Psalm 66--How Awesome Are Your Deeds

Psalm 66
English Standard Version

How Awesome Are Your Deeds
To the choirmaster. A Song. A Psalm.
66 Shout for joy to God, all the earth;
2     sing the glory of his name;
    give to him glorious praise!
3 Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!
    So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you.
4 All the earth worships you
    and sings praises to you;
    they sing praises to your name.” Selah

5 Come and see what God has done:
    he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man.
6 He turned the sea into dry land;
    they passed through the river on foot.
There did we rejoice in him,
7     who rules by his might forever,
whose eyes keep watch on the nations--
    let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah

8 Bless our God, O peoples;
    let the sound of his praise be heard,
9 who has kept our soul among the living
    and has not let our feet slip.
10 For you, O God, have tested us;
    you have tried us as silver is tried.
11 You brought us into the net;
    you laid a crushing burden on our backs;
12 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.

13 I will come into your house with burnt offerings;
    I will perform my vows to you,
14 that which my lips uttered
    and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
15 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

16 Come and hear, all you who fear God,
    and I will tell what he has done for my soul.
17 I cried to him with my mouth,
    and high praise was on my tongue.
18 If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
    the Lord would not have listened.
19 But truly God has listened;
    he has attended to the voice of my prayer.

​20 Blessed be God,
    because he has not rejected my prayer
    or removed his steadfast love from me!

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Isn't good to remember the good things the LORD has done for us?  That's supposed to be the whole reason for the day we call Thanksgiving here in the United States, though it has taken on a different secular identity like most holidays have.  I would classify this psalm as a Thanksgiving Psalm.  It may not be our go-to on Thanksgiving like Psalm 100 is, but it still talks to us of all the wonderful things that the LORD simply is and the things He has done that we have to be thankful for.

1) He is sovereign--therefore all people should pay him homage and worship Him as their King and Lord.
2) He is omnipotent so that all His enemies (and our enemies) cringe before Him.
3) All creation (the earth, the heavens, the sea, and all that is in them) worship the LORD, so we should join in the grateful chorus.

4) He turned the sea into dry land so that the children of Israel could escape their slavery in Egypt.  The mighty kingdom of Egypt was defeated that day as He threw the horse and rider into the sea.  There was no one left to pursue His people and try to take them back into slavery.  This part of the psalm is to remind the LORD's people of the Passover and the Exodus and all the things that happened with that as with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm the LORD's lovingkindness compelled Him to act and set His people free.  He heard their cries and had compassion on them, and He judged the Egyptians in a way that gives us a glimpse of the way in which He will judge all the nations in the coming judgment when He will once again deliver His people to a Promised Land (only this Promised Land will be a better place whose buidler and foundation is God).

5) We praise the LORD for keeping us alive day by day
6) We praise the LORD for sanctifying us and purifying us even through fiery trials that are meant for His glory and our good.
7) God allows "bad" things to happen to His people, but He works all things together for our good.  In this case, the LORD was always bringing them to the Promised Land, and their time in slavery in Egypt and the time they wandered in the wilderness was God's way of saving them from something worse than slavery--if they had stayed in the land of Canaan, they would have been corrupted by the Canaanites, and caught up in the judgment that God was sending on them.  Instead, God preserved His people by using a famine the made them go to Egypt where He had sent Jospeh ahead of time, and He gave them the land of Goshen where they, their families and their flocks and herds were safe.  Yes, they had to travel through the wilderness for 40 years because of their rebellion, but even then, God provided manna, water from the Rock, and quail.  Their clothes and shoes did not wear out, and He did not kill them all at once, but let one generation be slowly replaced by another.

8) The correct response of the people would be to come to the Tabernacle or Temple and bring sacrifices of thanksgiving and sing songs of praise.
9) It is also appropriate to make vows before the LORD of how you choose to be His servant all the days of your life.
10) A blood sacrifice of bulls and goats was required to make the people acceptable in the LORD's sight at this time because Jesus had not died for their sins yet.  David says he would gladly offer the LORD these required sacrifices and then additional sacrifices over and above what was required because the LORD has been so good to him that David wants all of Israel and the whole world to see how thankful he is and just how great the God is that David worships.

11) David calls on all God-fearing people in all the world (David knows that God has people that belong to Him who are from the Gentile nations) to join him in praising the LORD.
12) God dealt with the iniquity that was in David's heart and forgave him.  If that had not been done, then there is no way God would have heard David's praises or that David's sacrifices would have been pleasing to Him.  Sin must be dealt with first, and the greatest thing to be thankful for is that God gave His own Son to be the sacrifice and the "satisfaction" (propitiation) for our sins--both accidental sins and intentional sins.
13) God listens to and answers our prayers

14) God steadfast, covenant love will never be removed from His people.  Not because of who we are or what we have done, but because of who He is and what He has done, is doing, and will continue to do--for that is who He is, and that makes Him worthy of all glory, and honor and praise.