Psalm 66

0To the leader. A Song. A Psalm.
1  Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth;
2   sing the glory of his name;
  give to him glorious praise.
3  Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!
  Because of your great power, your enemies cringe before you.
4  All the earth worships you;
  they sing praises to you,
  sing praises to your name.” Selah
5  Come and see what God has done:
  he is awesome in his deeds among mortals.
6  He turned the sea into dry land;
  they passed through the river on foot.
 There we rejoiced in him,
7   who rules by his might forever,
 whose eyes keep watch on the nations—
  let the rebellious not exalt themselves. Selah
8  Bless our God, O peoples,
  let the sound of his praise be heard,
9  who has kept us among the living,
  and has not let our feet slip.
10  For you, O God, have tested us;
  you have tried us as silver is tried.
11  You brought us into the net;
  you laid burdens on our backs;
12  you let people ride over our heads;
  we went through fire and through water;
 yet you have brought us out to a spacious place.
13  I will come into your house with burnt offerings;
  I will pay you my vows,
14  those that my lips uttered
  and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
15  I will offer to you burnt offerings of fatlings,
  with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams;
 I will make an offering of bulls and goats. Selah
16  Come and hear, all you who fear God,
  and I will tell what he has done for me.
17  I cried aloud to him,
  and he was extolled with my tongue.
18  If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
  the Lord would not have listened.
19  But truly God has listened;
  he has given heed to the words of my prayer.
20  Blessed be God,
  because he has not rejected my prayer
  or removed his steadfast love from me.

Daily Prayer (based on Psalm 66:19)

How often do I take this for granted, Lord? All the time, actually. Praying to You is something I do almost without thinking. In a way this is good, I suppose. Praying should be like breathing. Yet every now and then something breaks through to my heart, and I'm awestruck once again by the sheer fact that You actually listen to my prayers. The God above all gods, the Creator of all things, the One and Only true God, You listen to me, caring about what I think and need. How marvelous! What a wonder You are, dear God!

Postscript

Most of us know how good it feels when someone listens to us, really listens and understands. This is one of the best of human feelings. It helps us to know that we are valued. It gives us energy for living. It lets us realize that we are not alone. So, if the attentive listening of another human being makes such a difference to us, how might we feel if we truly believed that the King of kings and Lord of lords listens to us as we pray?

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Except for the Scripture text, all material of The Daily Psalm Copyright © 2006 by Mark D. Roberts

Note: You may download the contents of The Daily Psalm at no cost, for personal use or for use in a Christian ministry, as long as you are not publishing them for sale. All I ask is that you give credit where credit is due. For all other uses, please contact me at mark@markdroberts.com. Thank you.

The Scripture text used in The Daily Psalm is from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved