First Mennonite Church
January 5, 2025
A New Year’s Blessing
Psalm 65:1-13
Today is the first Sunday in 2025. So, together with me, let us take a new look at who we are, as God’s people, and what God does in the world and for us as his people. Also, let us refresh our hearts on what is entailed in the new covenant we entered with God through his Son Jesus Christ, and what God did, does, and promises to do for us this year. Psalm 65 includes a broad scope of subject matters. It deals from the material to the spiritual, from local to the cosmic, and from temporal and seasonal to what is permanent and eternal. The poetic language and imagery in the Psalm are eloquent and beautiful.
Verses one and two in Hebrew begin with “To you,” which suggests God is the center of attention in this psalm. What follows after that introductory phrase says why God is, or should be at the center of attention. God deserves all praise and worship. In Zion, says the psalmist, praise awaits God. The gathered assembly is eager and overflowing with joy and thanksgiving to lavish God with exaltation and praise. The congregation is ready to fulfill its vows and once again is ready to raise high the name of Yahweh.
That is because the worshipers know God hears their prayers. They know that God has been attentive to their prayers and supplications. God had not delayed to hear their cries. He did not delay in showing his favor to his people. Even at their worst time, God had shown himself to be the “gracious and merciful God, who is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” God is mindful of his people.
In Psalm 8, says:
Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
in the heavens.
3. When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?
5 You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor.
When you pray, do you realize the greatness of God’s empathy and closeness to all those who call on his name? Do you realize what it means that God deals with you as an individual? This Almighty God, who dwells in unapproachable light, as Paul says (1Tim. 6:16), whose eyes survey the heavens, the earth, and the entire universe, yet he humbly sets his eyes on you as an individual and knows all your cares. God is mindful of you when you pray, and at the same time he still hears the cries of that desperate mother whose child is dying of hunger in Africa or Palestine, and yet he is rejoicing with the elderly who just got released from the hospital after a long stay. This God deals with us at a personal level. Therefore, the gathered assembly praises God saying,
“You who answer prayer,
to you all people will come.”
You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds,
God our Savior,
the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas,
Yet the very same congregation admits to not always being faithful nor have steadfastly abided by the vows they had made with their God. Thus, they confess, “When we were overwhelmed by sins, you forgave our transgressions.” The faithfulness of God is highlighted by the fact that despite Israel’s willful rebellion—pesa—transgression, Yahweh forgave them. God makes atonement for their sins.
According to Leviticus, God established the Day of Atonement through which he provided Israel a way to be forgiven. This happened by the sprinkling of blood from a sacrifice on the altar. The atonement of Israel’s sins guaranteed God’s presence and continued relation with his people.
But God not only forgives his people in order for them to be in good standing before His holy eyes; he also draws them closer to Himself. In acknowledgment of that, the congregation sings to God:
“Blessed are those you choose
and bring near to live in your courts!
We are filled with the good things of your house,
of your holy temple.”
God’s redemptive love is not only because he forgives sins and transgression. In God’s redemptive love, he even woos his people to himself by giving them “good things.” Israel’s God, our God, is not there only to impose rules or to enslave or make demands on those he calls. No! He draws his children to himself as adults sometimes do to attract a baby by offering it candy or a toy. God is always enticing us, charming us daily with his love, care, and offer of life everlasting. That is what God does to attract us to Himself.
But God’s care is not only for human life. God also cares for the natural world, thus the Psalmist goes on:
8 The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders;
where morning dawns, where evening fades,
you call forth songs of joy.
9 You care for the land and water it;
you enrich it abundantly.
The streams of God are filled with water
to provide the people with grain,
for so you have ordained it.
10 You drench its furrows and level its ridges;
you soften it with showers and bless its crops.
The natural world displays the wisdom, creativity, and provisions of God. Every stream that flows is life-giving to plants, animals, and people. Every sunrise revives the joy of life and renews the hope and expectation of doing something new and achieving a new goal. Therefore, every morning “God calls forth songs of joy” from you and me. Such a realization about the beginning of each new day as filled with hope not only inspires gratitude but is also the antidote to boredom, despair, and depression that afflict many these days. Every new day is a gift of the Creator God of a blank page to write one more line of our life story and God’s story in the world. Every new day is God’s invitation to be co-workers with him in this magnificent world he created. God’s work continues, but he is using us by giving us one day at a time to work with him.
Likewise, every sunset signals the end of a day where we celebrate with joy the accomplishments of the day, moving one step closer to achieving our dreams and goals, and prolonging our lives to one more day. When evening comes we begin to look forward to the rejuvenation of our bodies, minds, and souls with rest at night. Also, if at the end of every day we count our blessings and see the evening and nighttime as God’s gifts to repose and to restore our bodies, minds, and souls, nighttime will not be a dreadful time, nor an unproductive time as some take it to be. Nighttime will complete the full circle of God’s gift for our well-being and the world, for which “He calls for songs of joy.”
The Psalmist goes on to say that God does care for the land by watering it so that it may produce food for animals and humans. God has ordained the cycle of seeding and harvesting. Thus, the Psalmist declares:
11 You crown the year with your bounty,
and your carts overflow with abundance.
12 The grasslands of the wilderness overflow;
the hills are clothed with gladness.
13 The meadows are covered with flocks
and the valleys are mantled with grain;
they shout for joy and sing.
God not only crowns humanity with glory and honor, but he also crowns every year with the richness and abundance of his generosity and goodness. That is the promise of God for us this New Year. The second part of verse 11 might be a bit confusing. “And your carts overflow with abundance.”
The exact nature of the symbolism here is perhaps a picture of God riding across the earth in a chariot–leaving behind a wake of blessings to all living beings. God’s presence is life, protection, and joy. Verses 12-13 close by personifying the pastures, hills, meadows, and valleys. They all clothe themselves with appropriate bounty, and they all “shout and sing together for joy.”
Today is January 5, so that means we still have 360 days remaining of this year. The God described in this Psalm is our God. He continues to be active in world affairs and our personal lives too. He cares for the earth and crowns the year with all blessings. Each day we are given is a day of God’s invitation to work alongside him in this magnificent work of creation. He opens his hand and feeds us with all goodness. But he also awaits us to fulfill the promises we have made to ourselves, to others, but especially to him. Let us look forward to God’s blessings this year, for the Lord crowns the year with goodness. And let us commit ourselves to being a blessing to others as well. Amen!
Pastor Romero