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May 21, 2006 6th Sunday of Easter
"LET ME TELL YOU …" Psalm 66
I N I This past week in confirmation class I asked each student to name a famous person. They did. Then I asked what they would do if they suddenly got a letter from that celebrity. I believe the answer was something like this: (holding letter up high and running) "AAAAAAAAAAGH!" Roughly translated that means: "Let me tell you what special thing has happened to me!" As we spoke the Introit today from Psalm 66, the Antiphon – the refrain at the beginning and end comes from v.16: "Let me tell you what He has done for me." Psalm 66 is a song of praise, probably from a king, telling what God has done to save him and the nation. It is likely that this psalm refers to King Hezekiah and Jerusalem and Judah being saved when the Angel of the Lord killed 185,000 soldiers of the Assyrian army encamped around Jerusalem in 701BC. Imagine going to sleep one night after seeing an immense army dug in around your city, and then awaking the next morning to see the vast majority of that army lying dead, and the few remaining fleeing for their lives. That would certainly be an occasion to scream "AAAGH!" or something similar, a time to run through the city and exclaim: "Let me tell you what God has done!" And so the Psalm begins – these are the first 4 verses: 1. Shout with joy to God, all the earth! 2. Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious! 3. Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you. 4. All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing praise to your name." -the glory of His name! -His awesome deeds and great power that makes His enemies cringe These are reasons to praise God and shout with joy! The writer continues his song of praise. In the next 3 verses he looks back to one of THE great salvation events that marked the Children of Israel during the Exodus. 5. Come and see what God has done, how awesome his works in man's behalf! 6. He turned the sea into dry land, they passed through the waters on foot-- come, let us rejoice in him. 7. He rules forever by his power, his eyes watch the nations-- let not the rebellious rise up against him. Come and see what God has done…His work in our behalf -He turned the sea to dry land, Israel passed through on foot. -He rules, He watches over the nations. Whether it be Egypt or Assyria, Pharaoh or Sennacherib, they cannot rise against Him and survive. The next 5 verses: 8. Praise our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard; 9. he has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping. 10. For you, O God, tested us; you refined us like silver. 11. You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. 12. You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance. The picture of Israel in Egypt can be seen here again, as well as the people of Jerusalem besieged by Sennacherib’s army: -He has preserved our lives, kept our feet from slipping – dry ground, not mud. -God tested us/ refined us – certainly the time in Egypt, as well as the war with Assyria, was to test and strengthen their faith, to draw them back closer to God in their time of need. We see it in the psalm writer’s descriptions: -prison, burdens, pushed down, fire & water - pictures of their time in slavery, or of the city surrounded. But God in the past led them to freedom in the promised land, and has again set them free from their oppressor – as the writer describes it: BUT NOW YOU BROUGHT US TO A PLACE OF ABUNDANCE! As a result of all that God has done, salvation in the past and in the present, the writer is moved to worship: 13. I will come to your temple with burnt offerings and fulfill my vows to you-- 14. vows my lips promised and my mouth spoke when I was in trouble. 15. I will sacrifice fat animals to you and an offering of rams; I will offer bulls and goats. "I will come to Your temple - with burnt offerings, I will fulfill my vows." He had prayed for God’s help. Now he lets it be known that God has come to his rescue. Finally, the writer summarizes his thoughts, and repeats his desire for others to know what God has done: 16. Come and listen, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me. 17. I cried out to him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue. 18. If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; 19. but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer. 20. Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me! Come and listen…let me tell you what He has done for me! -I cried out to Him (both in prayer and in praise). -I didn’t cherish sin in my heart (repentance). -God listened / heard my voice. -He has not rejected my prayer. -He has not withheld His love. What has God done for you??? Certainly each of us has many earthly blessings for which we can thank God. As Luther reminds us in the 4th Petition of the Lord’s Prayer – about our daily bread, God has given us "everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like." For all these physical blessings we give thanks to God. And yet there is much more. We are still celebrating the Easter season, the Sundays of the Resurrection of our Lord. Because He died, our sins have died with Him. Because He lives, we have new life now and into eternity. This Thursday we will celebrate the Ascension of our Lord. Because He sits at the right hand of the Father, our Savior and our Brother Jesus is ruling over all things for the benefit of His people, His church. What a blessing and a comfort is this! No matter the Pharaoh’s or Sennacherib’s that face us, no matter the burdens or griefs we carry, we are not alone! Our Lord is with us in each of them. He promises to help us carry whatever comes our way. He will never leave us nor forsake us. As we consider all that God has done for us, both in physical and especially in spiritual blessings, we can follow the lead of the psalm writer. We can praise Him daily. We can come to His house to worship Him with His people. And we can joyfully tell others what He has done for us.
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