May 11th, 2014
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Rejoice!

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

Patient One, blow on the embers of my hope. Bring hope alive in me. May my praise be worthy of You.

Read Psalm 66:1-20

[1]For the director of music. A song. A psalm. Shout for joy to God, all the earth! [2] Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious. [3] Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you. [4] All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing the praises of your name.” [5] Come and see what God has done, his awesome deeds for mankind! [6] He turned the sea into dry land, they passed through the waters on foot- come, let us rejoice in him. [7] He rules forever by his power, his eyes watch the nations- let not the rebellious rise up against him. [8] Praise our God, all peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard; [9] he has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping. [10] For you, God, tested us; you refined us like silver. [11] You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. [12] You let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance. [13] I will come to your temple with burnt offerings and fulfill my vows to you- [14] vows my lips promised and my mouth spoke when I was in trouble. [15] I will sacrifice fat animals to you and an offering of rams; I will offer bulls and goats. [16] Come and hear, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me. [17] I cried out to him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue. [18] If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; [19] but God has surely listened and has heard my prayer. [20] Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright &copy 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.&reg Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Meditate

“Praise be to God who has not rejected my prayer…” (20). What a confidence-boosting statement. In all situations let’s make prayer our first choice and not our last chance!

Think Further

Joy, thanks, and praise are the notes that frame this psalm. This joyful praise is focused on what God has done (3,5). In the Old Testament context, God’s awesome deeds are supremely encapsulated in delivering Israel from Egypt (6). For Christians, the Exodus remains part of our story, although now our primary focus is on what God has done through Jesus in his life, death, and resurrection. But if we have more than the psalmist had for which to thank God, that makes it all the more important that we really do thank God for all he has done, and never take for granted what has been given to us.

The psalmist also gives thanks for recent events, specifically a time of testing which involved great suffering and affliction, but which has led eventually to a resonant “place of abundance” (8-12). Divine testing is a recurrent biblical theme, and the comparison to the refining of silver helps us to understand its dynamics. Metal naturally comes with many impurities which need to be removed through subjection to intense heat. When this has been done, the metal becomes most strong and serviceable. So, too, it is with human lives. The process of refining our impurities will rarely feel welcome; the imagery of people “riding over our heads” is suggestively awful. Yet the patient enduring of such hardship leads to abundance, as we become the people God intends us to be. Then the offering of worship becomes a joy (13-15).

Finally, the psalmist recalls what the Lord has done in answer to prayer (16-20). It is not just what God has done for the world and for his people for which we praise him, but our own personal testimony will, please God, be one of acknowledging and celebrating what the Lord has done specifically for us.

Apply

Do you feel God is testing you (10)? How? Why? What “abundant place” (12b) do you hope for?

Closing prayer

Lord, please purify my heart and mind, so that I may live more faithfully and walk more closely with You.

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