Keith Simons teaches on Psalm 65, emphasizing its themes of praise and God's provision during harvest time. He explains that the psalm, written by David, is a call to worship in God's temple, highlighting the importance of prayer and the joy of being in God's presence. Simons elaborates on how God hears prayers and provides for His people, using the imagery of a fruitful harvest to illustrate His goodness and faithfulness. The psalm reflects a future hope where all nations will come to worship God, culminating in the reign of the Messiah. Ultimately, it is a celebration of God's abundant blessings and the joy that comes from recognizing His sovereignty.

Welcome, it's harvest time here in England and I thought it would be nice for us today therefore to study one of the Psalms for the harvest. Today we're looking at Psalm 65. My name is Keith Symons, I'm a Bible teacher from England and each week I present a talk on how to understand the King James Bible using the Psalms. Today we're going to look word by word and verse by verse at Psalm 65. We begin however with the title. In the King James Bible it reads to the chief musician a psalm and song of David. So it's for the chief musician, it's for the worship of God in God's house, the temple. It was written by King David and he described it as a psalm and song. The word psalm especially suggests instrumental music and the word song as in English especially seems to mean the voice. So this was a psalm to be sung with musical instruments and what more appropriate than for a psalm of praise to be sung with musical instruments. Verse one, praise waiteth for thee O God in Sion and unto thee shall the vow be performed. Praise waiteth for thee. In the Hebrew that's praise is silent for thee. Praise is silent in a way that sounds to be a contradiction because when we praise God or when we praise someone we have to use our voice don't we and the voice can never be silent. Or can it? Have there been moments for you in the presence of God when you've been praising and worshipping God and words don't come anymore? Suddenly silence seems the only way to express properly as best as you can your praise to God. Or does it have a different meaning? Praise waiteth for thee O God in Sion. Does it mean that this is a psalm not so much for the harvest when it's been collected but for when the harvest is in the fields and it's still waiting to be collected but the people are ready and the people are ready to begin their songs of praise to God in the temple as soon as the harvest is collected. Praise waiteth for thee O God in Sion. We usually spell that in English with a Z to begin with but in the King James Bible here it's spelt with an S to begin with. Either way the meaning is the same. Sion was the name of one of the hills in Jerusalem, the hill especially upon which the temple stood, God's house. And so it's saying praise waits for God in his house, in his holy temple, in the place of worship appointed. God's people are going to the place appointed in order to worship and bring honour to God and bring their sacrifices to him for that's how a lot of the worship took place in the ancient temple. People would bring sacrifices, animals which they would offer to God and they would make promises to bring those sacrifices to God and of course they would carry them out. That's second half of verse one. And unto thee shall the vow be performed. If you were living far away from the temple in Israel well you couldn't give a sacrifice immediately that you wanted to so you might make a vow, a solemn promise that if God brought you to his house, the temple, you would take a lamb or some other animal and you would offer that animal to God. And David declares unto thee and to God shall the vow be performed. We will carry out our promise, we will give the animals that we've said we will give to God as part of our praise and worship to God. Verse two, O thou that hearest prayer and to thee shall all flesh come. So David is speaking to God here in prayer and he begins by calling him not O God as he might and as he does in other places but O thou that hearest prayer. God you are the God we recognise as the God who hears our prayers you are listening to our voices and you delight to answer our prayers and so we make up a title for you, a title of honour, you are the God that hears prayer. Not like the false gods of the heathens the false gods that people worship in other countries who cannot hear their people's prayers those images which are silent and cannot help them, no you are the God who hears prayer and we in Israel will pray to you and we will present to you our requests and the whole world will hear how good you are and unto thee shall all flesh come. People from every land and nation will come and will worship before you because God is the God of the whole world, he's the God especially of Israel but he claims every nation as his own and to him shall all the people come from every nation. At this time it's just some of the people from every nation who come before God in prayer but the time will come when the King Messiah rules and then all flesh will truly come and give their worship to God. But what right have I, thinks David, to bring a prayer like this? I am a guilty man, my sins, my offences, my iniquities prevail against me. These wrong deeds that I've done are like enemies that stand in my way and attack me and would ruin my relationship with God. I can't do anything about them but God you can help us, you can deliver me from my sins, you can deliver Israel, my nation, from their sins and you are the God who delights to forgive sin, you are the God who has provided the supreme sacrifice so that we may come before you, so that we can approach your holy temple, we can approach your home. As for our transgressions thou shalt purge them away, you will cleanse us from our sins, you will make it possible for us to approach you and how wonderful it is to be able to go before God in his holy place and to worship him in the courts, the outer yards of his temple. Oh for blessed is the man whom thou choosest and cause us to approach unto thee that he may dwell in thy courts. Blessed means happy, it's the word that begins the book of Psalms, it begins two or three other Psalms as well and here this word happy, truly happy, truly happy is the man whom thou choosest, you've chosen that person, you've delivered that person from his sins, you've given him a right relationship with himself and that, that alone is how he can approach God, that will enable him more than to just draw near to the temple as people did in David's day, David could approach a tabernacle but he couldn't enter its inner courts, he couldn't enter the temple itself or the tabernacle itself but to actually dwell in God's courts, that is a wonderful thing that God can enable someone to do, God can cleanse that person's sins and give that person a right relationship with him so that that person can even dwell or live in the courts, in the yards, in the areas around the house of God. David declares, we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple, yes the place where God is, the place from which God shows his goodness, he's already showing it year by year in the harvest, yet at the time of the rule of King Messiah, when our relationship with God is completed and perfected, then we truly will know the goodness of God in every way, God will deliver us from our enemies, from the evil, evil people, evil spirits that oppose us, God will make judgments and powerful judgments to deliver us, he is our saviour, the one who rescues us, so we have prayed to him in verse 2 and we declare that he will answer us, answer us in verse 5, by terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our salvation, terrible things, acts of judgment, in righteousness, God is going to act in the way that is right and just and perfect, God will act to deliver us in answer to our prayers because he is the God of our salvation, salvation means rescue and safety, God rescues us, he brings us to a place of safety and in him the oppressed people from across the world can put their trust because God will answer their prayers and deliver them when they place a hope, their trust in him and turn from their own evil deeds, he will deliver them, O God of our salvation, David writes, who art the confidence of the ends of the earth and of them that are afar off upon the sea, the confidence, the hope, you are the one we hope for, we hope for the King Messiah who will overturn the evil forces in this world and bring deliverance to the poor and the oppressed, not just in Israel but the ends of the earth, all the ends of the earth, the farthest places in earth, people put their hope in God, people put their trust in God, they look to him for help and then David does a curious thing because he contrasts the ends of the earth with them that are far off upon the sea, does he mean sailors that they will put their hope too in God or does he similarly mean those who are far off over the seas in distant lands that they will put their hope and confidence and trust in God? Well we don't know but now he'll speak both about the land and the sea, let me read you verses 6 and 7, which by his strength setteth fast the mountains being girded with power which stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves and the tumult of the people. Well of course the mountains are set strong and are girded or strengthened with power and it's God who by his strength gave to the mountains their strong place and it's God who restrains the seas so they do not overcome the land but elsewhere in the bible and possibly here too, the mountains are used as a word picture and so are the seas, the mountains are used as a word picture for places of authority and power on earth, those places which are taken now for the moment by kings and by powerful rulers but those places which belong by right to the king messiah, to messiah when he rules and it is God by his strength who establishes the power of those kingdoms now but the power that will overcome them in the future, the good and perfect rule of his messiah and just as the seas seem so unstable and so noisy like an enemy that is constantly attacking, God brings some stillness or God causes the storm to stop and here we have reference at verse 7 to the tumult of the people, the people are rising up with violence against the leaders, well God will still that, God will still those angry nations, those nations which oppose the king messiah, those people who oppose the king messiah, their power will be defeated, the noise of their attacks against him will be in vain, God will still that storm too and so king messiah will rule and the harvest is a picture to us so often about how God's messiah will rule. David continues thinking about that, verse 8, they also that dwell in the uttermost parts are afraid at thy tokens, in other words those who dwell in the uttermost parts, the most distant parts of the world, they are afraid at thy tokens, at the evidence that God is working, they see the power of God in this world, they see the evidence of it, they see the storms and the provision of water that God makes and the heat of the sun, all of these things evidence of the greatness of God, even those who dwell in the furthest parts of the earth, the furthest parts from Israel see these things and they are afraid, that can mean they they fear as in they worry but it means especially they reverence, they realise how great God is and they they show respect to God as the awesome God, the great God, the God who deserves honour. Thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice, again this is talking about the distant parts of the world, the outgoings means the going out, when we see the early morning dawn, when we see the sunset, well the people in the places from which the dawn comes and the sunset goes as the sun passes around the world or rather the world passes around the sun, God makes them to rejoice, they've respected God, they've seen his greatness and now under the rule of King Messiah, they know his greatness and they are glad at his greatness and their fear is turned to rejoicing in God and in his Messiah and in the wonderful work that God has done. Now in the remainder of the psalm, David will describe to us the God's provision of the harvest, the provision which sees its fullness in the future when when God's Messiah fully reigns but even in David's day and in every day, in every year, since the beginning of the world until the end of the world, God provides for the people by means of the harvest and it is that picture of the harvest which fills the remainder of this psalm, verse 9, thou visitest the earth and waterest it, so it's like God's pictured here like a farmer who comes to respect his earth, his land, his world and he provides the water for it, thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God which is full of water, you've got dry ground, nothing grows in it, what brings it to life, what makes it fertile, it's the water that God provides, thou greatly enrichest it, you make the dry earth rich with the river of God, with your abundant provision of water, people discuss what this river of God means, it probably simply means the rain, it could mean the great river, the river of water that God provides, abundant water to change that dry soil into fertile productive soil, thou preparest them corn when thou hast so provided for it, it's God who provided the water and God who provided the seed to sow, verse 10, thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly, thou settlest the furrows thereof. Okay, in order to plant the grain, the corn, the seed, you need to prepare the soil, so what you do is you you draw a plough back and forth which cuts through the soil and creates ridges or furrows in it, raised area of land and then lower area of land beneath it and it's in that lower area of land, in the gaps between the furrows or ridges that you plant the seed, so you want the ground to be soft so that you can plough it and then you want to to fill in those ridges so that the ground is level and can grow and how does that happen? Well God has watered the ridges thereof abundantly, God made that ground soft by means of the early rainfall and then he settles his furrows making the ground flat again so that the corn has flat ground to grow in, thou makest it soft with showers because if the rain did not fall then the soil would just grow dry, the soil would go dry and nothing would grow but God provides these showers of light rain so that the ground is soft and the seed can grow and then it's God who thou blessest the springing thereof, the end of verse 10, God who blesses the plants springing forth out of the ground to start their growth and to grow into the plants that will yield the harvest. Verse 11, thou crownest the year with thy goodness and thy paths drop fatness. The words crownest, crowns we would say today and fatness remind us of the richness of the harvest but a crown does something else as well, a crown goes around the head and just like a crown goes around the head so God surrounds the year with his goodness, at every point in the year he provides what is needed be it the cold and the frost of winter to kill off pests and diseases, be it the rains to enable plants to grow, be it the heat of summer in order to mature it, God crownest the year, crowns the year with his goodness and thy paths, the places where God walks, drop fatness. Fatness is a picture of richness in the Bible, of wealth, of plants which grow well or animals which grow well, where God walks, where God goes, then there is an abundant harvest, then the plants and the animals have everything they need to grow strong and to provide a good harvest. Verse 12, they drop upon the pastures of the wilderness and the little hills rejoice on every side, so the fatness maybe drops upon the pastures of the wilderness, the pastures, the place where the animals feed, they need good food as well, they need the grass, the pastures to grow well and to provide for them, the pastures of the wilderness, the wild places, no man is tending them. We've talked about the cornfields, the grain fields and how people ploughed them, people didn't plough the pastures, the pastures were God's provision, God's provision for the sheep and the goats to feed at and with no human intervention, they provide an abundant harvest throughout the year so that the goats and the sheep and the cattle can eat and no wonder therefore that the little hills rejoice on every side, no wonder that the world is full of gladness when it sees God's provision without any human effort, God's provision for so many animals because verse 13, the pastures are clothed with flocks, oh just as we take the wool from sheep and the hair from goats to make clothes, well God's given the pastures, the places where these animals eat their clothing and what is the clothing? Why it's these sheep that are ready with thick wool, ready for the wool to be cut, the valleys also are covered over with corn, obviously the corn or the grain would grow in the valleys therefore and just as the hills, the pastures are covered with flocks so the valleys are covered with corn just waiting for people to harvest it and just as little hills were singing for joy at all those animals in verse 12, so the valleys sing for joy in verse 13, they shout for joy, they also sing and of course if hills and valleys are singing for joy at the harvest, soon God's people will be, soon God's people will be celebrating the harvest just as we know that King Messiah will come and God's people will rejoice before him then so it's prefigured or pictured year after year after year as we prepare for the harvest and as we look forward to the harvest that God has given so we wait, we wait for God to provide for us, we wait for King Messiah to rule, the New Testament says even so come quickly Lord Jesus and until that time, verse one, praise waiteth for thee O God in Zion and unto thee shall the vow be performed. In a moment's time I'll read you the whole psalm but first my email address 333kjv at gmail.com. Don't miss the opportunity to tell me that you've been listening to these podcasts, it would be wonderful to know what part of the world you're from. My email address again 333kjv at gmail.com and now here is a whole of Psalm 65. To the chief musician a psalm and song of David. Praise waiteth for thee O God in Zion and unto thee shall the vow be performed O thou that hearest prayer unto thee shall all flesh come. Iniquities prevail against me as for our transgressions thou shalt purge them away. Blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causest to approach unto thee that he may dwell in thy courts. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house even of thy holy temple. By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us O God of our salvation who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth and of them that are afar off upon the sea. Which by his strength setteth fast the mountains being girded with power which stilleth the noise of the seas the noise of their waves and the tumult of the people. They also that dwell in the uttermost parts are afraid at thy tokens. They'll make us to the outgoings of the morning and the evening to rejoice. They'll visit us to the earth and waterest it. They'll greatly enrichest it with the river of God which is full of water. Thou preparest them corn when thou hast so provided for it. Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly. Thou settlest the furrows thereof. Thou makest it soft with showers. Thou blessest the springing thereof. Thou crownest the year with thy goodness and thy paths drop fatness. They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness and the little hills rejoice on every side. The pastures are cut, the pastures are clothed with flocks. The valleys also are covered over with corn. They shout for joy. They also sing.