Psalms 65:6

GOD'S PREPARATION OF THE EARTH AS MAN'S DWELLING

"Who by his strength settest forth the mountains,

Being girded about with might;

Who stilleth the roaring of the seas,

The roaring of their waves,

And the tumult of the peoples.

They also that dwell in the uttermost parts are afraid of thy tokens:

Thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice.

Thou visitest the earth and waterest it,

Thou greatly enrichest it;

The river of God is full of water:

Thou providest them grain, when thou hast so prepared the earth."

The theme of these verses is God's marvelous preparation of the earth to be a suitable dwelling place for his human creation. Some writers include Psalms 65:9 with the following verses, which are usually understood to speak of an abundant harvest; but the statements that God enriches the earth, and that he has prepared it fit more properly into the far greater picture of God's special creation of the planet Earth as man's residence.

"His strength settest forth the mountains" (Psalms 65:6). Nothing provides any more evidence of the intelligence and love of God than his arrangement of the great mountain systems upon the five continents. These mountains actually are God's instruments for controlling the rainfall of all lands and the drainage system of the earth in its rivers.

"Stilling of the seas and the roaring of the waves" (Psalms 65:7). God's control of the seas is the sole factor that makes life on the earth possible. For example, if the moon were a hundred thousand miles closer to the earth, the tides would roar over all lands hundreds of feet deep twice a day!

Furthermore, if it were not for the great polar ice-caps, it is altogether possible that all habitable lands would be submerged.

God indeed controls the seas. Jesus rebuked the winds and the waves, and they heeded his voice.

Although only the mountains and oceans are mentioned here, they are merely metaphors standing for "all things" whatsoever.

If the percentage of oxygen in earth's atmosphere, for example, were significantly increased, a single match could produce devastating fires; and if it were significantly decreased, man would have to have a set of lungs the size of a bale of cotton! God prepared the earth for men to live upon it.

"And the tumult of the peoples" (Psalms 65:7). It is not a mistake that "the peoples" are here mentioned along with the seas and the mountains which God controls. God also controls all the peoples of the world. There is a sense in which the human population is a part of nature. He appoints the boundaries of their dwelling place, determines their seasons, giving ascendancy now to one group then to another. Paul mentions this in Acts 17:26. Moreover, this is no haphazard control; God has a purpose in his control of nations; and what is it? "That they should seek God" (Acts 17:27).

"Thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice" (Psalms 65:8). The word "thou" stands at the head of this verse, as it does in ten other lines of this psalm. The great theme throughout is God's power, glory and all-sufficiency.

The exact meaning of this statement is not certainly known, but we agree with Rawlinson's comment that, "The splendor of sunrise and sunset seem to be in the poet's mind."[9] This writer walked seven miles to school each day, which necessitated being on the way before sunrise; and truly, there is nothing on earth that speaks any more eloquently of the majesty and glory of the Creator than the magnificent wonders of the sunrise, the great pity being that so few see it every day.

Alexander Maclaren tells the story of an atheist who traveled in the desert with an Arab. One morning, the atheist said, "Arab, a camel circled our tent last night"! The Arab asked, "How do you know?" The atheist said, "Why, I can see its tracks, of course."

Then the Arab, who devoutly believed in God, pointed to the flaming glory of the sunrise in the eastern skies and said, "What a shame that you cannot also see the tracks of the Almighty God"! This shows how sinful men can find tracks of animals in the dirt but cannot see the footprints of the Eternal in his marvelous natural creation.