SUNDAY 30TH MARCH 2025

I. Introduction
 
The editor indicates that this is a psalm of David. However, establishing the historical context for this psalm is not difficult. The psalm is structured like a play in three acts, focusing on God's actions: God’s acts of forgiveness (verses 1-4), God’s acts of power (verses 5-8), and God’s acts of grace (verses 9-13).
 
 II. Acts of forgiveness (vv. 1-4)
 
Verses 1-4. "Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion, and to you shall vows be performed. O you who hear prayer, to you shall all flesh come. When iniquities prevail against me, you atone for our transgressions. Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple!"
 
Verse 1: God is greater than any human being, and therefore, all vows are made to Him by creatures who are entirely dependent on Him (cf. 1 Peter 1:24). David emphasizes the importance of praise from those who come to the house of the Lord in Zion. God always deserves praise from His people. We offer praise and bring vows because God forgives His people. This attribute of God is reflected in various penitential psalms in the Bible, such as Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143.
 
It seems that the people were in a state of great need and turned to God, making vows about what they would do once God fulfilled their needs. God has answered their prayers; it is time for them to say 'thank you'. While we do not know the specific nature of their need, the emphasis on the abundance of food in verses 9-13 suggests that there may have been a famine in the land. Additionally, the wording in verses 7-8 indicates that there was restlessness among the surrounding nations, but in this situation, the Lord continued to watch over His people.
 
"O you who hear prayer." David knows that almost the only time when God does not hear our prayers is when our sins block his ears (cf. Isa. 59:2). What a responsibility this lays on us to keep our lives pure! As believers who have the hope that one day when Christ appears that we shall be like him are called to ”purify themselves, just as he is pure” (cf. 1 Jn. 3:2-3).
 
Verse 2. "all flesh," that is, all mankind, not just Israel, is accepted to God, if they will but turn to Him. This is an obvious protest against an unwholesome exclusivism, into which Israel might in days of old have been in danger of falling into.
 
We, too, as believers, must never forget that although the Lord in his sovereignty is adding to the church “daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47b), as our God and saviour he “wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth…” and has given “himself as a ransom for all people” (cf. 1 Tim. 2:3-6). Let us never limit anyone from the amazing grace of God.
 
Verses 3-4.  "When we were overwhelmed by sins, you forgave our transgressions." Only God can atone for man's transgressions (cf. Gen. 3:21), and it is only through his unmerited favour that he has chosen to bring Israel into fellowship with his holiness, through prescribed worship within his temple courts.
 
So, in verses 2-3, we learn that for a rebellious man, sin is what drives him further from God. The psalmist maintains that this is exactly what should drive him to God!  Hence, the importance of the need for us to be “made atonement for” (v.3), which is a good translation, for “you forgave,” cover” or “blot out” our transgressions, which are pictured as on the point of overwhelming the sinner but has been brought to nothing by the sacrificial blood.
 
Verse 4. “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.” “Blessed” is often referred to as a beatitude, ʾašrê or happy is a word that usually represents an exemplary and good person. But here, it is clear that the wholeness of life stems from God’s forgiveness. Satisfaction comes from the goodness of God’s house, where one is restored to happiness when we worship the Lord in the splendour of his holiness (cf. Ps. 96:9).
 
As believers, never let us underestimate the blessing of the corporate gatherings of the people of God.  Such gatherings are truly “filled with the good things.” It is sometimes only when we enter “the sanctuary of God;” that we understand the ultimate end of the prosperous wicked (Ps. 73:17). It is as believers enter a time of worship with open faces “beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord,” that they are changed into the Christ’” image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18). God bless you.
 
(We will continue our exposition of Psalm 65 next week)