Praise for God’s Mighty Deeds and for His Answer to Prayer.
For the choir director. A Song. A Psalm.
66 Shout joyfully to God, all the earth;
2 Sing the glory of His name;
Make His praise glorious.
3 Say to God, “How awesome are Your works!
Because of the greatness of Your power Your enemies will [a]give feigned obedience to You.
4 “All the earth will worship You,
And will sing praises to You;
They will sing praises to Your name.” [b]Selah.5 Come and see the works of God,
Who is awesome in His deeds toward the sons of men.
6 He turned the sea into dry land;
They passed through the river on foot;
There let us rejoice in Him!
7 He rules by His might forever;
His eyes keep watch on the nations;
Let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah.
There are two different reactions when one is exposed to the greatness of God and to his power. One is when you want to know more. You want to find out what God is like, and maybe even “join his team”. The other is much like the person who is sorry only because they were caught doing wrong. It’s fake, half-hearted, and we see this in verse 3.
Ruth was in the first camp, as she saw the Naomi’s devotion to God and she wanted to follow God too. This was life-changing, not temporary, and one of her descendants became the most well-known king of Israel: David, the one responsible for writing many of these psalms.
The Pharaoh of Egypt was a different story, as he saw first-hand the power of God. He saw miracle after miracle, and convinced himself that because his “magicians” could mimic these with fake tricks, that it wasn’t really that big of a deal. And then he lost his son, his first-born son, his future successor.
When that happened, he gave in to what God was asking, and told the Israelites to leave and take whatever they wanted. He couldn’t get rid of them fast enough. But it was temporary, and his heart was not changed. It was feigned obedience, only done so long as it was necessary. Before the Israelites had even left Egypt, he had a “change of heart”.
It wasn’t really though, because his heart never changed in the first place. It was always hardened to what God wanted, because Pharaoh believed himself to be the ultimate authority, a “god” in his own right. The end of Pharaoh came swiftly, in the middle of the Red Sea, in the middle of one of the most well known miracles in Israel’s history. So notable, that it is mentioned in verse 6 of this psalm, and many other places throughout scripture.
Where are you? Is your heart true? Then sing God’s praises, rejoice in his victories, serve him all your days, and thank him for rescuing you. If you’re not there, don’t fake it. There’s nothing worse you could do then “feign obedience” like the enemies of God. But I encourage you to dig in, learn more, find out who this God truly is. Find out what He is like, let go of you preconceptions and start with fresh eyes. Seek honestly, and you will find Him.