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Journal Entries

Psalm 65--O God of Our Salvation

9/28/2023

 
Psalm 65
English Standard Version

O God of Our Salvation
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song.
65 Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion,
    and to you shall vows be performed.
2 O you who hear prayer,
    to you shall all flesh come.
3 When iniquities prevail against me,
    you atone for our transgressions.
4 Blessed is the one you choose and bring near,
    to dwell in your courts!
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
    the holiness of your temple!

5 By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness,
    O God of our salvation,
the hope of all the ends of the earth
    and of the farthest seas;
6 the one who by his strength established the mountains,
    being girded with might;
7 who stills the roaring of the seas,
    the roaring of their waves,
    the tumult of the peoples,
8 so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs.
You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.

​9 You visit the earth and water it;

    you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water;
    you provide their grain,
    for so you have prepared it.
10 You water its furrows abundantly,
    settling its ridges,
softening it with showers,
    and blessing its growth.
11 You crown the year with your bounty;
    your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.
12 The pastures of the wilderness overflow,
    the hills gird themselves with joy,
13 the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,
    the valleys deck themselves with grain,
    they shout and sing together for joy.

I love psalms like this that point us so directly to the person, work, and ongoing ministry of Christ.  The same God who hears our prayers is the one who everyone will stand in front of for judgment, and also is the one who is able to atone for our iniquity--our sins that we could never make atonement for because they were high-handed sins of rebellion.  All this happens because God is the Elector who chooses those He wants to redeem so that He can bring them close to Him.  Such persons are blessed beyond all measure.  The place He is preparing for us is His house and His holy Temple, and we will be satisfied just by being there in His presence.

The LORD is the one who works His to bring about the salvation of His people "with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm," meaning that it was with many signs and wonders that the nations could ascribe to no one else other than the LORD.  He alone is "mighty to save," and this makes people from every generation that belong to Him rejoice.  Even obstacles that seem too big and strong like a mountain are no obstacle for Him.  If He wills, He can make the mountains move, and He controls the winds and the waves.  The sky and sea and all that is in them obey His command.  Even the Gentiles who live "at the ends of the earth" see the mighty power of God displayed in creation and should worship Him (see Romans 1 which tells us how all men are "without excuse" because God has given them both Creation and Conscience to tell them that He exists, that they have sinned, and that God is the only one able to deal with their sin).

The LORD provides us with food and water, but not just food and water for our natural bodies, but the Bread of Life and Water of Life which are in endless supply are provided for our souls.  Without them we cannot receive eternal life and without Him (Jesus is the Bread of Life and Water of Life), we can do nothing--we are spiritually dead without Him.

The LORD blesses the Land of His people, Israel, with the right amount of rain (not too much or too little) at just the right time to make the Land fruitful so that His people won't go without food or water, but also so that everyone in the world will see that God controls the weather and uses it to bless His people.  Not only does God make the Land produce enough for the people of Israel, but the whole world is blessed by the over-abundance that the LORD provides for them so that there are wagons full of good produce that are exported to other lands.

There are cattle on a thousand hills in the Promised Land, and the LORD owns all of them.  Livestock and land were a sign of wealth at that time and to say that there was lush pastureland everywhere is really something considering that Lot chose the river valley for Sodom and Gomorrah because it was lush and green and had lots of space for his flocks, leaving the dry and arid wilderness to his uncle Abraham.  Yet, the LORD made the wilderness and desert produce life as well and now all the Land is fertile and full of livestock.  We see God's blessing in modern-day Israel too.  Mark Twain saw the Promised Land when the Jewish people hadn't lived there for quite some time and couldn't believe it was the "Land Flowing with Milk and Honey" described in the Bible as it resisted cultivation by any other people.  However, once the Jewish people came back into the Land after World War II, the LORD made the Land produce all kinds of wonderful things for them and now they are at the forefront of industry, not just agriculture.  Surely the LORD means for His people Israel to have a special place where they are blesses above all the other nations of the world so that the world sees how much the LORD loves His people.

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    Daniel Westfall

    I will mostly use this space for recording my "journal" from my daily devotions as I hope to encourage others to read the Bible along with me and to leave a legacy for others.

    Occasionally, I'll also post some true blog/opinion pieces focused on what the Bible has to say about current events or the importance of a particular spiritual discipline, or something more topic-related to orthodoxy (right belief) or orthopraxy (right living).  You can also find those blogs over at Faith and Culture.

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  • Home
  • What We Believe
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  • Mathematics Tutoring
  • Bible Study Tools
    • The Bible App
    • Blue Letter Bible
    • Audio Bibles-BibleGateway.com
    • Daily Reading Plans-BibleGateway.com
    • Bible Overview
    • Notes on the History of Salvation in the Old Testament from the ESV Study Bible: Preparing the Way for Christ
    • How to Interpret the Bible
  • Links and Resources
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    • Hymns We Sing at HCF
    • Capitol Hill Baptist Church Core Seminars
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    • The Gospel Project for Preschoolers Videos
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    • My YouTube Channel
  • For the HCF Elders
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