Thanksgiving is a time which reminds us of bounty and fullness. We see the bounty of tables of food, bountiful fellowship with family, and the bounty of the joy that begins the Christmas season. We enjoy this bounty, look forward to it, and sometimes take it for granted.

There is a Psalm that reminds us of the profundity of all of this: Psalm 65. The poem begins in a surprising manner. It says that there will be silence to God. Often, we conceive of praise as making noise. In our minds, it is singing, melodies, and music. However, David reminds us that sometimes worship is being quiet.

What could be so stunning that it causes us to stand in silence? We could think of quite a few things including God’s work of salvation, His unsurpassed holiness, and His omnipotent power seen in His miraculous intervention. The psalmist himself comments on some of these truths (vv. 3-5).

However, one thing David focuses upon is God’s bountiful provision. The psalmist emphasizes how God establishes everything in creation in order to attend to our needs. It starts with how God establishes the mountains of the earth (v. 6). The very features of this world are held constant by His strength and that allows for the world not to be in chaos (v. 7). Days pass by, as well as seasons bringing rain and harvest. That is how God establishes grain for His people (v. 9). For anyone to have plenty, God worked to establish the world in its operations all year round. One moment of goodness is a reminder of God’s faithfulness in many moments.

For this reason, David does not stop there. In the rest of verse 9, he states that God not only establishes grain—but in that way—He establishes the earth. In other words, God’s provision in one moment is indicative of His faithfulness that extends to the entire created order; how He takes care of and orders everything in this world for His people.

As we enjoy the bounty of a meal, let us never forget what this means. It means that our God has not only been faithful to us in that single moment, but in an entire season of our lives. In giving us our daily bread, He has been faithful to control not only our homes and grocery stores, but also faraway fields and farms. However, even that does not tell the whole story. As David reminds us, God has even controlled the weather and ultimately the world so that we would be taken care of. God’s faithfulness is not a simple thing. He is not merely faithful in the individual minutiae within our lives. He is faithful to us in every possible factor outside of our immediate lives, everything in this world and beyond, to ensure that everything works a certain way for His own. And that kind of faithfulness—one that reaches to every place and every time—should compel us to be silent before Him. His faithfulness is indeed expansive and massive, eternal and extensive. And because of this, we can trust Him at all times, for indeed He has so faithfully established the world.

PSALM 65
Blessed Is the One Whom You Choose

For the choir director. A Psalm of David. A Song.

1  To You, there will be silence and praise in Zion, O God, 
   And to You the vow will be paid.
    
2  O You who hear prayer, 
   To You all flesh comes.
   
3  Words of iniquity prevail against me;
   As for our transgressions, You atone for them.
   
4  How blessed is the one whom You choose and bring near to You
   That he would dwell in Your courts.
   We will be satisfied with the goodness of Your house,
   Your holy temple.
  
5  By fearsome deeds You answer us in righteousness, O God of our salvation, 
   You who are the trust of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest sea;
   
6  Who establishes the mountains by His strength,
   Being girded with might;
   
7  Who stills the rumbling of the seas,
   The rumbling of their waves,
   And the tumult of the peoples.

8  They who inhabit the ends of the earth are in fear on account of Your signs; 
   You make the dawn and the sunset shout for joy.

9  You visit the earth and cause it to overflow; 
   You greatly enrich it;
   The stream of God is full of water; 
   You establish their grain, for thus You establish the earth. 

10 You water its furrows abundantly,
   You smooth its ridges,
   You soften it with showers, 
   You bless its growth.
 
11 You crown the year with Your goodness, 
   And Your paths drip with richness. 

12 The pastures of the wilderness drip,
   And the hills gird themselves with rejoicing.

13 The meadows are clothed with flocks
   And the valleys are covered with grain;
   They make a loud shout, indeed, they sing.