Psalm 65: truly depending on God
This hymn of thanksgiving is a pleasant and insightful demonstration of the dependence of the Israelites on God. Let’s enumerate the ways in which they counted on God:
- Fulfillment of vows (verse 1)
- Answers to prayers (verse 2)
- Judgment (verse 3)
- Forgiveness of sins (verse 3)
- Blessings and “good things” (verse 4)
- Justice (verse 5)
- Hope (verse 5)
- Control of nature (verses 6 and 7)
- By contrast with pagan nations, peace with God (verse 7)
- Wonderful miracles (verse
- Abundant blessings in crops, possibly precious minerals, water, flocks (verses 9-13)
It’s easy to forget that all nations’ economies were agriculture-based at that time, so the emphasis on abundant crops and flocks is to be expected. Also, considering that water was and still is a precious resource in that part of the world, the vivid descriptions of water in verses 9 and 10 are no mistake. If you think a drought wouldn’t affect us much today, when our economy is diversified and we have crop reserves or can purchase grains and fruits from neighboring countries, this wasn’t the case in days of old. It was an absolute disaster when a drought occurred. Modern irrigation methods didn’t exist. When there was no water to speak of, if rain didn’t fall, entire crops perished and people suffered and died. This was a very serious matter.
Perhaps this can help explain why people relied more on God during those days than nowadays. When people are more self-sufficient, they tend to think (mistakenly) that they don’t need God or others. They can do it all themselves. Why should they rely on God for rain when they can irrigate their fields at any time? Why should they rely on God for healthy, abundant crops when they can be purchased from other parts of the world? Why rely on God for miracles when they can be performed with modern medicine or technology? Why should they rely on God for forgiveness when they can “meditate” and make the pain “go away”? It’s much harder to realize our dependence on God in today’s modern world, and this is problematic. Self-sufficience may be convenient in the short run, but it’s also a breeding ground for problems like stress, arrogance, egotism, cynicism, atheism, and others.
Humans are made with a God-shaped hole in their heart. It’s a fact. People need God. And when they can’t get to God, because they either build walls around themselves or believe (wrongly) that there’s no God, they open themselves up to wrong ideas, such as the belief that we’re gods ourselves, or that we can make gods out of stones or carved statues. Or, they end up making gods out of their cars, jobs, gadgets or bank accounts. None of these can ever fill the God-shaped holes in our hearts. Only God can do that, and there is only one God. It’s only when we come to Him and realize our dependence on Him - yes, even in today’s cynical world - that we experience the peace, forgiveness and other abundant blessings that He gladly bestows on those that believe in Him. It’s time we shed our modern masks and come to God as we are, to ask for His forgiveness and peace. Let’s drop our cynical facades and step out in faith, asking Him that created the universe to clean up our lives and show us what truly matters. He’ll do it, we have only to ask!
October 14th, 2006 at 9:08 am
[...] This psalm is rightly called a “harvest song”. It is a prayer of thanks, that once again calls our attention to the complete dependence of Israel’s agrarian society and economy upon God. More on this in my comments on Psalm 65. But here, in Psalm 67, we see the results of those pre-harvest prayers: “The earth has yielded its produce; God, our God has blessed us.” [...]
November 20th, 2006 at 7:34 am
[...] Blessings and abundance (verses 6-7, 17-18): only God can bless like this, and in other psalms, like Psalm 65 and Psalm 67, we see how people entreat Him to bless the earth in this manner. [...]