Thanksgiving to God for His Awesome Works

“Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth! Sing out the honor of His name; Make His praise glorious. Say to God, ‘How awesome are Your works! Through the greatness of Your power Your enemies shall submit themselves to You. All the earth shall worship You, And sing praises to You; They shall sing praises to Your name. Come and see the works of God; He is awesome in His doing toward the sons of men…If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear. But certainly God has heard me; He has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer, Nor His mercy from me!” (Psalm 66:1-5; 18-20. NKJV) [Read Psalm 66].

David is credited with the authorship of this psalm of thanksgiving for God’s awesome works. It begins with an invocation to worship God with songs of joy—not just the Israelites, but the whole earth is invited. Straightaway the psalmist is awed by God’s magnificence and power: “How awesome are Your works!” Twice this statement is used, showing its importance to why we should praise God. The psalmist gives a catalog of God’s awesome works: The miracle of the Israelites’ crossing the Red Sea on dry ground is pause for marveling. His eyes are on the nations. The rebellious are not allowed to exalt themselves. God has kept us “among the living,” so our very life is in His hands. He has refined us as silver. What a striking image of how God deals with us to shape us into the people we should be. Like the metal is heated to high temperatures to flush out the dross, so we have fiery trials to test us—not because we have sinned and our rebellion is punished, but the trials refine us and the water tempers us. We come through as a vessel fit for His use in the kingdom. As a result of the testing, trying and triumph, the believer will go to worship with sacrifices. In David’s day, they offered animals without spot or blemish. When Jesus gave Himself as a blood sacrifice for sin, the old sacrificial system was abolished. Now we bring “the firstfruits of our labor” and “on the first day of the week.” Our tithes and offerings are given to the Lord’s work as a love gift. In so doing, we express awesomeness that God has bestowed gifts on us. We join Him in His work as we offer back a portion of that with which He has blessed us.

Sometimes we overuse the good word “awesome.” We often say, without thinking, that someone or some thing is “awesome.” But its use in Psalm 66 (NKJV and other versions) is used to describe a healthy respect for God, standing in reverence of Him because of His character, His power, and His works. If we have iniquity in our heart, we cannot offer proper reverence for God and His “awesome” works—and, moreover, He will not answer our prayers. Therefore, come before awesome God with “clean hands and a pure heart,” filled with gratitude to a powerful God for all His awesome works! And be grateful, too, that He refines us as silver!

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Sunday, November 21, 2010