Mid-week Service Wednesday 8 January 2014
Speaker: Pastor Austen Ukachi
“You crown the year with a bountiful harvest; even the hard pathways overflow with abundance.” (Psalms 65:11 NLT).
Psalms 65 speaks of God’s acts and providence. How God who created all things, sustains and nurtures what he created. In a sense, the Psalm reveals to us what every child of God should expect this new year. We should expect to experience the fullness of God’s goodness, an “overflow of his divine goodness.” The year has already been crowned with God’s bountiful goodness. The NLT edition says, God’s “bountiful harvest.” And then adds, “even the hard paths overflow with abundance.” I see this statement to be prophetic, that is, even “the hard paths”of previous years would overflow with God’s abundance in 2014.
The Psalm could be divided into 5 parts:
Part 1, Verses 1-4, the Psalmist describes God in 4 ways:
- God as one deserving our praise
- God as one who answers our prayers
- God as one who purges our sins.
- God as one who chooses those who approach him to enjoy the blessings of his presence
Part 2, in verse 5 he calls God, “the confidence of all the earth“. Other editions says, he is the hope of humanity. Psalms 65:5 reminds us of Psalms 104:27,28, which summarises how the entire creation looks up to God for sustenance and support.
Part 3, Verses 6 to 8, speaks about God’s POWER over the mountains, the seas and the waves.
Part 4, In verses 9-10, the Psalmist reveals that God VISITS his creation to irrigate the ecological system. The Psalmist believes that the rain is part of God’s visit upon nature. In these verses, we see nature and creation responding to God’s visit to the earth in the form of rain. In a similar vein, man can respond to God’s visit to the earth.
Part 5, (verses 11-13) describes the BLESSINGS of God upon his creation. He crowns the year with his goodness. Note: not will crown, but has already crowned the year with His blessings.
What does the goodness of God stand for? The goodness of God represents all his blessings. In Exodus 33:18, Moses asked God to show him his glory. Responding in verse 19, God said he would make all his goodness pass before Moses. Then in Exodus 34:5-7, God descends to reveal his goodness to Moses. He proclaimed his attributes and character to Moses. God’s goodness then includes his attributes, character, love, mercy, his power and the totality of his blessings.
The whole of Psalms 107 talks about the different dimensions of God’s goodness. In verse 9 we read, “For he satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with his goodness.” We can be satisfied with the goodness of God in 2014. The condition is that we must be hungry for it! Do you have the hunger for God this year? Then you are a candidate for experiencing his goodness.
Again, Psalms 31:19 talks of how great the goodness of God is.
Then Psalms 23:6 says his goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives.
And Psalms 33:5 says the earth is full of his goodness.
Also, Psalms 52:1 says the goodness of God endures forever.
Psalms 65:12 describes how God makes his blessings drop upon the pastures, the wilderness and over all creation. Lastly, verse 13 describes the reaction of creation to the blessings of God.
In summary, in Psalm 65, we find a picture of what God has in store for us in 2014. But like verses 1 and 2 teaches, we access God’s goodness through praise and prayer. May we all experience God’s overflow in 2014. And may we channel the overflow towards the growth and extension of his kingdom
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