Psalm 66
Another Psalm of joy, thanksgiving, and praise, with another song that some of us know in the first few verses.
Verses 10-12 struck me: For you, O God, have tested us; You have tried us as silver is tried. You brought us into the net; You laid a crushing burden on our backs; You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet You have brought us out to a place of abundance. We have times of trial in our lives, but God is always there with us, sometimes allowing hurts and disappointments, but always with an eye to His glory. If we could only see with God’s eyes – for example, the Holocaust. Where is the glory in that? How is that fulfilling God’s great plan of redemption for all mankind? No one can make any human sense of that great suffering, but if we were to ask God He could answer. He knew each and every one of those souls who suffered. I’ve had some disappointments, some major upheavals in my life, but I am where I am today through it all. We really need to trust God through those difficult times; let God be God.
“Let God be God.” That kind of said it all, doesn’t it?
I just finished reading a book titled Ghost Soldiers about the rescue of POWs in the Philippines, some who had survived the Bataan Death March, and others. They had all been in Japanese prison camps for years. Thousands died—it was heartbreaking.
So verse 11 really jumped out at me. Fred is right; God knows all the trials we go through, and he will use them for our good, either here or in the life to come.
But the entire psalm is such a powerful one of praise to God, remembering what he has already done, and expressing faith in him.