485 Praying Through Psalm 65: The Overflowing Goodness of God

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What do you do when the world around you is constantly chasing false idols — when society’s empty promises tempt you to forget the true source of your provision?

Join Jaime on the Praying Christian Women Podcast for a devotional on Psalm 65 — God’s Abundant Favor to Earth and Man — a psalm that speaks directly to the spiritual battle for our loyalty and the revolutionary goodness of the one true God.

Jaime unpacks the rich historical and geographical context of this beautiful passage, revealing that it is far more than just a simple harvest celebration. Instead, she explores its powerful original purpose: a bold, spiritual assault on the false Canaanite god, Baal. While the ancient world was ruled by the fear of bloodthirsty, territorial deities who demanded horrific sacrifices in exchange for rain and crops, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob revealed Himself as a completely different kind of ruler—a loving Father who provides not because of what we do, but because of who He is.

Even today, when we are surrounded by a culture that tempts us to fill our voids with modern-day idols and fleeting comforts, God remains the ultimate authority over the chaos. He is the One who truly establishes the mountains, stills the roaring seas, and crowns the year with His bounty. When the world demands constant noise and striving, God gently invites us into His courts, showing us that even our awestruck, still silence can be a profoundly effective form of praise.

Come ready to lay down the earthly vices you’ve been clinging to and confront the ways the enemy tries to veil your spiritual eyes. Let this psalm remind you of the stark contrast between the exhausting demands of this world and the boundless grace of the Creator. Because He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, you don't have to look anywhere else to find your ultimate satisfaction, and you can confidently join all of creation in shouting for joy.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Life Audio. Hi there, and welcome to another Prayer through
the Psalms episode of the Praying Christian Women podcast. I'm
Jamie and you might notice it's Monday, and we usually
don't do prayers through the Psalms on Mondays. Typically we
have a topical episode on Mondays and then a Prayer
through the Psalms on Wednesdays. Over the summer, for the

(00:25):
next maybe six to eight weeks or more, we're going
to be a little more fluid with how we do things.
We might have prayer through the Psalms on Mondays, we
might have topical episodes. We're going to just stick to
Monday only releases during the summer to kind of reduce
the load of what you need to take in because
you're probably busy too, and to help us. We've missed
a few recording sessions. I had lost my voice so

(00:48):
that we lost about a week of recording. It's coming back,
so we're getting back there, but it's been a little
bit difficult for us to schedule time to record. So
we are still going to continue to regularly give you
new content on Mondays. It just may or may not
be exactly what you're used to, but we're so glad
you're here, and today I'm excited to be talking about

(01:10):
and praying through Psalm sixty five. Psalm sixty five is
called God's Abundant Favor to Earth and Man for the
choir director a Psalm of David a song, and many
historians and theologians think this might have been sort of
a fertility or a harvest celebration song that was sung

(01:32):
at different times. And the significance of this, though, is not.
As we go through it, you'll see this is praising God,
it's giving him credit and authority for provision. But it's
not just that. If you look at it in more
of a historical and cultural context and even like geographical context,

(01:55):
this was actually more than just praising God. It was
like an assault on foreign gods, particularly Bail. So much
like today where Israel is kind of surrounded by people
who are hostile toward them, who do not share their faith,
this was the same thing that the people of Israel

(02:16):
were in the same situation where they were a small
group of people surrounded by the greater Canaanite population, and
one of their main gods was Bail, and there were
other gods also, but Bail was a very prominent god
of that time and of that region. And one of

(02:36):
the things that he represents is he's kind of depicted
as this god who fights against what the chaos waters
and brings order to them. It's also a He's also
a god that's believed to send rain, control storms, ride

(02:56):
on the clouds, guarantee crops. There are many different traditions
of idol and god worship that involve many different ones.
He's kind of a big deal. He's like kind of
considered to be, you know, rivaling the God of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob. And you see that in the Elijah
story where Elijah goes up on the mountain and he's

(03:17):
like challenging the prophets of Bail, like who's going to
bring fire down? Is it the God of Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob? Is it Bail? Who's going to consume the
sacrifice on the altar? And in Jeremiah nineteen, I think
this really shows the extent of the challenge that it
was for God to maintain his people's loyalty, because constantly

(03:39):
you kind of picture, oh, the Israelites going along, they
see these signs and wonders from God, and they're faithful. Well,
any reading of the Bible, we know that they were unfaithful, unfaithful,
and more unfaithful all along. I mean even when Moses
went up on a Mount Sinai to get the tablets,
he comes back down and they've already got this golden calf.
So they're struggle, and you have to put yourself in

(04:02):
the context of they're not a society that has ready
access to water, that has these beautiful rivers, and you
know it's not easy for them. They're constantly battling drought,
they're constantly battling famine. They're constantly looking for provision, and
so the moment the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob

(04:24):
or his prophet or representative leaves their field of vision,
they're instantly just looking desperately for something or someone to
fill in that void. So it's a constant battle. And
then they're in the midst of this land where they're
the minority and all these people in the land of
Canaan are the majority. And another thing that they're battling
is intermarriage with these other religions and bringing that in

(04:48):
even though they're not supposed to. Some of these wives
will just continue either morphing their bail worship in with
some of the practices that God has given their people
to observe, or completely retaining their own faith and swaying
their husbands in that direction. So you'll see a lot
of that. And this really shows in Jeremiah nineteen, verses

(05:10):
four through six. Because they have forsaken me and have
made this an alien place and have burnt sacrifices in
it to other gods that neither they, nor their forefathers,
nor the kings of Judah had ever known. But because
they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent,
and have built the high places of bail to burn
their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to bail,

(05:31):
a thing which I never commanded or spoke of, nor
did it ever enter my mind. Therefore, behold, the days
are coming, declares the Lord with this place will no
longer be called Tofeth or the valley of ben Hinhem,
but rather the valley of Slaughter. And so this is
basically fleshing out like these people who were formerly children

(05:51):
of God built high places to bail to sacrifice their
children in fire, something God never intended. The closest thing
we get to that is God calling Abraham to sacrifice Isaac,
and he doesn't sacrifice Isaac. He instead provides a ram
out of the thicket as a sacrifice to preserve the

(06:14):
life of Isaac. Abraham presumably he came from a pagan
background where he would expect God to require death of
a loved one in order to gain favor. And so
God used that object lesson to show that he's a
different kind of God. He is a loving God, so

(06:35):
loving that he would provide not only just a ram
in the thicket like he showed Abraham, but he would
provide his only begotten son, innocent, blameless, and he would
sacrifice him for us, not the other way around. So
reading in this context is so rich, and it just
adds a new dimension of goodness of God, not just

(06:58):
because he's good we're used to hearing about the goodness
of God as modern day Christians. Back then, this was
in stark contrast to the gods that they viewed in
that day as territorial principalities ruling over these areas and
these nations. And they were not good. They were bloodthirsty

(07:19):
at times, they were demanding. They took and took and
took and then we have this God who gives, this
God who loves, this God who provides not for what
we've done, but because of who he is, calling his
people into a relationship with him, to adopt them as

(07:41):
sons and daughters, as opposed to slaves. So that's the
background on Psalm sixty five. All right, let's pray God,

(08:07):
we just thank you for this opportunity to read through
the Psalm to think more about the stark contrast between
who you are and who these other territorial gods were
in this time. And as we read it, I just
pray that we would not just hear the same things

(08:29):
that we're used to hearing about you. As modern Christians.
We're used to meditating on your goodness, but without a
backdrop of ugliness and darkness, it's hard to really comprehend
the revolution you brought by choosing people and loving them

(08:50):
and extending your goodness throughout the whole earth, so that
there's no longer this idea of territorial gods. But there's
this very real truth of the God who created everything.
There are no other gods before you. You're the Alpha

(09:10):
and the Omega, the beginning and the end. And we
praise you for that, Lord, and we pray that we'd
catch a glimpse of that. And we just pray also
in our modern Christian lives, that we would be able
to see your goodness magnified against the backdrop of evil
in the world today, magnified against the futility of the

(09:33):
vices and the comforts we chase here on earth. I
just pray that even our own vices, even the things
that we cling to, that we go to that we
think are good and bring us comfort, that they would
pale in comparison to who you are and the power
of what you can do when we make you the

(09:56):
Lord of our lives. Amen. Okay. This is Psalm sixty
five from the New American Standard Bible nineteen ninety five.
God's abundant favor to earth and man for the choir director,
a Psalm of David a song. There will be silence
before you and praise in Zion, Oh God, And to

(10:19):
you the vow will be performed, Oh you who hear prayer.
To you, all men come, iniquities prevail against me, As
for our transgressions, you forgive them. How blessed is the
one whom you choose and bring near to you to
dwell in your courts. We will be satisfied with the

(10:39):
goodness of your house, your holy temple. By awesome deeds
you answer us in righteousness, Oh God of our salvation,
You who are thrust of all the ends of the
earth and of the farthest sea, who establishes the mountains
by his strength, being girded with might, who stills the
roaring of the sea, the roaring of their waves, and

(11:02):
the tumult of the peoples. They who dwell in the
ends of the earth stand in awe of your signs.
You make the dawn and the sunset shout for joy.
You visit the earth and cause it to overflow. You
greatly enrich it. The stream of God is full of water.
You prepare their grain. For thus you prepare the earth.

(11:25):
You water its furrows abundantly, you settle its ridges, You
soften it with showers, You bless its growth. You have
crowned the year with your bounty, and your paths drip
with fatness. The pastures of the wilderness drip, and the
hills gird themselves with rejoicing. The meadows are clothed with flocks,

(11:45):
and the valleys are covered with grain. They shout for joy. Yes,
they sing. So I love this first verse. There will
be silence before you and praise in zion o God.
I feel like this is permission that silence can be

(12:05):
truly a valid and a really effective method of praise.
That we don't always have to be talking, we don't
always have to be listening to praise and worship music,
we don't always have to be listening to a sermon
or reading the Bible. Even we can be silent. We
can just be in silent worship of God, and that

(12:28):
that is not only allowable, but potentially really beneficial. And
it says and to you, the vow will be performed.
And again, now that I'm reading this in the context
of bail worship and Canaanite pagan gods and these territorial entities,

(12:49):
I'm seeing this as a song sung to God by
His people, saying to you, the vowel will be performed,
not to bail, not to any of these other entities
that were being worshiped at the time, but to you,
Oh God, Oh you who hear prayer. To you, all
men come and iniquities prevail against me. As for our transgressions,

(13:14):
you forgive them and again, this is in contrast to
the other entities that were worshiped in that time. There
was no forgiveness. There was only bribery into bending their
will to grace you with fertility, with harvest, with water,

(13:37):
an end to the chaos. But this is a picture
of a God who forgives, and that language is revolutionary
in terms of this time and place in the world.
And when he talks about in verse four, we will
be satisfied with the goodness of your house, your holy temple,

(14:00):
so temple language usually pertained to the Hebrew people. And
yet it talks before that about all men come to you,
which is a little bit different than some of the
language that would have been used at that point. This
is almost again flying in the face of territorial principalities.

(14:22):
It's saying, You're the God of everything and everyone and everywhere.
Blessed is the one that you choose and bring near
to you to dwell in your courts, which I'm guessing
they're talking about themselves as people of God. But I
think what David is saying here is both temporal and
also prophetic. Of Yes, this God transcends the boundaries of

(14:44):
the principalities and rulers that we're fighting against in the
spiritual realm. But he also in the future will extend
his goodness beyond that nation of Israel, beyond the Hebrew
people into a family, because of what Jesus did on
the cross. And when he goes down into verses five

(15:06):
through eight, he sort of further sticks it to Bail.
He says, you are the trust of all the ends
of the earth and the farthest sea. You establish mountains
by your strength. So he is the strong god of
the earth, being girded with might, who stills the roaring
of the seas, the roaring of the waves, and the
tumult of the peoples. That's in the face of what

(15:27):
Bail is supposed to have done, and he's saying, nope,
he still establishes the mountains. He stills the chaos of
the waters. Language that people would immediately associate with Bail.
And they who dwell to the ends of the earth
stand in awe of your signs, which reminds me of
the heavens. Declare the glory of God the firmament, proclaims

(15:47):
his handiwork. There is no speech, no language. Where their
voice is not heard, their voice goes out to all
the earth and their words to the end of the world.
It's like his creation, his magnificence stands in and of
itself as a symbol, as a sign, as a testimony
that he is the God of all gods. And then

(16:10):
toward the end it talks a lot about water and
rain and showers and growth. And you have crowned the
year with your bounty, or even circled the year with
your bounty full circle. And this is just another picture
of you know, the meadows are clothed with flocks, the
valleys covered with grain. They shout for joy, and they
sing creation itself, singing the praises of God, bearing testimony

(16:34):
to his existence and to his goodness and his faithfulness.
So it's like, Okay, as we your people sing, so
are the lands and the flocks, and the harvest and
the rocks even crying out, praising you for who you
are and bearing testimony that you are God. So I

(16:54):
love this. This might be one of my all time favorites.
I might say that every week, But honestly, this both
the psalm itself, how beautiful it is and what it says,
But this backdrop, I love it. The backdrop of sticking
it to the false gods, the pagan gods, and saying,
before all of these principalities, we declare, you are God,

(17:19):
and I love that. Let's pray, Father, God, you are God.
You're the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
There's no God before you besides you. In all of creation.
You are the author of all of it. And we
stand against anything that would declare otherwise. We demolish arguments

(17:45):
and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge
of God, and we take every thought captive and make
it obedient to Christ. Let that be true of us today. Lord,
we just pray that where we have blind spots, where
we have blinders, where the enemy has put a veil
of deception over our spiritual eyes, that you would lift
it in Jesus name. That where there are strongholds and

(18:07):
chains and bondage, that they would be broken in Jesus name,
And that we would see clearly that your goodness is
so far beyond anything in this world, that it is
so far more rewarding and good and fulfilling than anything

(18:28):
any vice, any comfort we could turn to in this world.
And we just pray that truth would prevail. Lord, that
your name would go out into all the earth as
the King of kings and Lord of Lords, that just
by our lives the way we live them, that we
would bear testimony that you are God in Jesus Name. Amen.

(18:56):
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