Psalms 66:1-20: a reflection

1Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth! 2Sing to the glory of his name! Offer glory and praise! 3Tell God, “How awesome are your deeds! Through the greatness of your power, your enemies submit themselves to you. 4All the earth will worship you, and will sing to you; they will sing to your name.” Selah. 5Come, and see God’s deeds— awesome work on behalf of the children of men. 6He turned the sea into dry land. They went through the river on foot. There, we rejoiced in him. 7He rules by his might forever. His eyes watch the nations. Don’t let the rebellious rise up against him. Selah. 8Praise our God, you peoples! Make the sound of his praise heard, 9who preserves our life among the living, and doesn’t allow our feet to be moved. 10For you, God, have tested us. You have refined us, as silver is refined. 11You brought us into prison. You laid a burden on our backs. 12You allowed men to ride over our heads. We went through fire and through water, but you brought us to the place of abundance. 13I will come into your temple with burnt offerings. I will pay my vows to you, 14which my lips promised, and my mouth spoke, when I was in distress. 15I will offer to you burnt offerings of fat animals, with the offering of rams, I will offer bulls with goats. Selah. 16Come and hear, all you who fear God. I will declare what he has done for my soul. 17I cried to him with my mouth. He was extolled with my tongue. 18If I cherished sin in my heart, the Lord wouldn’t have listened. 19But most certainly, God has listened. He has heard the voice of my prayer. 20Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer, nor his loving kindness from me.

This psalm of praise looks back over a hard road that led somewhere good. You have tested us, O God, the psalmist says; you refined us as silver is refined; you brought us into the net, laid burdens on our backs, let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water. It was a hard road of testing and affliction. But it did not end there: yet you brought us out to a place of abundance. The fire and water led, in the end, to abundance.

Notice where the road of testing led: to a place of abundance. The psalmist does not deny the hardness of the road, the testing, the burdens, the fire and water. But he sees that the road led somewhere; God brought them through the fire and water to a place of abundance. The testing was not pointless or endless; it was a passage, hard but purposeful, that led at last to abundance. The fire and water were not the destination, but the road to it.

That perspective is a comfort when we are in the midst of the fire and water ourselves. When we are in a hard road of testing and affliction, it can seem that the hardship is all there is, with no destination beyond it. But the psalmist looked back and saw that the fire and water had led to a place of abundance; the hard road had a destination. When you are passing through fire and water, do not think the hardship is the destination; it may be the road God is using to bring you to a place of abundance. The testing that refines us is a passage, not an end; God is able to bring us through the fire and water to abundance, as he brought the psalmist. Do not despair in the midst of the hard road, as though it led nowhere; trust that God, who brought his people through fire and water to abundance, is leading you through your hard road to a good destination, and that the testing is a passage, not the end.

Lord, this psalm of praise looks back over a hard road: you tested us, refined us as silver, laid burdens on our backs, and we went through fire and water; yet you brought us out to a place of abundance. Show me where the road of testing led: to abundance. The psalmist does not deny the hardness of the road, the testing, the burdens, the fire and water; but he sees that it led somewhere, that you brought them through to a place of abundance. The testing was not pointless or endless; it was a passage, hard but purposeful, that led at last to abundance. Comfort me with that when I am in the midst of the fire and water. When I am in a hard road of testing and affliction, it can seem that the hardship is all there is, with no destination beyond it. But the psalmist looked back and saw that the fire and water had led to abundance. When I am passing through fire and water, keep me from thinking the hardship is the destination; it may be the road you are using to bring me to a place of abundance. Help me not to despair in the midst of the hard road, as though it led nowhere; help me trust that you, who brought your people through fire and water to abundance, are leading me through my hard road to a good destination, Lord, and that the testing is a passage, not the end.