My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.
This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.
I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.
Psalm 66:16 Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul.
Psalm 66:17 I cried to him with my mouth, and high praise was on my tongue.
Psalm 66:18 If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
Psalm 66:19 But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer.
Psalm 66:20 Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!
In our last post, we looked at the vow the psalmist was to keep and of the commitment he had towards God. In this final portion of Psalm 66, the psalmist speaks of his inner condition, of his prayer to God., and of God’s work in the psalmist’s soul.
It appears the psalmist was in the midst of a trial, for he cried out to God, and as he has encouraged us, spoke high praise to the Lord. Immediately after declaring his prayer, he spoke of cherishing iniquity in his heart, and that if he did God would not listen. This is a common teaching that we believers understand.
But notice the “but”.
The psalmist was teaching a truth on the heart condition requirements of the believer, and immediately made an exception for the fact. A believers heart is to be clean, but in my circumstance, God listened. God truly had listened.
Verse 20 is far richer than I initially considered as I glibly read through it. Consider the psalmist, having a “not pure” heart, crying to God in the midst of a trial, and yet God listened, He noticed, He gave heed to the prayer, not rejecting the prayer, as the psalmist surely may have expected.
The psalmist can not explain this reaction from God but for one reason.
God had not removed His steadfast love from him. Dwell on this blessing today, as you venture out for Him.
He is a merciful God!
Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me. KJV
Praise God, who did not ignore my prayer or withdraw his unfailing love from me. NLT
Blessed be God! He has not turned away my prayer or turned his faithful love from me. CSB
Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer Nor His lovingkindness from me. LSB
Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer Nor His favor from me. NASB
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Considering the Bible 