Psalm 65 Devotional

Forgiveness and Full Fields

“You crown the year with Your bounty, and Your paths overflow with plenty.”Psalm 65:11 (BSB)

Psalm 65 moves from the temple to the countryside. It begins in Zion, where praise waits for God, the one who hears prayer and to whom all people will come (65:1-2). When sins overwhelm his people, God atones for them and brings his chosen near to dwell in his courts (65:3-4). The first gift in this psalm is forgiveness.

Then the view widens. The same God formed the mountains by his power and stilled the roaring seas and the uproar of the nations (65:6-7). He tends the earth and waters it. He soaks the furrows, softens the ground with showers, and crowns the year with his goodness (65:9-11). The pastures overflow, the hills are wrapped in joy, and the valleys are covered with grain until they seem to sing (65:12-13). The God who deals with guilt is also the God who sends rain, and the psalm sees no gap between the two. The hand that waters the fields is the same hand that forgives, and both are reasons to bring him thanks.

To think about: What ordinary gift from God, a meal, a season, or a harvest, could you stop and thank him for today?