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P S A L M S
PSALM LXV.
In this psalm we are directed to give to God the glory of his power and
goodness, which appear,
I. In the kingdom of grace
(ver. 1),
hearing prayer
(ver. 2),
pardoning sin
(ver. 3),
satisfying the souls of the people
(ver. 4),
protecting and supporting them,
II. In the kingdom of Providence, fixing the mountains
(ver. 6),
calming the sea
(ver. 7),
preserving the regular succession of day and night
(ver. 8),
and making the earth fruitful,
These are blessings we are all indebted to God for, and therefore we
may easily accommodate this psalm to ourselves in singing it.
| The Praises of Zion; Motives for Devout. | |
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To the chief musician. A psalm and song of David.
1 Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion: and unto thee shall the
vow be performed.
2 O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.
3 Iniquities prevail against me: as for our transgressions,
thou shalt purge them away.
4 Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to
approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall
be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy
temple.
5 By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O
God of our salvation; who art the confidence of all the ends of
the earth, and of them that are afar off upon the sea:
The psalmist here has no particular concern of his own at the throne of
grace, but begins with an address to God, as the master of an assembly
and the mouth of a congregation; and observe,
I. How he gives glory to God,
v. 1.
1. By humble thankfulness: Praise waiteth for thee, O God! in
Zion, waits till it arrives, that it may be received with
thankfulness at its first approach. When God is coming towards us with
his favours we must go forth to meet him with our praises, and wait
till the day dawn. “Praise waits, with an entire satisfaction in thy
holy will and dependence on thy mercy.” When we stand ready in every
thing to give thanks, then praise waits for God. “Praise waits thy
acceptance” the Levites by night stood in the house of the
Lord, ready to sing their songs of praise at the hour appointed
and thus their praise waited for him. Praise is silent unto thee
(so the word is), as wanting words to express the great goodness of
God, and being struck with a silent admiration at it. As there are holy
groanings which cannot be uttered, so there are holy adorings
which cannot be uttered, and yet shall be accepted by him that
searches the heart and knows what is the mind of the spirit. Our
praise is silent, that the praises of the blessed angels, who excel in
strength, may be heard. Let it not be told him that I speak, for if a
man offer to speak forth all God’s praise surely he shall be
swallowed up,
Job xxxvii. 20.
Before thee praise is reputed as silence (so the Chaldee), so
far exalted is God above all our blessing and praise. Praise is due to
God from all the world, but it waits for him in Zion only, in his
church, among his people. All his works praise him (they minister
matter for praise), but only his saints bless him by actual adorations.
The redeemed church sing their new song upon Mount Zion,
In Zion was God’s dwelling-place,
Happy are those who dwell with him there, for they will be still
praising him.
2. By sincere faithfulness: Unto thee shall the vow be
performed, that is, the sacrifice shall be offered up which was
vowed. We shall not be accepted in our thanksgivings to God for the
mercies we have received unless we make conscience of paying the vows
which we made when we were in pursuit of the mercy; for better it is
not to vow than to vow and not to pay.
II. What he gives him glory for.
1. For hearing prayer
(v. 2):
Praise waits for thee; and why is it so ready?
(1.) “Because thou art ready to grant our petitions. O thou that
hearest prayer! thou canst answer every prayer, for thou art able
to do for us more than we are able to ask or think
(Eph. iii. 20),
and thou wilt answer every prayer of faith, either in kind or
kindness.” It is much for the glory of God’s goodness, and the
encouragement of ours, that he is a God hearing prayer, and has taken
it among the titles of his honour to be so; and we are much wanting to
ourselves if we do not take all occasions to give him his title.
(2.) Because, for that reason, we are ready to run to him when we are
in our straits. “Therefore, because thou art a God hearing
prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come; justly does every man’s
praise wait for thee, because every man’s prayer waits on thee when he
is in want or distress, whatever he does at other times. Now only the
seed of Israel come to thee, and the proselytes to their religion; but,
when thy house shall be called a house of prayer to all people,
then unto thee shall all flesh come, and be welcome,”
To him let us come, and come boldly, because he is a God that hears
prayer.
2. For pardoning sin. In this who is a God like unto him?
Micah vii. 18.
By this he proclaims his name
and therefore, upon this account, praise waits for him,
v. 3.
“Our sins reach to the heavens, iniquities prevail against us,
and appear so numerous, so heinous, that when they are set in order
before us we are full of confusion and ready to fall into despair. They
prevail so against us that we cannot pretend to balance them with any
righteousness of our own, so that when we appear before God our own
consciences accuse us and we have no reply to make; and yet, as for
our transgressions, thou shalt, of thy own free mercy and for the
sake of a righteousness of thy own providing, purge them away,
so that we shall not come into condemnation for them.” Note, The
greater our danger is by reason of sin the more cause we have to admire
the power and riches of God’s pardoning mercy, which can invalidate the
threatening force of our manifold transgressions and our mighty
sins.
3. For the kind entertainment he gives to those that attend upon him
and the comfort they have in communion with him. Iniquity must first be
purged away
(v. 3)
and then we are welcome to compass God’s altars,
v. 4.
Those that come into communion with God shall certainly find true
happiness and full satisfaction in that communion.
(1.) They are blessed. Not only blessed is the nation
but blessed is the man, the particular person, how mean soever,
whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may
dwell in thy courts; he is a happy man, for he has the surest token
of the divine favour and the surest pledge and earnest of everlasting
bliss. Observe here,
[1.] What it is to come into communion with God, in order to this
blessedness. First, It is to approach to him by laying hold on
his covenant, setting our best affections upon him, and letting out our
desires towards him; it is to converse with him as one we love and
value. Secondly, It is to dwell in his courts, as the priests
and Levites did, that were at home in God’s house; it is to be constant
in the exercises of religion, and apply ourselves closely to them as we
do to that which is the business of our dwelling-place.
[2.] How we come into communion with God, not recommended by any merit
of our own, nor brought in by any management of our own, but by God’s
free choice: “Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and so
distinguishest from others who are left to themselves;” and it is by
his effectual special grace pursuant to that choice; whom he chooses he
causes to approach, not only invites them, but inclines and enables
them, to draw nigh to him. He draws them,
(2.) They shall be satisfied. Here the psalmist changes the person,
not, He shall be satisfied (the man whom thou choosest), but,
We shall, which teaches us to apply the promises to ourselves
and by an active faith to put our own names into them: We shall be
satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.
Note,
[1.] God’s holy temple is his house; there he dwells, where his
ordinances are administered.
[2.] God keeps a good house. There is abundance of goodness in his
house, righteousness, grace, and all the comforts of the everlasting
covenant; there is enough for all, enough for each; it is ready, always
ready; and all on free cost, without money and without price.
[3.] In those things there is that which is satisfying to a soul, and
with which all gracious souls will be satisfied. Let them have the
pleasure of communion with God, and that suffices them; they have
enough, they desire no more.
4. For the glorious operations of his power on their behalf
(v. 5):
By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of
our salvation! This may be understood of the rebukes which God in
his providence sometimes gives to his own people; he often answers them
by terrible things, for the awakening and quickening of them, but
always in righteousness; he neither does them any wrong nor means them
any hurt, for even then he is the God of their salvation. See
But it is rather to be understood of his judgments upon their enemies;
God answers his people’s prayers by the destructions made, for their
sakes, among the heathen, and the recompence he renders to their proud
oppressors, as a righteous God, the God to whom vengeance belongs, and
as the God that protects and saves his people. By wonderful
things (so some read it), things which are very surprising, and which
we looked not for,
Or, “By things which strike an awe upon us thou wilt answer us.” The
holy freedom that we are admitted to in God’s courts, and the nearness
of our approach to him, must not at all abate our reverence and godly
fear of him; for he is terrible in his holy places.
5. For the care he takes of all his people, however distressed, and
whithersoever dispersed. He is the confidence of all the ends of the
earth that is, of all the saints all the world over and not theirs
only that were of the seed of Israel; for he is the God of the Gentiles
as well as of the Jews, the confidence of those that are afar
off from his holy temple and its courts, that dwell in the islands
of the Gentiles, or that are in distress upon the sea. They
trust in thee, and cry to thee, when they are at their wits’ end,
By faith and prayer we may keep up our communion with God, and fetch in
comfort from him, wherever we are, not only in the solemn assemblies of
his people, but also afar off upon the sea.
| The Almighty Power of God; Indications of Divine Power and Goodness. | |
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6 Which by his strength setteth fast the mountains; being
girded with power:
7 Which stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their
waves, and the tumult of the people.
8 They also that dwell in the uttermost parts are afraid at thy
tokens: thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to
rejoice.
9 Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly
enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water:
thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it.
10 Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly: thou settlest
the furrows thereof: thou makest it soft with showers: thou
blessest the springing thereof.
11 Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop
fatness.
12 They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness: and the
little hills rejoice on every side.
13 The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are
covered over with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing.
That we may be the more affected with the wonderful condescensions of
the God of grace, it is of use to observe his power and sovereignty as
the God of nature, the riches and bounty of his providential
kingdom.
I. He establishes the earth and it abides,
By his own strength he setteth fast the mountains
(v. 6),
did set them fast at first and still keeps them firm, though they are
sometimes shaken by earthquakes.
| ——Feriuntque summos.
Fulmina montes. The lightning blasts and loftiest hills. |
Hence they are called everlasting mountains,
Hab. iii. 6.
Yet God’s covenant with his people is said to stand more firmly than
they,
II. He stills the sea, and it is quiet,
v. 7.
The sea in a storm makes a great noise, which adds to its threatening
terror; but, when God pleases, he commands silence among the waves and
billows, and lays them to sleep, turns the storm into a calm quickly,
And by this change in the sea, as well as by the former instance of the
unchangeableness of the earth, it appears that he whose the sea and the
dry land are is girded with power. And by this our Lord Jesus gave a
proof of his divine power, that he commanded the winds and waves,
and they obeyed him. To this instance of the quieting of the sea he
adds, as a thing much of the same nature, that he stills the tumult
of the people, the common people. Nothing is more unruly and
disagreeable than the insurrections of the mob, the insults of the
rabble; yet even these God can pacify, in secret ways, which they
themselves are not aware of. Or it may be meant of the outrage of the
people that were enemies to Israel,
God has many ways to still them and will for ever silence their
tumults.
III. He renews the morning and evening, and their revolution is
constant,
v. 8.
This regular succession of day and night may be considered,
1. As an instance of God’s great power, and so it strikes an awe upon
all: Those that dwell in the uttermost parts of the earth are afraid
at thy signs or tokens; they are by them convinced that
there is a supreme deity, a sovereign monarch, before whom they ought
to fear and tremble; for in these things the invisible things of God
are clearly seen; and therefore they are said to be set for
signs,
Gen. i. 14.
Many of those that dwell in the remote and dark corners of the earth
were so afraid at these tokens that they were driven to worship them
(Deut. iv. 19),
not considering that they were God’s tokens, undeniable proofs of his
power and godhead, and therefore they should have been led by them to
worship him.
2. As an instance of God’s great goodness, and so it brings comfort to
all: Thou makest the outgoings of the morning, before the sun
rises, and of the evening, before the sun sets, to
rejoice. As it is God that scatters the light of the morning and
draws the curtains of the evening, so he does both in favour to man,
and makes both to rejoice, gives occasion to us to rejoice in both; so
that how contrary soever light and darkness are to each other, and how
inviolable soever the partition between them
(Gen. i. 4),
both are equally welcome to the world in their season. It is hard to
say which is more welcome to us, the light of the morning, which
befriends the business of the day, or the shadows of the evening, which
befriend the repose of the night. Does the watchman wait for the
morning? So does the hireling earnestly desire the shadow. Some
understand it of the morning and evening sacrifice, which good people
greatly rejoiced in and in which God was constantly honoured. Thou
makest them to sing (so the word is); for every morning and
every evening songs of praise were sung by the Levites; it was that
which the duty of every day required. We are to look upon our daily
worship, alone and with our families, to be both the most needful of
our daily occupations and the most delightful of our daily comforts;
and, if therein we keep up our communion with God, the outgoings both
of the morning and of the evening are thereby made truly to
rejoice.
IV. He waters the earth and makes it fruitful. On this instance of
God’s power and goodness he enlarges very much, the psalm being
probably penned upon occasion either of a more than ordinarily
plentiful harvest or of a seasonable rain after long drought. How much
the fruitfulness of this lower part of the creation depends upon the
influence of the upper is easy to observe; if the heavens be as brass,
the earth is as iron, which is a sensible intimation to a stupid world
that every good and perfect gift is from above, omnia desuper–all
from above; we must lift up our eyes above the hills, lift them up
to the heavens, where the original springs of all blessings are, out of
sight, and thither must our praises return, as the first-fruits of the
earth were in the heave-offerings lifted up towards heaven by way of
acknowledgment that thence they were derived. All God’s blessings, even
spiritual ones, are expressed by his raining righteousness upon us. Now
observe how the common blessing of rain from heaven and fruitful
seasons is here described.
1. How much there is in it of the power and goodness of God, which is
here set forth by a great variety of lively expressions.
(1.) God that made the earth hereby visits it, sends to it, gives proof
of his care of it,
v. 9.
It is a visit in mercy, which the inhabitants of the earth ought to
return in praises.
(2.) God, that made it dry land, hereby waters it, in order to its
fruitfulness. Though the productions of the earth flourished before God
had caused it to rain, yet even then there was a mist which answered
the intention, and watered the whole face of the ground,
Gen. ii. 5, 6.
Our hearts are dry and barren unless God himself be as the dew to us
and water us; and the plants of his own planting he will water and make
them to increase.
(3.) Rain is the river of God, which is full of water; the
clouds are the springs of this river, which do not flow at random, but
in the channel which God cuts out for it. The showers of rain, as the
rivers of water, he turns which way soever he pleases.
(4.) This river of God enriches the earth, which without it would
quickly be a poor thing. The riches of the earth, which are produced
out of its surface, are abundantly more useful and serviceable to man
than those which are hidden in its bowels; we might live well enough
without silver and gold, but not without corn and grass.
2. How much benefit is derived from it to the earth and to man upon it.
(1.) To the earth itself. The rain in season gives it a new face;
nothing is more reviving, more refreshing, than the rain upon the
new-mown grass,
Ps. lxxii. 6.
Even the ridges of the earth, off which the rain seems to slide,
are watered abundantly, for they drink in the rain which comes
often upon them; the furrows of it, which are turned up by the
plough, in order to the seedness, are settled by the rain and made fit
to receive the seed
(v. 10);
they are settled by being made soft. That which makes the soil of the
heart tender settles it; for the heart is established with that grace.
Thus the springing of the year is blessed; and if the spring, that
first quarter of the year, be blessed, that is an earnest of a blessing
upon the whole year, which God is therefore said to crown with his
goodness
(v. 11),
to compass it on every side as the head is compassed with a crown, and
to complete the comforts of it as the end of a thing is said to crown
it. And his paths are said to drop fatness; for whatever fatness
there is in the earth, which impregnates its productions, it comes from
the out-goings of the divine goodness. Wherever God goes he leaves the
tokens of his mercy behind him
and makes his path thus to shine after him. These communications of
God’s goodness to this lower world are very extensive and diffusive
(v. 12):
They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness, and not merely
upon the pastures of the inhabited land. The deserts, which man takes
no care of and receives no profit from, are under the care of the
divine Providence, and the profits of them redound to the glory of God,
as the great benefactor of the whole creation, though not immediately
to the benefit of man; and we ought to be thankful not only for that
which serves us, but for that which serves any part of the creation,
because thereby it turns to the honour of the Creator. The wilderness,
which makes not such returns as the cultivated grounds do, receives as
much of the rain of heaven as the most fruitful soil; for God does good
to the evil and unthankful. So extensive are the gifts of God’s bounty
that in them the hills, the little hills, rejoice on every side,
even the north side, that lies most from the sun. Hills are not above
the need of God’s providence; little hills are not below the cognizance
of it. But as, when he pleases, he can make them tremble
(Ps. cxiv. 6),
so when he pleases he can make them rejoice.
(2.) To man upon the earth. God, by providing rain for the earth,
prepares corn for man,
v. 9.
As for the earth, out of it comes bread
for out of it comes corn; but every grain of corn that comes out of it
God himself prepared; and therefore he provides rain for the earth,
that thereby he may prepare corn for man, under whose feet he has put
the rest of the creatures and for whose use he has fitted them. When we
consider that the yearly produce of the corn is not only an operation
of the same power that raises the dead, but an instance of that power
not much unlike it (as appears by that of our Saviour,
and that the constant benefit we have from it is an instance of that
goodness which endures for ever, we shall have reason to think that it
is no less than a God that prepares corn for us. Corn and cattle are
the two staple commodities with which the husbandman, who deals
immediately in the fruits of the earth, is enriched; and both are owing
to the divine goodness in watering the earth,
To this it is owing that the pastures are clothed with flocks,
So well stocked are the pastures that they seem to be covered over with
the cattle that are laid in them, and yet the pasture not overcharged;
so well fed are the cattle that they are the ornament and the glory of
the pastures in which they are fed. The valleys are so fruitful that
they seem to be covered over with corn, in the time of harvest.
The lowest parts of the earth are commonly the most fruitful, and one
acre of the humble valleys is worth five of the lofty mountains. But
both corn-ground and pasture-ground, answering the end of their
creation, are said to shout for joy and sin, because they are
serviceable to the honour of God and the comfort of man, and because
they furnish us with matter for joy and praise: as there is no earthly
joy above the joy of harvest, so there was none of the feasts of the
Lord, among the Jews, solemnized with greater expressions of
thankfulness than the feast of in-gathering at the end of the
year,
Exod. xxiii. 16.
Let all these common gifts of the divine bounty, which we yearly and
daily partake of, increase our love to God as the best of beings, and
engage us to glorify him with our bodies, which he thus provides so
well for.
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