On Sunday we read the first half of Psalm 66 together. I love the arc of this Psalm. It starts by praising God for his deeds, calling the whole earth to come and see what God has done for his people. Verse 5 (or 6, depending on your translation) is really beautiful—it ties together the division of waters to form land at creation (Gen. 1:9) with the parting of the Red Sea (Ex. 14) and Jordan River (Josh. 3). Look at all the ways that God has been faithful to his creation, and to his people!
But then, in the middle of the Psalm, the tone turns. Bless God, don’t stop praising him. Don’t stop, even though he has tested us. God had us in his net, but he never let our feet slip. He let our enemies run over us, but he also brought us through that trial into a place of plenty.
All of us will run into times when it feels like we’re in that net. Israel faced invasions, droughts, famines, and corrupt leadership. We face grief, loss, anxiety, disease, and a host of other pains. There’s a lot to be said for the ways that God can and does use these trials to refine us like silver, but I think in those moments the most important thing we can cling to is the truth the Psalmist cites at the end: “Blessed be God who has not refused my prayer, nor turned his mercy from me.” The God who made the ground you stand on will not let your feet slip, and he will not let the waters wash you away. Even if those trials wear you down—even if they expose your weakness and faults—God is not turning his mercy from you. He will not reject your prayer.
Sometimes the abundance on the other side will feel impossibly far away, but we know the truth that the Old Testament saints could only glimpse: Jesus has already passed through the valley of the shadow of death for us, and he is with us in our trials. If that is true, then there is cause for joy even in the darkest place. The Psalmist’s testimony will be ours too—“Come here and listen, all you who fear God, and I will tell you what he has done for me!”
Justin