Why do we praise God through thick and thin? Or better yet, how do we praise God through thick and thin, through the good times as well as the bad times? Admittedly, it seems easier to give God the praise when things are going well. But the fact that we have all experienced the difficulty of praising God in the bad times says something about our struggle with believing the truth about God.

I admit that when hardship comes my way, I struggle to praise God because it is easier or more natural to whine and complain or lament and wallow in my sadness or anger about whatever hardship I find myself in. Ultimately, when hardship sets in, I become more self-focused than I want to be and that confession tells us a lot about the condition of the human soul because self-focus is self-worship.

I am not saying that we should not lament or cry out to God in sadness, despair, anger, or frustration when difficulty come sour way; I am saying we should not get stuck there because getting stuck there is self-worship. This is why the Psalms are so good for us, because they always describe the human writers as normal people who struggle with difficulty while finding ways to praise God amidst the storms of this life as they resist self-worship.

David is such a great example of what it looks like to praise God amidst the good times and the bad times. Though most commentators do not know the exact circumstances of this Psalm, we know that David is a man who struggled with egregious sins, carried the weight of the world on his shoulders as a leader of a nation, and he also faced some gut-wrenching seasons of personal betrayal from friends and family members alike.2 Look at his words in this Psalm with me…

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song.

1Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion, and to you shall vows be performed. 2O you who hear prayer, to you shall all flesh come. 3When iniquities prevail against me, you atone for our transgressions. 4Blessed 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!

5By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness, O God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and the farthest seas; 6the one who by his strength established the mountains, being girded with might; 7who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples, 8so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs. You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.

9You visit the earth and water it; you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide their grain, for so you have prepared it. 10You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth. 11You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with abundance. 12The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy, 13the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy.

So how did David praise God through thick and thin? He did it by remembering God’s unchanging character amidst the shifting sands of his circumstances. In other words, David praised God when things were going well and he praised him when things were not going so well, and he did it by redirecting the attention off himself and onto the God who never changes. The first character attribute that David praises God for is the fact that he is the God of grace and mercy.

#1: HE IS THE GOD OF GRACE AND MERCY (VV. 1 – 4)

When David begins by saying in verse 1 that “Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion, and to you shall all vows be performed” he is acknowledging that God deserves our praise and religious affections regardless of our current circumstances.

The question we must ask is “why”. Why does God deserve our praise as the focal point of our religious affections? The answer according to David in verses 2 – 4 is because God is the God of grace and mercy who hears all our prayers (v. 2); he is the God to whom anyone can come to regardless of past, present, and future sins (v.2); he is the God who covers and removes all our sin from the smallest sin to the worst atrocities (v. 3); he is the God who calls sinners to himself so that he can make them into sons and daughters (v.4); and he is the God who satisfies the deep longings within our souls better than any created thing ever can as he makes us into his perfect possessions in his presence (v. 4). God really is the God of grace and mercy.

Think about this. God is absolutely perfect and has no need for us because he is completely self-sustained and needs nothing to continue his existence for all of eternity. And yet, he created us to be his reflection in this broken world, and he also wants us to be with him as his blood bought children.

Though we are imperfect, stained with sin, and often rebel against him, he listens to our prayers, calls us to himself, removes our sins as far as the heavens are above the earth and as far as the east is from the west (Ps. 103), continues to perfect us as his children, and offers complete satisfaction in his presence.

If these things do not describe the God of grace and mercy, I do not know what will. He truly does love us as he extends the two sides of the coin of his love to us in grace and mercy as gives us what we do not deserve and withholds what we do deserve. Praise the God of grace and mercy at all times, in every season, through every circumstance.

One commentator asks, “Are you dissatisfied with life?” and then he goes on to say “If you are, then perhaps you are seeking satisfaction in things other than God. You were made to know and revel in [or worship] God, so the things of this world [job, wealth, health, relationships, belongings, status, etc.] will never fulfill you. Instead, draw near to God [the God of grace and mercy] through the blood of his Son.”3

If you struggle to praise God at all times, you can redirect your attention away from worshipping yourself by remembering that God is the God of grace and mercy who hears you when you cry out to him, removes your darkest sins, calls you his own when you come to him by faith in Christ, and is ready at all times to satisfy the deep longings of your soul. And not only that, but as David goes on to say in the next few verses, God is also the God of power and might.

#2: HE IS THE GOD OF POWER AND MIGHT (VV. 5 – 8)

If God’s grace and mercy do not fully snap you out of your self-pity or self-justifying patterns – which as I said already, are simply self-worship – then maybe a vision of God’s power and might on display both in Salvation as well as creation is what your heart needs to be redirected back to praising the God who deserves your worshipful attention.

This is why David acknowledges in verse 5 that God speaks to us “with righteous” and “awesome deeds”. The proper question we must ask here is: What righteous and awesome deeds does God use to speak to us? We have all heard that actions speak louder than words. David knows this to be true. So, he outlines some of God’s actions that speak louder than words so that our hearts can be moved to praise God for his power and might.

So, what righteous and awesome actions does David envision God speaking to us through? According to verses 5 – 8, God saves us and gives us hope (v. 5); God created and keeps the mountains standing (v. 6); God is the One who stills the storms of this life, whether they be natural or relational storms as the nations rage against each other (v. 7); and he reveals his power and might from the rising to the setting of the sun across every square inch of the earth so that we might see him, hear him, know him, and find our joy in him (v. 8). God is the God of power and might and he is worthy of our praise!

When thinking about how God speaks to us through his power and might on display through salvation as well as his display of power and might through natural and relational storms that rage across the world as nations fight against each other, one commentator reminded me that David’s language here would immediately make Israel remember God’s redemptive actions in the book of Exodus when God used created things during the plagues and then he ultimately parted the Red Sea to allow Israel to escape from slavery in Egypt.4

The bottom line here is this. God is not the God of fluffy, pacifying, words; He is the God of power and might, and he has proven his words with his actions, time and time again. And if God’s power and might are so visible in his work of rescuing the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt during the Exodus, then how much more is his power and might on display in the person and work of his one and only crucified, risen, and returning Son?

Our salvation is the most visible display of God’s power and might. God speaks to us loudly on a daily basis regarding his power and might to save us from Satan, Sin, and Death through the work of Christ, crucified, risen, and returning. What more could we ask for? What more do we need to redirect the attention of our self-worshipping hearts to the praises of God in his power and might to save?

Well, apparently, David had one more thing, one more little nugget to help us praise God through thick and thin. That last little nugget is none other than the fact that God is the God of abundant provision.

#3: HE IS THE GOD OF ABUNDANT PROVISION (VV. 9 – 13)

I tend to think that the Spirit of God moved David to include these final verses in his song because God knows that one of the main areas we struggle to praise and worship God in is in our daily provision. We either spend our lives pursuing great wealth and hoarding it or worrying about our daily provision and chasing the almighty dollar. Simply stated, we struggle with worshipping money and all that it provides for us while robbing God of the worship that he alone deserves.

To get our wandering hearts back on track, David reminds us that God is the God of abundant provision; God is more generous than you could ever imagine. This truth leads one commentator to say that “It would be possible, perhaps, for a deliverer to be strong and gracious enough to save, but yet to do so only sparingly. Yet the true and living God blesses with amazing bounty and is therefore worthy of our highest praise and submissive faith”.5

David knows that the living God not only possesses endless amounts of resources, but he also knows that God is abundantly generous in providing us with the resources we need at just the right time. This is why David, in this worship song, acknowledges that God not only sends the rain for the harvest, but he also provides the seeds to plant and replant (v. 9); He is the God who blesses the planted seeds and causes them to grow (v. 10); He provides the annual harvest (v. 11); and he clothes the pastures and hills with beauty that brings true joy (vv. 12 – 13).

The bottom line here is that we can worship God with our entire being because he is the God of abundant provision. I can think of no other area that we struggle more in other than the area of worshipping God with our time, talent, and treasure. Christians are so good at talking about God’s provision while skimping out on worshipping God with their time, talent, and treasure.

Christians are oftentimes known to be chincy tippers at restaurants and completely absent at the tithe box; not to mention giving above and beyond to the poor among us as Jesus mentions in Matthew 23:23 – 24. How can we proclaim to worship an abundantly generous God who provides all our needs while holding onto our money, belongings, time, and talent in our closed hands?

You may remember that Jesus even addressed this in Matthew 6:25 – 34 when he commanded us not to worry about daily provision because God will provide abundantly for our every need. Jesus’ aim in what he said is the same as David’s aim here in this worship song. True worshippers of God worship Him in Spirit and in truth (John 6) with open handed generosity (not close-fisted self-preservation/worship) as they mimic or mirror him to the watching world with their generous investments of time, talent, and treasure.

It is really easy to sing praise songs on a Sunday morning with God’s gathered people or in your car when you are all alone. But it is quite another thing to actually praise and worship him as the abundantly generous God who will never leave you nor forsake you, and who certainly will not leave you high and dry when you need daily provision. Praise God that he always provides in abundance just in the nick of time! Amen?!

CONCLUSION…

In conclusion, what more can be said that I have not already said? Thank God and praise him for Psalm 65! We serve such a good God! He is the God of grace and mercy! He is the God of power and might! He is the God of abundant provision! Has He not proven himself time and time again to be this kind of God?

We need to look no further than bloody cross, the empty tomb, and the promise of Heaven to see God as gracious and merciful and powerful and mighty and abundant with his provision. That bloody cross, that empty tomb, and that promise of Heaven should speak louder any words spoken today. Amen?!

We would do well to have our hearts redirected from our patterns of self-worship to worshipping and praising God on a daily basis for his grace and his mercy, and his power and his might, and his abundant provision! – Amen!!!

1 Unless otherwise specified, all Bible references are to the English Standard Version Bible, The New Classic Reference Edition (ESV) (Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, 2001).

2 Richard, Philips, Psalms 42 – 72, Reformed Expository Commentary, (Phillipsburg, New Jersey: P&R Publishing, 2019), 237 – 238.

3 Ibid., 241.

4 Ibid., 241 – 242.

5 Ibid., 243.