Psalm 66:1-10: Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth! Sing out the honor of His name; Make His praise glorious.
3 Say to God,“How awesome are Your works! Through the greatness of Your power Your enemies shall submit themselves to You.
4 All the earth shall worship You And sing praises to You; They shall sing praises to Your name.” Selah
5 Come and see the works of God; He is awesome in His doing toward the sons of men.
6 He turned the sea into dry land; They went through the river on foot. There we will rejoice in Him.
7 He rules by His power forever; His eyes observe the nations; Do not let the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah
8 Oh, bless our God, you peoples! And make the voice of His praise to be heard,
9 Who keeps our soul among the living, And does not allow our feet to be moved.
10 For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us as silver is refined.
The psalm begins with a prayer for restraint. David
knows that he has sinned, and that he merits punishment. At the same
time, he prays that God would not discipline him according to his
deserts. He does not want God to be heated or angry with him (v. 1).
David’s bones are vexed; he pleads with God on the
basis of what he has already received and felt. He does not want God to
assume that any more was needed (v. 2). He felt his weakness; his bones
were vexed. In addition, his soul was vexed (v. 3). His prayer was a
question— “God, how long do You think all this will remain necessary?”
The answer is usually much longer than we want and much shorter than we
fear.
Does God return? We know that God is omnipresent, and
so in this sense, He cannot “return” anywhere. But to resort to
metaphor, God can remove His blessing, and the psalmist assumes this and
asks Him to return. Any return would save him, and would deliver his
soul (v. 4).
David then deals with the silence of Sheol. David is
still concerned with the glory of God (v. 5). Sheol was a land of
forgetfulness, and who would render thanks to God from there?
David does not overlook the final resurrection, but still argues that
nothing should diminish (even temporarily) thanksgiving to God.
The psalmist is wasted in his grief. He is weary with
groaning; he floods his bed and couch with tears (v. 6). He has cried
out his eyes (v. 7). He has been sick, he has sinned, and he must also
deal with all his enemies.
Our God answers the prayers of sinners. The lament
and prayer of David is answered while he is in the midst of offering his
prayer. He is languishing under the hand of God, and then suddenly in
v. 8, his confidence returns. This confidence returns because God, as
requested, has also returned. God will hear, David affirms (v. 9). A
corollary to this is that his enemies will be abashed (v. 10). What was
happening to David’s bones will now happen to his adversaries.
Scriptures teach that sin flatters at the beginning,
but wrecks at the end. Godly discipline is no fun at the time, God says,
but afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of an upright life (Heb. 12:11).
This teaches us something interesting about pain and pleasure. Sin and righteousness both inflict pain, and they both bring
pleasure. But when, where, and for how long? The pain brought by
discipline can turn minutes into hours, and hours into days. David cries
out here — how long? But the pain brought by sin is everlasting.
In addition, the pleasures brought by sin are
momentary. Moses preferred to suffer affliction with the people of God
than to enjoy certain pleasures for a season (Heb. 11:25). But the pleasures of God? At His right hand are pleasures forevermore (Ps. 16:11).
The psalm also instructs us on the nature of truth
and lies. We cannot enjoy being lied to without coming in a very short
time to an enjoyment of lying. People who listen to lies about sin will
soon be telling lies about sin. And here is the point: people who tell
lies about sin don’t like singing the psalms because it makes them tell
the truth about sin.
Those who love the truth love to say it, sing it,
talk about it, and hear it. And fundamentally, they love to maintain the
dividing wall between the truth and the lie. Repentance necessarily
banishes those who work iniquity. Put another way, the Bible requires
that you choose and maintain your friends wisely.
David knows that he needs forgiveness. He knows that
if God chastized to a full extent, it would destroy him. But he does not
answer God in a resentful or angry way. He is humble, fully humble.
The transactions of grace are gibberish to the carnal
mind. They make no sense because in a very important way, they are not
transactions at all. --Doug Wilson
The Hebrew word "terrible" translated in the King James version means “stupendous, admirable, wonderful, illustrious. Nothing can compare to the works of God.
