Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion, and to you shall vows be performed.
2 O you who hear prayer, to you shall all flesh come.
3 When iniquities prevail against me, you atone for our transgressions.
4 Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts!
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple!
5 By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness, O God of our salvation,
the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas;
6 the one who by his strength established the mountains, being girded with might;
7 who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples,
8 so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs.
You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.
9 You visit the earth and water it; you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water;
you provide their grain, for so you have prepared it.
10 You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth.
11 You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.
12 The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy,
13 the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain,
they shout and sing together for joy.
This is a Psalm which praises God for the bounty of the harvest. The ancient Israelites were farmers who relied on the land and the fruit it produced for daily sustenance. They needed adequate rainfall to supply their need for clean water to enable their food to grow as well as refresh their livestock. These days we who are urban dwellers scarcely give thought to the weather except when it inconveniences us or causes widespread devastation and loss of life. The ancient Israelites thanked God for the rain because it was a sign of his blessing. They thanked God because He was in control of all the elements which today we idolatrously refer to as “nature” or “mother nature”. But God the Almighty holds all the elements of the earth, wind, and rain fire in His hands.
Perhaps the words of the Psalm seem foreign to us because we are so divorced from agriculture and the land. The fluctuations of the stock market, the vain promises of politicians, the lifestyles of celebrities and the violence of wicked men occupy our minds more. Yet nothing happens in the world, in history that God does not know about or control. All things happen only by His say so. He controls the chaos of the storms and the seas. He sets limits on the chaotic ravings and violence of nations, peoples, and terrorists. All events in history run according to His plan and sovereign will. This should help give we who have faith in Jesus assurance and peace even while the rest of the world is in turmoil and fear. This awareness of God’s providence should affect the way we live our lives. Nothing we do can circumvent His ways even if we try to circumvent them or choose to ignore Him or try to carry out our own plans without regard to His will. We can thank Him for His omniscient wisdom for He always knows better than we do, even though we may think otherwise.