Prayer and psalm 65

By: Chris Gaffney

From verse 3 and 4 in this psalm, it speaks of being overwhelmed by sins, and this could also be problems, situations that just seem to take on an overwhelming nature in a given person’s life, yet these people who are overwhelmed are near to God and are chosen and brought to his courts all of which doesn’t exempt them from the existence of overwhelming problems in their lives which need to be addressed in the prayer relationship.

Anything that characterizes as overwhelming God has an answer for. This being overwhelmed is not necessarily a static or ongoing situation that just festers, but it could be something that comes on suddenly, bursting into our lives, intruding on the calm and bringing about new and unforeseen difficulties, where we are overwhelmed in that very moment and need to seek and speak to God in that very moment. .

Verses 3 and 4 say," When we were overwhelmed by sins, you forgave our transgressions, “Blessed are those who you choose and bring near to live in your courts!

We are filled with the good things of your house, and of your holy temple.

The word live in this verse gives credence to the real time aspects of prayer, there are problems that we are living with and we are looking for livable solutions in the here and now to this problems. A TV show might be Live, there is not additional takes or rehearsals. We to might not get the chance for a rehearsal or an additional take on some situations we face and we count on God’s nearness which has live aspects, just like live TV. And then the ongoing problems or sins that seems to overwhelm us or just doesn’t go away, and is something that we are looking for livable solutions to. For example, there are some aspects of personality that the individual just needs to incorporate in some way and live with, rather than run away from.

In Genesis, it says that God didn't make the earth as a voidless form, but a place to live in, so his personal answers to us wouldn't contradict that edict or theme. He will give us livable answers.

Verse 5 says, “ You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness, O God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth and the farthest seas."

The answer might seem so faraway from you, that you feel like you belong with the farthest seas yourself. But even from that distance which is a matter of the heart as well as a physical distance, you are looking for the awesomeness of God and even from that distance your hope is from God. And his deeds as in plural, not just one deed. His doings are more than one. There are good things in his house as per verse 4.

Verse 6 says, “Who formed the mountains by your power, having armed yourself with strength."

Having spent some time in the last couple of years in both Montana and Alaska, I have seen and hiked a little bit in numerous mountains settings, where the feel is partly, not to many people are spending time here, except as quickly passing thru. and the mountains are on their own. On.one particularly surreal trail in Glacier National Park in Montana, I reached a high point near the very top with two side by side mountains at nearly 10,OOO feet, and they were built almost like identical twins from what I could see. How could that be? God is the landscaper working on nature, a nature that we take for granted, even more so than the landscaper cutting the grass and maintaining the bushes in the front yard who also seems in the background of our lives.

Verse 7 says, “Who stilled the roaring of the seas, the roaring of the waves, and the turmoil of the nations. “

God stops mighty waves, which we know can reach tumultuous heights, and even the turmoil of nations which refers to the conflicts of man that can form into national conflicts.

God can also put an end to a given personal difficulty.

Verse 9 says,

You care for the land and water it, you enrich it abundantly, the streams of God are filled with water, to provide people with grain, for so you have ordained it.

This is talking about God’s care. The psalm continues on with examples of God’s care and continually refers to abundance with this care, and watching for the joy of that which he is caring for. God has things he has ordained and will bring provisions in for his ordinances. God is not going to run out of good things for you. '

Some people might have reached the point where they feel God doesn't care about them. This is feeling rather than fact. But also, this psalm in the earlier verses, mentions nearness but also mentions being far away. Even at points seemingly farther away from God our hope is in him, and the key endpoint we find is his care for us. God's care is the endpoint that we can continually refer to in our prayer requests and discussions with the Lord. The reach of the prayer request is towards God's care and at the other end of my request, is God and his personal care. If I really do feel faraway and lost, it is that I feel faraway and lost from God's care, and I want to reference God's caring within my prayer request as I am seeking God and his care in this particular matter, whatever it might be and God's care is what I am getting back to.

Verse 14 says, You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance."

That is a good year. Carts refer to that there are specifics, whatever those specifics are, they involve abundance. But also, the year involves seasons, just as our lives do, and God will take care of you in the different seasons of your life.

Simple prayer can work because God's care is operative. God cares about simple prayer, although he might like a given exotic prayer more, he might like the simple prayer just as much because it is his care that matters. An answer from God might involve a lifestyle change, which is an answer you can live with in terms of a lifestyle going forward with the continued grace of God towards this lifestyle.

The extension or reach of God's care goes into all kinds of prayer, and he tends to a variety of prayers, just as he tends to a variety in nature according to this psalm.

God can handle the multitudinous prayers as well as gigantic prayers, just as he tends to the great seas, calming them if he prefers, according the to the sovereignty of his hand.

God's care reaches past an individuals circumstances and situation. If I'm already far away, and I've totally missed out, I can still reach God in prayer. That is why someone who is the subject of financial ruin for example, can still step out and pray for others in great ways despite their own unfortunate circumstances.

I don't need to concentrate my prayers totally on my own owerwhelming problems. I can still find God and be a powerful intercessor for others from others from difficult points in my own life.

That the sails didn't rise fully for me, does't mean I can't intercede that they do for others.

Then what is actually happening in prayer might be speculative. God gives us leeway in our prayers, as he tends to the prayers which might not be the best but are still now under his care. In an answer, I might encounter what I would consider healing, or maybe it is something else, maybe it is a reward, or a blessing or even a payment. I could give thanks speculatively for the answer, saying that you for the reward payment not really knowing if it is a reward or payment. To be humble can be misdefined. You don't want to be proud and say God rewarded me, but at the same time, this might be the case and might be the truth and you can pray about that with the leeway that God will tune you in more to what has actually happened and why. Jesus did talk about payment in the parable of the vineyards. There might be some truth to the possible of this being," Look at what you get." Again, we want to be humble but realistically if someone is offering us a big paycheck, why not take it. And at least in some cases, God might be doing something similar with certain individuals. And this is just better defining and describing what is actually happening. So for example, if God does give you something very fortuitous, then you could thank God for the blessing, for the reward, for the payment. The later two more so imply that I did something to deserve this, which is also a possible reality of what is actually happening. The overall point being, that while I am not in relationship with the Lord primarily to be in a reward system or to get paid in any way, some contemplation can be put on the possibility that God does work this way at times as it is His choice. While the idea of being rewarded or paid by God is not something to dwell on necessarily, it can be something that I contemplate in that it might be the reality and truth of what is happening and therefore I am only going into contemplation of the reality of the situation which is the way God is operating in this instance. But of course, this is something that is only confirmed in the prayer of thanksgiving by the Holy Spirit and as I pray the prayer that I am thanking God for the payment, whether I am actually being paid is only speculative until I more fully move into confirmation of the Spirit. In this way then, even the prayer of thanksgiving and just some of the ways God is caring for us is just speculative until confirmed after the prayer is said. Then, even if God gives us something far and beyond what we ever expected, maybe much bigger that we thought possible, that bigger gift, still amounts to the same thing, God cares for us and for us as an individual, and whether it is in bigger ways or smaller ways, it is still definitively God's care that is present to us. What we want to do is realize that it can be in bigger ways and smaller ways and in many ways and the idea is to better recognize the all of it as coming from God's care.

Goid's care manifests itself in particular concerns. For example, a teenager isn't home all night unexpectedly. The parent doesn't say, I care that he or she is missing, but they say they are concerned. They always cared, but in this instance they are particularly concerned their son or daughter hasn't come home tonight way past the expected hour. So, for example, I could thank God for his concern for me in this matter or that matter to hone in on the particulars. This particular concern is part of his overall care for me. but it is important for me to grasp in prayer that God is concerned for me in this individual and possibly unique matter that confronts and confounds me.

In intercession, I am participating in and with God's care. I could even intercede for the earth, the seas, and the land itself as this psalm specifies that all these are also subject to God's care. This is why for example, an individual can pray for a certain type of weather and the voice of that prayer can effect the actual land of the earth which is pretty amazing in that the rainfall soaking into the ground in some area of the earth might have been affected by a prayer you said. The care the Lord is speaking about in this psalm is something you can participate and with through intercessory prayer.

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