MAIN POINT: God is working everything out for the good of those who love him.
“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” Romans 8:28
I believe Psalm 66 is inviting you to recognize God’s sovereignty. In doing so you will discover His love. If you confess God's mighty power to work all things out, then you will be moved to praise God.
Jesus was clear about the level of detail in God’s planning and purposes.
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Matthew 10
Your enemies cringe before your mighty power. V.3
Everything on earth will worship you; v.4
Isaiah reveals God’s awesome power and sovereignty in chapter 45 (Isaiah 45:23) of His prophecy and Paul picks up on it (Romans 14:11) and shows us that Isaiah was speaking for Jesus about Jesus (Philippians 2:9-11).
The Psalmist knew that God’s plan was to have Jesus get all the attention and glory.
awesome miracles he performs for people v.5
Philip, Peter, and Paul all recount the sovereign plan of God to work all these things out. I’ve often been astounded at the revelation Abraham received about the plan of Egyptian slavery (Genesis 15:13).
Our lives are in his hands, v.9
And so we are left with this realization: Our lives are in God’s hands. And what is God then doing with us? He is purifying us. He is preparing us. He is leading us and planning things out for our good, because He loves us.
you have purified us v.10
laid the burden of slavery on our backs v.11
This is showing that God was the author of about 400 years of slavery in Eygpt. And why? To purify them.
put a leader over us v.12
This is reminding us of Moses.
you brought us to a place of great abundance. v.12
There is a repeated pattern in the Bible: it is how God calls someone, takes them out of their situation, leads them through suffering, loss and the process of purification so that He can lead them into abundance. Jesus himself walked this path. It is as much His story as it is ours. In fact as the second Adam and the perfect man, Jesus will always be able to show us the way because He is the way; the way he went is also the way we must go. There is no other way. But don’t worry, God has planned all these things for our good.
Now I come to your Temple v.13
And the goodness of God and His sovereign plan is to bring us into His presence. It is in the throne room of the great Sovereign that we find all that we need. And we can come boldly, we can ask anything we want. We are welcome without reservation. Because we are His children and He has chosen us.
Come and listen v.16
And the great thing is that we then become like the sovereign God: we are given the privilege to also invite people to participate in God's great plan. The Psalmist begins and ends the psalm by inviting people to come. And we know that now we can choose, but later, everyone will come to worship and to bow the knee.
I cried out to him for help v.17
confessed the sin in my heart v.18
God did listen! v.19
Many people are afraid of sovereignty and think it obliterates our free will and that it is in conflict with how God made us. But the Psalmist doesn’t have those concerns. He invites and he recognises that he had to confess and that God chose to respond by listening. The relationship with God is not robotic because of God’s sovereign plan and we do not cease to have a free will. But we are happy to confess and happy to have God work all things out because of His great love for us.
Conclusion:
We can choose to love God because we have confidence that His sovereign plan is for our good. His is an awesome plan which will excite us to praise Him and remind us of all He has done. We can have confidence that He is moving us and all things toward a time when we will worship Him in His presence.
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| Handwritten Psalm 66 |
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