Psalm 65.11

Praise God! He crowns the year with his goodness!

This is a shout for harvest time, when all the crops have been safely gathered in, the climax of the year. The words come from Psalm 65. In modern society, when food comes from the shops and is always there to be purchased, it is difficult for us to enter into these heartfelt words. But for many communities across the world, life and death still depends on the regular gathering in of crops in their season, for which they thank God.

The 'crowning' of the year in this psalm has been given a special slant by Bible commentators. One of them compares the crown of the year to a coronet or circlet which goes all round the head, and takes the thought that God's goodness encircles the whole year.... which is true. Another commentator has the thought of there being one particular year in mind, and God has specially blessed that year. That too could be true, for there are times when we are specially aware that God is with us.

We cannot ask David, shepherd, warrior, king, and writer of the psalm, what was in his mind. He composed this psalm three thousand years ago, to be sung so that others could share his joy in the Lord. It was about more than just the harvest.

We might imagine the choirmaster in the Jerusalem Temple in later years choosing this song which had been left by David, and training his musicians to rouse the echoes with their praise as each stanza was sung. And what a psalm it is!

"It is right, it is fitting, to praise God in Zion." Out of the silence rise these solemn words. Zion, the temple hill which David had captured, is surely the place where God should be praised. The musicians sing in all earnestness.

"We will keep our promise to you, we must fulfil our vows. For you answer prayer." David had known that their reliance upon God must be matched by faithfulness on their part. It was this relationship with the one true God which would attract other nations to them, or rather, to Him. "So peoples everywhere will come to you."

But God's own people were not a good example. They sinned. David knew all about the need for forgiveness. "Though our sins defeat us, though our faults overwhelm us, You blot them out, you cancel and forgive them, you purge them away."

The choirmaster stood, looking around the holy temple and its courts. He was happy, this was the right place for him to be. The song went on.... "Happy is the man you choose, and invite to live in your house. We shall be satisfied and have our fill of your good things, the sheer bliss of your holy temple."

King David had been the one with the great world view of God active among men. By God's help his own people had come through their troubles, just as centuries before the nation had been rescued from Egypt. God was still faithful. God was still powerful. David knew of far islands and distant mountains, of tribes at war. God could bring them peace.

"You answer us with awesome deeds, O God our Saviour.
You do right, you are loyal, you bring us victory.
All over the earth, you are men's hope; in the farthest islands, they trust you.
You set in place the mountains by your strength
for you are clothed in mighty power.
You calm the clamour of the ocean, the clamour of the waves,
You still the tumult of the nations,
And dwellers at the world's far end are awed at the proofs of your power,
Where morning dawns, where evening fades,
from earth's one end to the other, they shout for joy."

Yes, it was harvest time again. The rains had come. The ploughing and reaping had been successful. Once again, they could eat, and live. The water and the fertile land were God's gift to men.

"You have visited the land and watered it,
rain makes it rich and fertile.
God's river is full with water for crops and corn,
for this is how you arrange it.
The winter rain soaks ridges and furrows,
softens the earth that we have ploughed.
Showers of spring rain make the young plants grow and flourish.
What a rich harvest! Your goodness crowns the year!
Rich stores fall where you pass, your carts overflow with abundance.
Even the hill pastures of the desert overflow,
the hillsides are wrapped in joy, the meadows clothe themselves with sheep,
the valleys are covered with corn.
They shout for joy. They sing."

In the temple the singing ended, a happy peace descended after their song. The temple courts began to darken.

And so we have the psalm today, No.65 in the Book of Psalms, page 576 in my bible, about the middle. The year, 2012. The harvest, in the northern hemisphere, completed. God's love, still the same.

The psalm speaks of a time when everything is as it should be. God is acknowledged, promises to Him are kept, sinners are forgiven and reassured, people the world over seek God and are blessed by Him. Wars have been made to cease and agriculture prospers in a favourable climate. As a picture of David's time, this seems almost too good to be true. Comparing it with our time, it has nothing to say about ethnic cleansing, global warming, pollution, droughts or floods. But it does speak to us of a hope for the future time, when God will have crowned every one of the years with his goodness.