Psalm Meditation 1077 Fifth Sunday After Epiphany February 7, 2021 Psalm 66 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. (NRSV) Have you ever found yourself in a situation and prayed that God would get you out of it? You made a bargain with God in which you promise to do something for a long time, maybe even the rest of your life, if God will get you out of this. The deeper in trouble you get the more obligations you add to your promise. When you finally get out you hope that God has forgotten most of what you said because you have promised more than you can deliver in a single lifetime. The psalmist has promised sacrifices that would be a strain on most people of that day. Any one of the offerings the psalmist has promised would be beyond the means of most people, yet the psalmist has promised rams, bulls, and goats to God. Is God really impressed by all of our promises and offerings? I doubt it. God is not impressed by how much stuff we own even if we make a big show of offering it all to God in some way. God has access to all the stuff anyone could possibly want or need. God wants to know that our love and devotion are genuine, heartfelt, and sincere. When we make a sacrifice of any kind, God wants to know that it is out of love rather than obligation. The one thing that God desires from us is our love and affection. Not even God can force or demand that out of us without doing damage to our relationship. God hears and responds to our prayers and pleas for help in time of trouble, not because of the promises we have made, because of the great love God has for us. The psalmist rejoices that God “has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me.” The steadfast love of God is exactly that—steadfast. It does not depend on our promises or actions. God loves us by choice rather than in exchange for our promises, offerings, and sacrifices. February 1, 2021 LCM