The author of Psalm 66 is not known for sure. Some say that there is a break from the Davidic writings in Psalms 66 & 67, but others say that there is a connection between Psalm 65 & 66. If your position is the later, then this would lead one to believe that David is the author of Psalm 66. No one seems to know and so we will simply address the author as the psalmist. We will deal with Psalm 66 in 5 parts. Each part is significant on its own because it either invites someone to praise or tells about the praise of a particular person or group
1 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
The entire earth is ordered to shout for joy, sing the glory of God’s name, and give glorious praise to Him. But why? How could the people of all the places on earth do this sincerely? They have to have a clear understanding of what God has done. What God has done is an expression of who He is. All of the earth must recognize this for themselves. They are to say to God – How awesome are your deeds. They are to say to God – Your power is so great that your enemies come cringing to you. They are to say to the God – The whole earth worships and sings praises to you.
The psalmist believes that all should be able to see that God’s deeds are awesome and that all should find it apparent that God humbles His enemies in fear so that they come cringing before Him. This is an interesting picture. The obvious question is – Why don’t God’s enemies simply flee from the One who is defeating them? The answer is simple. The Lord God is so dominate that there is no other power that can protect from Him. His presence is so boundless that there is no refuge from Him. He is omnipotent and He is omnipresent. That is - He is all powerful and He is everywhere. The only thing that can be done by His enemies is to cower defeated before Him wherever they are.
Are verses 1 – 3 an order for now or for in the future? Psalm 66 commands all of the earth to praise the Lord right now, but we know that all the inhabitants of the earth do not worship God yet. So verse 4 then adds a bit of confusion. It seems to state something that is not true. Is this an already – not yet situation like other areas in Scripture? The order in verses 1 – 3 stands for all right now. Will all obey this righteous command right now? That is a different question. Of course not. The literal earth seems to know what God has done in creation and groans for that to be returned. The literal earth does cry out for Jesus’ return when the curse will be lifted. But the peoples of the earth are to recognize the truth about God and are do the same. Verses 1 – 4 show a clear progression of reality. These verses do state what is true. The command to praise the Lord is all encompassing. All must obey. Some will obey now, but some will obey after they come cringing before the power of the Almighty God. By faith, the psalmist states what will be. There is no doubt in his mind that verse 4 will be fulfilled. There will come a day when all will see God for who He is and worship Him.
Application # 1 - In order for praise to spread, it should be shared. In order for praise to erupt in like-minded hearts, the people must share a commonly experienced incident or they have experienced a similar incident as individuals at different times. The experience must be one that stirs thanksgiving or the praise will not be joyful. The praise does not have to be given in the same way or in the same language, but it must be in one accord to be shared by the group. The focus of the praise must be understood and agreed upon by all. In this case, the source and the focus of all of this praise is God. The psalmist wants all of the earth to praise the Lord together. The psalmist also spells out why all of the earth should praise the Lord. Just look and see the awesome deeds that God has done and how mighty His power is displayed. The psalmist seems to think that if a person would simply open their eyes and look with some level of intelligence that it would be clear the Lord God has done awesome things and therefore is awesome Himself and therefore worthy of praise.
All of the earth should worship the Lord God without hesitation, but we know that many do not because their hearts are blinded. They have not yet experienced the rescue of God’s love. They do not care to attribute the phenomenon of creation to the Lord. Make no mistake, some day all will worship the Lord without hesitation. The redeemed will simply continue practicing what they have been doing during their lifetime only with a greater understanding and therefore greater praise. All others will be forced to approach the Lord cringing and bow the knee in praise to this Great God.
We should spread the Gospel for this very same reason. As incredible as creation is – the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the glory of God and the salvation of sinners is even more incredible. We want all of the earth to know what God has done. We want all to share in the wonderful experience of a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Each one will obviously join us if they personally realize what God has done. Redeeming sinners is an awesome deed. The enemies of God will indeed come cringing before the Lord as Satan, sin & death are ultimately defeated.
Application # 2 - Praise to God should be glorious. This does not necessarily mean that praise should always be magnificent and grandiose. It must give God glory. Praise to God must come from a sincere heart – from a heart that recognizes some characteristic of God that is worthy of praise. For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.1 (Matthew 12:33b) The more we are exposed to the works and the character of God, the greater our praise will naturally become.
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
Almost as an aid to the command given earlier in verses 1-4 to praise the Lord, the psalmist invites the rest of the people of the earth to join him in worship. He does not appear to want anyone to be found as an enemy of God. He wants to point out just one of God’s deeds so that people will obey the command to praise God right now. He invites you to look for yourself at just a few of the Lord’s marvelous deeds. Almost like making the statement – Do you not know about God? Or even - Have you forgotten about what God did for His people? Let me remind you so that you can remember for yourself. I know that you will recall this mighty deed. And then the psalmist reminds the reader of the deliverance of the Israelites from the Egyptians. The interesting thing is that this particular deed was not known about simply by God’s people, but by most of the then known world. The Egyptians were a mighty conquering nation. Their demise was big news. The nations that had to deal with the Israelites as they crossed the desert getting to the Promised Land found out about God’s deeds as well.
The psalmist also has a special message for those who are not God’s people and will not join in the praise. He wants to warn anyone that thinks themselves able to stand before God. Anyone who can obviously see all the power and majesty of God and still remains non-submissive to God are enemies of the glory of God. The psalmist calls the enemies of God – the rebellious. What a great title for the enemies of God. The rebellious – those who do not submit to and obey authority. We can quickly recognize these enemies as those who do not give God praise.
Application # 3 - Loyal praise to the Lord must include a mixture of fear and love. It is correct to fear the One who can destroy the soul in Hell. It is correct to be humbled by the Power that creates universes, galaxies, tornados, hurricanes, and volcanoes. But loyal joyous praise must also include a clear understanding that God – who can indeed do all these powerful things and much more, has rescued us from being His enemies. He has caused us to no longer be the rebellious. Those of us in Christ have been saved from an eternity of wrath and punishment. The God who had every right to destroy us using His terrible power has instead offered grace and mercy through Jesus Christ. How could we not praise Him with all of our hearts?
Application # 4 - God will rescue His people and He will do it in extraordinary ways. If it means parting the Red Sea and turning it into dry land that can be walked across, then He gets it done. If it means parting the veil of the Temple from top to bottom and ripping open the gates of Hell using the death and resurrection of His Son, then He will do it.
Application # 5 – God will destroy His enemies and the enemies of His people and He will do it in extraordinary ways. The rebellious better be careful. The Egyptians exalted themselves against God after He displayed His power against them and they did not find dry land to walk on. Instead, they were destroyed at the place of rescue for the people of God. In the last days when Christ returns, the wicked – the unbelieving – the rebellious will be destroyed while the people of God will find ultimate victory.
Don’t miss it - #4 and #5 are often the same extraordinary event.
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.
In 8 – 12, the psalmist has turned his attention to the people of God – specifically the Israelites. He wants the Israelites to join him in praising God. The psalmist gives testimony to some other works of the Lord. This list is not so pleasant. This list includes the discipline, the testing, and the refining of the people of God. It was during these times, the Lord made the people cry out for Him. They learned that they cannot hold up without Him. The Israelites were a blessed people and God had been gracious to them, but it seems that they had started taking God for granted and had even started wandering away from the Gracious Supplier. One of the reasons that they deserved such punishment is that the Israelites had sinned against this Omnipotent and Omnipresent God. They were at one time counted among the rebellious. The Lord disciplined the Israelites instead of destroying them. They were captured by the Egyptians and enslaved for over 400 years. This lesson was very difficult, but it made the point. They could be under the hand of their gracious God or they could be under the hand of rulers who do not love them. They could serve God by choice or they could serve those who simply abuse them for their own gain. The Lord brought great clarity to the minds of His people. God’s people started acting differently during this duress. They began to miss the wonderful grace of God. They started crying out to God for deliverance from the hands of the enemies. They repented. God heard their cries. God delivered His people in such a way that no one could deny the power and majesty of God. Even the heathen Egyptians were humbled and submissive to God.
The psalmist reminds the people of God of God’s kindness in bringing them this clarity and then His kindness of taking them to the Promised Land. God put them to the test and brought them out on the other side (a place of blessing). He reminds the Israelites that they deserved to be attacked and annihilated, but God spared them. When they cried out to God with all of their hearts as a people, the Lord delivered them from their enemies and then led them from bondage to the Promised Land. The people of God had survived great difficulties by God’s hand and when it seems that there is nothing ahead of them, God placed them in the midst of abundance.
This is the God that the psalmist wants the people of God to praise along with him.
Application # 6 - The praise of one of God’s people and the praise of all of God’s people should be very similar. We can rejoice as one with the Israelites for their God is our God. The Israelites rejoiced as one people when God rescued them from destruction at the hands of their enemies. They had experienced this together and so the celebrated together. This was not simply a celebration of rescue, but a final proof that their God was indeed the only God. The only way that it appeared that they could actually escape this enemy – the Egyptians – was for the Egyptians to be utterly destroyed. Any force of might that the Egyptians had was eradicated. The Israelites not only were delivered at that point in time, but they did not have to run from this enemy anymore.
The psalmist has his own reasons for praise, but also requests that the entire people of God including the non-Israelites (the God fearers) join him in praise of God. The praise of one of God’s people should incite praise from all of God’s people and the praise of the congregation should provoke each individual to worship the Lord. They cannot be separated. Let me explain. As I testify how God has been gracious to me through salvation, deliverance, testing and trials, or abundance – this should remind you of similar situations in your walk with the Lord that allow you to join with me in praise and worship. My testimony then becomes corporate. At the same time, when a local church or large body of believers shares how the Lord has helped them grow, answered prayer, given illumination into the Word of God, given insight into care for the flock, etc., then this should ring true in the individuals of that group because we have all walked this together as a group. The worship should be enhanced and the closeness of the body increased.
Application # 7 - All Christians must be proved in order to enter the Promised Land. Genuine faith must stand the test of time and it must stand the test of pressure. Impurities in silver are not discovered without fire. Impurities in Christians are usually not discovered without fire either. Let me be clear – the outside dross in Christians can be easily noticed and often quickly cleaned up. But much lies beneath the surface. We can get to the point that we look good, but God is not after simply looking good – He wants holy. He wants us to have a pure heart. Some of the impurities that affect us are not even known to us until exposed by the holiness of God. Often God uses hard circumstances in our lives to exert the right amount of pressure. God often uses people or situations that we would consider to be our enemies in order to draw out the dross of sin from the depths of our souls. This is almost always confusing to us. We will often say to ourselves – Why is this strange thing happening to me?
I Peter 4:12-13 12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 2) God is certainly always controlling the circumstances and the pressure. He is certainly always executing the refining while making sure that our eternal life and our stand is preserved. Please understand that God often places His people in what would appear to be dangerous situations in order to prove His power and ability. Consider some of the saints of old. Job was wiped out and then restored to prove that Job’s loyalty was based on his relationship with God and not the incredible wealth that God had given Job. God also revealed Himself in a unique way to Job that has certainly touched all of us who have read chapters 38 – 42:6 in Job. God allowed the Israelites to be captured and enslaved by the Egyptians to turn the Israelites back to God, but also to display His power over false gods. Paul and other saints have suffered great torment and even death so that we might know that grace is sufficient and that we are held by God’s almighty hand. Even the death of many martyrs has taken place so that many would come to Christ and that we who are in Christ might not waver in our trust of the Lord God during difficult times. God is not just thinking about the individual although each one is utterly important to Him. He is not simply thinking about this particular time in history although He is actively involved at this very moment. He is thinking about all of time and all of the saints and all of those to whom He will reveal His glory. He is thinking about everything, everywhere in time and space, and everyone who has lived, who is living, and who will live. He is concerned foremost about His own glory and then the good of all of His people. Have we not benefited from Job? Have we not been encouraged by the deliverance of the Israelites from the Egyptians? Have we not learned much from the early church? Are we not inspired by the martyrs of recent history? Do you know that in the last century more have died for their faith than in all other centuries before combined? Are you inspired by the stories of faith from inside our own congregation? This is the power of God down through the ages and even on this very day.
Without this display of power over and over again, would our hope be as great? Would we really believe as strongly as we do that Christ will return to take us to the Promised Land if we would not have known about all those who have come before us? But we do know this. We do know that God preserved both the life and the stand of His people over and over again. We do know that He was able to raise Christ from the dead and therefore understand that if we are in Christ, then we too will be raised incorruptible.
Romans 8:10-11 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. 3
Even more now than then, the People of God today should be ready to join the psalmist in blessing our God.
Romans 8:18 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 4
What we have coming is incredible! Eternity with God in Christ! Sin and death defeated! Our enemies destroyed eternally! Only joy as we bathe in the unrestrained glory of our Triune God! New heaven and earth! Absolute clarity on all these things that we cannot understand! Eternity with our brothers and sisters in Christ without spot or blemish and without division! Time to spend getting to know all the saints that have come before us and are yet to come! And there will be a great and magnificent multitude! Join the psalmist - 8Bless our God, O peoples; let the sound of his praise be heard!!!
Application # 8 - Only the people of God can praise from this unique position. We are God’s people. He is preserving our lives. He is preserving our position as His people. It does not matter whether the individuals in the group appear strong or weak. We all are preserved and made to stand by God. There is no power on earth that is able to do this and there is no power on earth that can thwart it either.
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
The psalmist now wants to speak for himself. The psalmist has been personally moved to go to before the Lord and offer sacrifices. Apparently the psalmist had made some vows and promises to God in the past while he was in trouble and the psalmist had every intention of keeping his word to the Lord. Now that the trouble has subsided – the danger has passed – he is going to praise God. He is not simply begging God to help in time of need, but the psalmist knows that God is worthy of praise at all times. God is the One who rescued the psalmist and he was not going to forget it. The psalmist will not just praise the Lord with his mouth, but the psalmist will offer the appropriate praise and worship. He will worship God in the form and fashion that was designated by God Himself. The praise of his mouth will be joined by offerings and sacrifices. This offering described was not small. Some would say that the psalmist is speaking for the combined people of God, but the psalmist might have been trying to let us know how much he valued God’s work in his own life. This was indeed a costly sacrifice.
Application # 9 - You have already made a vow to God. Keep your word and worship Him. Take a moment and think back. Do you remember the vow that you made? Do you remember the promise? It was when you were in great trouble that you made it. I know when you did. I wasn’t necessarily there, but I know it well. Remember your greatest trouble. Desperation will make you say and do some crazy things. But you surely did say and do it. You were under the wrath of God Almighty. You were His enemy and scheduled for certain and eternal destruction. You had earned the punishment. By grace, you cried out to God and asked Him to have mercy on your soul. You told Him that if He would save you, you would worship Him for the rest of eternity. You told Him that if He would justify you by the blood of Christ, you would present yourself a living sacrifice. You knew that the sacrifice would be costly. It would cost you all you are and everything you had. It would cost you being the boss of your own life. It might cost you your friends. It might cost you members of your family. It might cost you the lifestyle that you dreamed about. It would be very costly. But you promised anyways. Keep your word and worship your God with a grateful heart. He has fulfilled His Word to you.
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!
The psalmist again turns his voice towards the people of God. He wants to share about his God and his own heart towards God. The psalmist wants to talk about what God did for his soul. He has talked about the Lord’s mighty deeds, but now the psalmist talks about what God has done for the condition of his soul. He wants to tell of the greatest deeds of all. When the psalmist cried out to the Lord from his mouth with a sincere heart, the Lord God listened. This God of mighty deeds that should be worshipped by all the earth listened to one person. Amazing! The psalmist gives more insight into the heart of a person that the Lord listens to. High praise was on the psalmist’s tongue. The psalmist no longer cherished sin, but God had become the treasure of his heart. The psalmist knows that God does not listen to the rebellious. The perspective of the psalmist is a lesson to us. Having a heart that desires God has made all the difference on whether God heard the psalmist’s prayers. The psalmist understands that the might and the wonder of God are evident. When human beings are exposed to the mighty deeds of God, they should respond in praise and worship. There should be an immediate distinction in the mind of any sane person between God and man. What God can accomplish when placed against what man can do – they are worlds apart. The psalmist has tried to point this out. But when mankind considers the desperate state of his own soul, mankind should immediately realize that the only possible rescue is the Lord. Repentance from the heart is required. Not remorse, not regret, and not simply acknowledging that we have done wrong. What is expected is a true turning from our sin and a treasuring of God. This cannot happen without the Lord working in our very souls. But the psalmist gives us the good news. If we will cry out and praise the Lord with a sincere heart – the Lord God Almighty will listen. He will hear our prayers. He will not reject what He hears. He will make us the objects of His steadfast love. This will cause us to be like the psalmist who then blesses the Lord! Bless the Lord!
Application # 10 - Speak the Gospel and speak of what God has done for you because of Christ. The Gospel – the extraordinary work of God through Christ Jesus changes the hearts of sinful men, women, and children. The gift of Christ Jesus to mankind by grace through faith is good for the saint and the sinner alike. The saint continues to thrive on the grace that has been given and continues to flow to us through our entire relationship with our Lord Jesus. The sinner has a chance to cry out from his desperate state to a God that will surely save his wretched heart. Don’t be foolish sinner. Do not think that you can pray to God for what you want from Him and He will answer you. God will answer only one prayer from you. He will answer the sincere prayer of faith that begs Him to save your soul. The prayer that submits to the Lordship of Christ. You see, the Lord hears the prayers of His saints. The saints of God seek after righteousness. The saints of God hate their own sin. The saints of God love their God. Ask yourself the following questions. These are some of the ways that you can measure your own soul. Is Jesus your Lord? Do you hate your own sin? Do you seek after the righteousness found in God’s Word? Do you love God? Do you love His Church? If not, then do not fool yourself. Recognize your desperate state and sincerely cry out to God. God is holy. We have sinned against this Holy God. God’s wrath is upon the sinner and He is storing up wrath to be poured out on those who do not believe. God recognized that we could not rescue ourselves from this terrible destruction and so He sent Jesus the Christ. Jesus lived a perfect life fulfilling all of God’s will for Him through faith. Jesus died on a cross taking on the wrath of God for all those who will believe. Jesus had not sinned and yet took on the complete punishment for sin for those who would place their trust in God. God vindicated Jesus by raising Him from the dead on the 3rd day. Jesus now has ascended to the right hand of God in victory until the day when God sends Him back to claim all of the saints. On that day, the dead and the living who are in relationship with Christ by faith will join our Lord for eternity in victory. Don’t be left out. Don’t make the Lord cause you to come before Him cringing. Don’t be counted among the rebellious. Repent now. Join us who worship the Lord. People of God – PRAISE THE LORD!!!