Dear Church Family,
Psalms 66:5 Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man.
These words of the Psalmist precede a description of the crossing of the Red Sea and then, later, the Jordan River. You are asked to look at and consider what the Lord did in each case. These two events stand as book ends, as it were, to the grace of God.
The crossing of the Red Sea and the drowning of Pharaoh and his army were the things that secured Israel’s liberty. The crossing of the Jordan brought them safely into the Promised Land. In both cases a flood stood between them and what they needed, and in both cases the Lord brought them over on dry ground—drowning their enemies behind them in the first instance and driving them from before them in the other.
There is, of course, a picture here of the deliverance of every believer from sin and Satan, and the safe passage of each one into the promised blessings of heaven. The Savior drowned His enemy and ours at the cross, and then carried us over from death in His resurrection three days later.
The inspiration and hope to be drawn from “seeing” these things which God has done, His “awesome” deeds, are, in part, to encourage and strengthen our faith in Him in regard to the forgiveness of sin and the hopes of eternity.
As is often true, however, the lesser may be argued from the greater. If you are invited to consider these events to encourage your faith in these great matters, then does it not also encourage your faith involving the daily love and grace of God in regard to meeting your needs and providing for you in all your various cares and necessities?
Paul argues…
Romans 8:32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
Elsewhere Peter says…
1 Peter 5:6-7 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
The promise of His caring for you in this way rests on this evidence of what we are asked to consider or meditate on in Psalm 66. May you not safely cast all your care, with confidence, on the One who is “awesome” in His deeds toward the children of men? The One who parted the Red Sea to deliver Israel and drown their enemies? The One who dried up Jordan and fed them on the very first day from the barns of their enemies on the other side? And all exactly as He promised.
Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah,
Pilgrim through this barren land;
I am weak, but Thou art mighty,
Hold me with Thy powerful hand;
Bread of heaven Feed me now and evermore.
When I tread the verge of Jordan,
Bid my anxious fears subside;
Death of death, and hell’s Destruction!
Land me safe on Canaan’s side;
Songs of praises, I will ever give to Thee. –William Williams, 1774
