God’s works are wonderful in themselves and if duly considered,
will fill the soul with amazement and praise,
for it will ever be discovered that His grace and love lay at the bottom of every testing and that everything works for the benefit of His glorious purposes.
Psalm 1
1 Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands:
2 Sing forth the honour of his name: make his praise glorious.
3 Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee.
4 All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy name. Selah.
5 Come and see the works of God: he is terrible in his doing toward the children of men.
6 He turned the sea into dry land: they went through the flood on foot: there did we rejoice in him.
7 He ruleth by his power for ever; his eyes behold the nations: let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah.
8 O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of his praise to be heard:
9 Which holdeth our soul in life, and suffereth not our feet to be moved.
10 For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried.
11 Thou broughtest us into the net; thou laidst affliction upon our loins.
12 Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place.
13 I will go into thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay thee my vows,
14 Which my lips have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken, when I was in trouble.
15 I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings, with the incense of rams; I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah.
16 Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul.
17 I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue.
18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:
19 But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer.
20 Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me.
Psalm 1 – J. Vernon McGee
Psalm 66:1-15 – “Come and See the Works of God”
Some of the old expositors speak of this psalm as “the Lord’s Prayer in the Old Testament.”
A summons to praise, Psalm 66:1-4
The devout soul cannot be glad alone. It demands sympathy in its raptures. All the earth is not too great for an orchestra, nor all mankind for a choir. God’s love may compel a feigned obedience, Psalm 66:3, but the divine Spirit changes the heart.
Divine deliverance, Psalm 66:5-12
Come and see. Compare John 1:39-40. Let us never forget the great past. The Red Sea and the Jordan have their counterparts in all lives. How often God has turned our seas into dry land, and cleaved paths through our rivers! Through the flood on foot is a miracle of daily experience. The rebels exalt themselves, but we are unmoved. We are tried in the fire, but no atom perishes. We go through persecution and oppression, but we come forth into abundance.
The payment of vows, Psalm 66:13-15
Let us pay under bright skies what we vowed under dark ones. Pay your vows; declare what God has done for you; offer not beasts, but offer yourself, as a living sacrifice unto God! Romans 12:1. —Through the Bible Day by Day
Psalm 66:10—Thou, O God, hast proved us: Thou hast tried us, as silver is tried.
Silver is tried by fire, and the heart by pain. “We went through fire” (Psalm 66:12). But in the fire thou shalt not be burned; only thy dross shall be removed. The smell of burning shall not pass upon thee, for the form of the Son of God shall be at thy side.
“Be still, and He shall mould thee for his heritage of rest;
The vessel must be shapen for the joys of Paradise.
And if the great Refiner in furnaces of pain
Would do his work more truly, count all his dealings gain.”
The main end of our life is not to do, but to become. For this we are being molded and disciplined each hour. You cannot understand why year after year the stern ordeal is perpetuated; you think the time is wasted; you are doing nothing. Yes, but you are situated in the set of circumstances that gives you the best opportunity for manifesting, and therefore acquiring, the qualities in which your character is naturally deficient. And the Refiner sits patiently beside the crucible, intent on the process, tempering the heat, and eager that the scum should pass off, and his own face become perfectly reflected in the surface.
Only be satisfied, with Archbishop Leighton, that nothing can befall thee but what has first passed concerning thee in the courts of heaven. And say with the saintly Fletcher: “I felt the will of my God like unto a soft pillow, upon which I could lie down and find rest and safety in all circumstances. Oh, it is a blessed thing to sink into the will of God in all things. Absolute resignation to the Divine will baffles a thousand temptations; confidence in our Savior carries us sweetly through a thousand trials.” —Our Daily Homily
Psalm 66:16-20 – “Let All the People Praise Thee”
Come and hear, Psalm 66:16-20
The psalm began with Come and see, Psalm 66:5. Compare Mark 5:19-20; John 4:29. It will be one of the employments of heaven to go from group to group to tell what God has done for us. But each hearer will have a tale as wonderful as ours. We must praise without stint, and pray with pure and unselfish motives. From such prayers God will not turn away.