Have you ever given a personal testimony to a group of people about what the Lord has done for you? Perhaps at a church prayer meeting there is the opportunity to speak up. Maybe after announcements are made during Sunday worship the pastor or priest might ask if anyone has something to say or share, you are able to stand up and share a testimony for the Lord, something that He has done for you or your family. Today’s psalm is one of giving praise and public testimony for what God has done, both for the psalmist personally, and what He has done for the nation, as well.
Psalm 66 was written by an unknown psalmist, but one who wanted to give public testimony, praise, and worship, both for what the Lord had done for the nation of Israel, and also for what He had done for himself, as well. As the psalm opens, the psalmist gives a call for people to worship the Lord, and bring Him praise (vs 1-4). This call to worship went out, not just to his own people, the nation of Israel, but also to the whole world, the Gentile nations as well. This aligns with many verses throughout the Old Testament where Scripture states that the Gentile nations will come to worship Yahweh. It also anticipates the millennial reign of Jesus Christ when all nations will worship Him (Zechariah 14:16). As believers, we should be the ones leading in joyful praise of our Savior.
Next the psalmist focuses on giving public praise and testimony of what the Lord has done for the nation as a whole (vs. 5-7). The Lord God had done so many things for them, that there was no way he could list them all, so he spoke of the greatest one. If one asked the people of Israel what was the greatest thing that God had done for them, most would probably speak of His deliverance of them from slavery in Egypt, and His parting of the Red Sea for them to cross and escape the armies of the Egyptians. This is the miracle that the psalmist highlighted in his testimony.
Over the years many have said that the miracle of the parting of the waters of the Red Sea for the Hebrew people to cross on dry ground did not happen, and that it was just some allegorical message of encouragement in difficult times, but never literally happened. That is not so. God’s works are not allegorical. They are real, historical events that demonstrate His intervention in human affairs. This miraculous event that the psalmist spoke of was a literal miracle that the Lord gave His people, affirming His power and faithfulness to them. We can take hope and comfort from that, that as the Lord delivered His people then, He will also deliver all those who trust in His Son in their time of need.
The psalmist continued to give testimony of how the Lord is faithful during the times that we go through trials and periods of refinement (vs. 8-12). We learn as we read through the Bible, that trials are part of God’s refining process. We learn to trust in God and His love and care for us as we go through various trials and tribulations. God also uses these as a means to refine us, clear out the bad habits and sins out of our life, just as silver and gold is refined by going through the fire. It may be a difficult process and hurt, but if we allow God to do His work, and trust in Him, we will come out the better for it, just like that bar of gold or silver.
The psalmist next turns to his own personal life. First he gives personal worship to the Lord (vs. 13-15). He also recounts how he will keep the vows that he made to God. Perhaps during a very difficult and trying time, maybe one of those periods of refinement mentioned earlier, the psalmist made a promise, a vow to the Lord. Now he wants to keep that vow, and brings his sacrifices to the Temple, showing his gratitude and obedience. Today we don’t make animal sacrifices to God, but we can offer spiritual sacrifices to Him, sacrifices of praise, service, and holy living (Romans 12:1; Hebrews 13:15).
The psalmist continues to give his personal testimony (vs. 16-20). One verse here that many should be familiar with is verse 18 where we are warned that keeping unconfessed sin in our heart and life will hinder our prayers to the Lord. When a believer has unconfessed sins, God will not respond to their prayers. Before coming to God in prayer, we need to take a good, thorough look in our heart, and sincerely confess and repent of any known sin. When we have done that, we can then pray with full confidence that God hears our prayers.
In closing we see that there are many opportunities and occasions for giving a public testimony for the Lord. The Scriptures are full of accounts of the Lord intervening and working in the lives of His people. And these are not just made up tales to make us think He’s a great God. These are genuine, real accounts showing that He is a great God! We should look in our own past and reflect on past deliverances to help strengthen our faith in our present trials. Make sure we have examined our heart for any unconfessed sins in order to maintain full fellowship with the Lord. Finally, be sure to share your testimony to encourage others and to bring glory to Jesus!
No comments:
Post a Comment