Psalms 66:16

Psalms 66:16

Gratitude towards God and generosity towards man these are two of the marked features in the character of David. In the text he gathers, as it were, a little select congregation around him of those who, like himself, had had experience of God's goodness. He asks them to join with him in praising and blessing God; and he instructs them, and strengthens them, and encourages them by recounting to them what God had done for himself.

I. We declare with thankfulness what God hath done for our souls in the act of redeeming us. God sent His Son to bless us in turning every one of us from his iniquities. Salvation is a free gift. It is the gift of free and full pardon for all the bad life that is past, and the pledge and the power of a better life to come.

II. The gift of the Holy Scriptures is the second thing that God hath done for our souls. The best way of showing our gratitude for so great a blessing is to use it well.

III. It is not merely as separate persons, one by one, that God has furnished us with blessings made ready to our souls. We are members of a great society. The Holy Catholic Church is a part of the system of our religion. We have sacraments, and common prayer, and public instruction, and mutual help.

IV. We have the supreme blessing of the grace of the Holy Spirit and the blessing of providential care.

V. We advance one step further, and enter the inner circle of all. At this point especially the words of the Psalm are addressed to those who fear God, and it is only they who can thoroughly enter into their meaning. "O come hither and hearken, all ye that fear God,and I will tell you what He hath done for my soul." This desire to help others is a certain mark of true conversion. Gratitude to God will find its natural development in generosity to man.

J. S. Howson, Penny Pulpit,No. 345.

References: Psalms 66:16. C. J. Vaughan, Harrow Sermons,1st series, p. 388; C. C. Bartholomew, Sermons chiefly Practical,p; 303; W. R. Nicoll, Calls to Christ,p. 9; Congregationalist,vol. vi., p. 539; G. S. Barrett, Old Testament Outlines,p. 119. Psalms 66:16. Homiletic Quarterly,vol. i., p. 119. Psalms 66:20. Spurgeon, Morning by Morning,p. 145.Psalms 67:1; Psalms 67:2. J. Edmunds, Sermons in a Village Church,p. 144; H. Phillips, Christian World Pulpit,vol. i., p. 237.