February 20thPsalm #67
The garden of earth
God is good to us, God treats us right;
night and day, God smiles on us.
God has chosen us,
God has made us a mirror
to show the world the nature of God’s personality.
Let the people praise you, Lord; let all the people praise you.
Every country on every continent can be grateful to you.
Every people and every race can see how just you are.
Let the people praise you, Lord; let all the people praise you.
The good earth feeds us, fruit and vine;
God trusts us to take care of it.
Every field and every forest lifts its produce toward heaven.
Let the people praise you, Lord; let all the people praise you.
[Everyday Psalms – Jim Taylor]
How big is your God? God, our psalmist proclaims, will not be restricted; God will not be the private possession and dispenser of good to only one group.
This prayer pulses with the joy of God’s astonishing blessings. (It is read as a psalm during the Easter season for good reason). This joy is the experience of God’s faithful people from generation to generation. It begins and ends with joyful benediction and blessing. ‘May God be gracious to us and bless us,’ the congregation sings, ‘may God continue to bless us until all the ends of the earth revere Him.’
The psalm identifies three blessings bestowed by a gracious God:
First there is the blessing of covenant with God’s people Israel. They are the covenant people who are a sign of how the Creator God cares for God’s chosen community (v.1-2).
Second, the blessing of mission. Israel is chosen, not to hoard blessing or to protect privilege. No, they are chosen to be a blessing to all the nations (v.2,3,4,5,7). The universal horizon of this prayer is evident in the dense cluster of words that look beyond Israel: various words for ‘nations’ occur eight times; ‘earth’ four times; and ‘all/every’ four times. God graciously blesses and does marvellous deeds in and through Israel for the blessing of the world.
And third, the blessing of the earth. This is a psalm originally part of a harvest festival in Israel. You can imagine a worship space with a display of the harvest (much like we do on Thanksgiving Sunday): wheat, fruit, jugs of olive oil, clusters of grapes, pumpkins and melons, flowers fresh from the garden, and the congregation exclaims: GOD IS GOOD!
The congregation has prayed at the beginning of seeding-time that God would send sun, gentle breezes, and rain so that crops will thrive. Now in celebrating the harvest, the congregation recognizes God’s blessing and prays that all peoples will experience similar blessings. God is not capricious; God sends rain on all (Matthew 5.45).
It isn’t coincidental that the positive statements about God’s establishment of justice are followed by the mention of food production. (see – 85.12; 147.14). The pairing of peace and food is important, because biblically speaking, peace is grounded in provision of sufficient food for people. Who then are we to withhold anything from others? As God has blessed us, let us bless others.
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sSt-2JpTzKc&feature=share – ‘This is my Father’s world’