Psalms 65:1-13: a reflection

1Praise waits for you, God, in Zion. Vows shall be performed to you. 2You who hear prayer, all men will come to you. 3Sins overwhelmed me, but you atoned for our transgressions. 4Blessed is the one whom you choose and cause to come near, that he may live in your courts. We will be filled with the goodness of your house, your holy temple. 5By awesome deeds of righteousness, you answer us, God of our salvation. You who are the hope of all the ends of the earth, of those who are far away on the sea. 6By your power, you form the mountains, having armed yourself with strength. 7You still the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil of the nations. 8They also who dwell in faraway places are afraid at your wonders. You call the morning’s dawn and the evening with songs of joy. 9You visit the earth, and water it. You greatly enrich it. The river of God is full of water. You provide them grain, for so you have ordained it. 10You drench its furrows. You level its ridges. You soften it with showers. You bless it with a crop. 11You crown the year with your bounty. Your carts overflow with abundance. 12The wilderness grasslands overflow. The hills are clothed with gladness. 13The pastures are covered with flocks. The valleys also are clothed with grain. They shout for joy! They also sing.

This psalm rises to a picture of God's rich provision for the earth, crowning the year with his bounty. You visit the earth and water it, the psalmist sings; you greatly enrich it. You crown the year with your bounty, and your paths drip with abundance. The picture is of God generously providing: watering the earth, enriching it, softening it with showers, blessing its growth, so that the pastures overflow, the hills are clothed with gladness, and the valleys shout for joy and sing. God's provision is rich and generous, crowning the year with his bounty, filling the earth with abundance. This calls us to see God's generous provision in the good gifts of the earth, and to be thankful. God richly and generously provides, crowning the year with his bounty. The earth's abundance is God's generous provision. God crowns the year with bounty; his paths drip with abundance. God's provision fills the earth with gladness and abundance.

Notice how the psalmist sees God's hand in the earth's abundance. He does not take the rain, the growth, the harvest for granted, or credit them merely to nature or to human effort; he sees God visiting the earth, watering it, enriching it, crowning the year with his bounty, so that the whole creation overflows with gladness. Every good thing, the rain and the grain, the flocks and the fields, he traces to God's generous provision. This is a way of seeing that we do well to recover. We can take the good gifts of the earth for granted, seeing food and provision as simply there, or as merely the product of natural processes and our own labor, forgetting the God who provides them. But the psalmist saw God's generous hand crowning the year with bounty, and responded with praise. To see God's provision in the good gifts of the earth, and to be thankful, is to see rightly. God generously provides; the abundance of the earth is his gift. To trace the earth's good gifts to God, and give thanks, is to see rightly. God's generous provision deserves our grateful praise.

That is worth taking to heart, for God richly and generously provides, crowning the year with his bounty, and we do well to see his hand in the good gifts of the earth and be thankful. We can take the earth's abundance for granted, seeing food and provision as merely there or as the product of natural processes and our own effort, forgetting the God who provides them; but the psalmist saw God visiting the earth, watering it, crowning the year with his bounty, and responded with praise. The abundance of the earth is God's generous provision. See God's hand in the good gifts you receive, and give him thanks, as the psalmist saw God crowning the year with bounty. See God's generous provision in the good gifts of the earth and give him thanks, as the psalmist saw God visiting the earth and watering it, greatly enriching it, softening it with showers, and crowning the year with his bounty, so that the pastures overflow and the valleys shout for joy and sing; for we can take the earth's abundance for granted, seeing food and provision as merely there or as the product of natural processes and our own labor, forgetting the God who provides them, but every good gift of the earth is God's generous provision, and we do well to see his hand in it and respond with grateful praise, tracing the rain and the grain, the flocks and the fields, to the God who crowns the year with his bounty.

Lord, this psalm rises to a picture of your rich provision for the earth, crowning the year with your bounty. You visit the earth and water it, the psalmist sings; you greatly enrich it. You crown the year with your bounty, and your paths drip with abundance. The picture is of you generously providing: watering the earth, enriching it, softening it with showers, blessing its growth, so that the pastures overflow, the hills are clothed with gladness, and the valleys shout for joy and sing. Your provision is rich and generous, crowning the year with your bounty. Show me how the psalmist sees your hand in the earth's abundance. He does not take the rain, the growth, the harvest for granted, or credit them merely to nature or to human effort; he sees you visiting the earth, watering it, crowning the year with your bounty. Every good thing, the rain and the grain, the flocks and the fields, he traces to your generous provision. This is a way of seeing that I do well to recover. I can take the good gifts of the earth for granted, seeing food and provision as simply there, or as merely the product of natural processes and my own labor, forgetting you who provide them. But the psalmist saw your generous hand crowning the year with bounty, and responded with praise. Take that to my heart, for you richly and generously provide, and I do well to see your hand in the good gifts of the earth and be thankful. Keep me from taking the earth's abundance for granted; help me see your generous provision in the good gifts I receive and give you thanks, Lord, tracing the rain and the grain, the flocks and the fields, to you who crown the year with your bounty, and responding with grateful praise.