Psalm 66

This psalm is a song of praise for everything that God had done for David. In the first verse David tells us to “make a joyful noise unto God” and in last part of the chapter David speaks of freely offering sacrifice unto God for His goodness. The reason for this can be found in the middle of the chapter. In this section David tells how God is a provider of good things for those that follow Him.

God delivered the Israelites out of the land of Egypt and allowed them to walk across the Red Sea on dry land. That is pretty awesome. Verse seven says that God rules by His own power. He does not need chance to go his way, He does not need the vote of people, and He does not need you or me to make Him king, He is the king because He wants to be. In the next few verses David speaks about God putting affliction in his path. David did not enjoy the afflictions, but because of the trials, as David states in verse 12, “thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place.” Just as God is unchangeable in His power, He is unchangeable in His purpose for us. We don’t experience trials because of chance, we do not experience trials because of even other people, but because the God of the universe found it necessary to teach us something. And, if we will pay attention, He will teach us something and bring us also to a “wealthy place”.

Therefore, we should praise him with a “joyful noise.” We should bring our offerings to Him because of His goodness. It may not always be easy to see the purpose in each situation, but if we truly believe that there is a God that has only good things in mind for us, then we know that each difficult circumstance is for our good. Verse nineteen states, “God hath heard me; He hath attended to the voice of my prayer.” We can have the same confidence if we simply trust in Him who is able.