Psalm 66 Your life is a witness to Christ Jesus

Here is a song of praise of a man who delights in God. He delights in knowing Him. He delights in who He is. He delights in what He has done, is doing and will doing. He knows God in history and he knows Him in his own life, and that causes him to witness to the glory of God.

Sadly, then and now not every one delights in God. They see but they do not perceive. Have you ever looked for something and yet not seen it. Then a friend, a family member says, look there it is, right under your nose. The works of God are visible in creation. Gemma recently told me that her late mother, Catherine, came to faith through a daisy. It was revealed to her that every petal on every daisy is unique. That challenged her: would man have made it so? But God did. Many a person has seen daisies, seen them as a weed in the lawn, and not seen them as a creation witness to the glory of God. From Pharaoh in Egypt who saw the children of Israel as a threat and sought to kill them, to China and Turkmenistan who have both made it a crime to bring children under the age of 18 to church, princes and governments see the works of God but still choose to oppose Him. Yet one day, with joy or with fear they will bow their knees to Jesus.

Creation reveals God, history reveals God. Israel celebrated their Exodus from Egypt and their entry into the promised land. Both were through waters, the Red Sea and in the flooding Jordan, through which the Lord carved a passageway of dry land, And history reveals that the Lord Jesus Christ made for those who believe in Him a safe way through the waters of death to a new life beyond. May the rebels against God see who they are opposing; may God by His glorious grace open their eyes to see who may deliver them from their darkness: Christ Jesus.

The writer speaks of God’s works in creation and history because in that remembrance he sees a God who can help him in coping with the burdens of his own life. Perhaps he was a soldier defeated, a prisoner of war; perhaps he was captured by sickness, by the blight of disease, by the travails of age, a citizen struck down by the perils of life. But he is not resentful. He sees it as God’s testing and through that testing he sees that he has come through to a place of abundance.

He promised to worship. He vowed to keep his vows. He will celebrate the fact that God has acted for him. He was in a bad way and he called out. He was not in a bad way because he was nurturing sin in his heart. Being in a bad way- whatever its particular cause - is a hazard a life for we live in a fallen, broken, evil infested creation. His response is trust in God and his joy is that God heard his prayer. Therefore he testifies to God, for He did not reject his prayer or withhold His love from him. As for him, so it may be for us. We have seen the awesome power of God in creation even in humble daisies; we have seen God’s work in history, in the life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. And we see God’s work now in the fact of the Church, in the lives of fellow Christians and in our own lives.

No matter the burdens of our being, Christ has saved us, He is leading us to a place of abundance. He is God with us, Emmanuel, by the Holy Spirit. Christ is with us and through Christ we are with God the Father. As Paul tells us in Romans 8:18 our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. And as Peter proclaims in his 1st letter our sufferings refine us to the praise, glory and honour of Jesus Christ. Through Him you are chosen, you belong to a royal priesthood, a holy nation, you are God’s special possession, so you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.

God has acted in your life. You are a witness to the glory of God. Remind yourself in the time of burdens. Push away the idea that God has forgotten you. Praise Him and pray, and trust that He will not withhold His love from you. But even if that should be a testing you have to face remember Habakkuk’s prayer c3 v 17-18 “though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Saviour.”

And praise like Paul in Ephesians 3:20-21 the Lord our God who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.