will perform my vows to you, that which my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble. I will offer to you burnt offerings of fattened animals, with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams; I will make an offering of bulls and goats. Selah
Worship only makes sense. God has once again revealed to His people something of His beauty in how He leads His people through His purifying trials to a place of abundance.
And then, there is witness.
Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul. I cried to him with my mouth, and high praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!
The psalmist has experienced the blessings of God, and he wants to let others know about this. But note who his intended audience is: 'all you who fear God'. He wants to tell his story to other faithful saints of God. He wants to tell them about how their God 'attended to the voice of my prayer'. And that makes sense. How encouraging to be reminded of how great our God is by hearing about other believers' experiences of Him.
This Psalm gives us a way to understand the ups and downs of life. God is at work. And one goal of what He is up to is the 'place of abundance' that Jesus has provided for us.
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