Psalms 66 Chapter 66 1 Make a joyful noise unto God, all the earth: 2 Sing forth the glory of his name: Make his praise glorious. 3 Say unto God, How terrible are thy works! Through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee. 4 All the earth shall worship thee, And shall sing unto thee; They shall sing to thy name. Selah 5 Come, and see the works of God; `He is' terrible in his doing toward the children of men. 6 He turned the sea into dry land; They went through the river on foot: There did we rejoice in him. 7 He ruleth by his might for ever; His eyes observe the nations: Let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah 8 Oh bless our God, ye peoples, And make the voice of his praise to be heard; 9 Who holdeth our soul in life, And suffereth not our feet to be moved. 10 For thou, O God, hast proved us: Thou hast tried us, as silver is tried. 11 Thou broughtest us into the net; Thou layedst a sore burden upon our loins. 12 Thou didst cause men to ride over our heads; We went through fire and through water; But thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place. 13 I will come into thy house with burnt-offerings; I will pay thee my vows, 14 Which my lips uttered, And my mouth spake, when I was in distress. 15 I will offer unto thee burnt-offerings of fatlings, With the incense of rams; I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah 16 Come, and hear, all ye that fear God, And I will declare what he hath done for my soul. 17 I cried unto him with my mouth, And he was extolled with my tongue. 18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear: 19 But verily God hath heard; He hath attended to the voice of my prayer. 20 Blessed be God, Who hath not turned away my prayer, Nor his lovingkindness from me. Psalm 67 For the Chief Musician; on stringed instruments. A Psalm, a song.

The Lord’s fingerprints can be detected all throughout history. At times His work is dramatically obvious—like parting the Red Sea—but other times, it’s unnoticeable to our senses. Our lack of perception, however, never impedes His activities. He keeps working whether we’re aware of it or not, and blessings await those who develop the spiritual discernment to see what He is doing.

Preconceived ideas about how the Lord works can be a significant hindrance to perception. When He answers our prayers, we rejoice and readily acknowledge His active intervention on our behalf. But what if He doesn’t give us what we request? Too often we then conclude He’s not doing anything. But in today’s passage, the psalmist recognizes that God works in a variety of ways—sometimes with a great deliverance (Ps. 66:5-6) and sometimes through painful situations (Ps. 66:10-12).

Another problem that can prevent us from seeing God’s hand in our life is inattention. The demands of a busy lifestyle claim our time and concentration, leaving little room for quiet moments in His presence. Without periods of meditation and prayer, our spiritual senses become dull. But those who read Scripture regularly will learn to recognize the Lord’s activity in their life, because He always acts in accordance with His Word.

Eyes focused on the Lord are open to a new perspective. Your faith will grow as you begin to discern His activity in your life. The joy and excitement of seeing His involvement in both big and small areas will motivate you to praise and thank Him, even in the hard times.

Bible in One Year: Zechariah 11-14 Chapter 11 1 Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars. 2 Wail, O fir-tree, for the cedar is fallen, because the goodly ones are destroyed: wail, O ye oaks of Bashan, for the strong forest is come down. 3 A voice of the wailing of the shepherds! for their glory is destroyed: a voice of the roaring of young lions! for the pride of the Jordan is laid waste. 4 Thus said Jehovah my God: Feed the flock of slaughter; 5 whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty; and they that sell them say, Blessed be Jehovah, for I am rich; and their own shepherds pity them not. 6 For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith Jehovah; but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbor's hand, and into the hand of his king; and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them. 7 So I fed the flock of slaughter, verily the poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock. 8 And I cut off the three shepherds in one month; for my soul was weary of them, and their soul also loathed me. 9 Then said I, I will not feed you: that which dieth, let it die; and that which is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let them that are left eat every one the flesh of another. 10 And I took my staff Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the peoples. 11 And it was broken in that day; and thus the poor of the flock that gave heed unto me knew that it was the word of Jehovah. 12 And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my hire; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my hire thirty `pieces' of silver. 13 And Jehovah said unto me, Cast it unto the potter, the goodly price that I was prized at by them. And I took the thirty `pieces' of silver, and cast them unto the potter, in the house of Jehovah. 14 Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. 15 And Jehovah said unto me, Take unto thee yet again the instruments of a foolish shepherd. 16 For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, who will not visit those that are cut off, neither will seek those that are scattered, nor heal that which is broken, nor feed that which is sound; but he will eat the flesh of the fat `sheep', and will tear their hoofs in pieces. 17 Woe to the worthless shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened. Chapter 12 1 The burden of the word of Jehovah concerning Israel. `Thus' saith Jehovah, who stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him: 2 behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling unto all the peoples round about, and upon Judah also shall it be in the siege against Jerusalem. 3 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples; all that burden themselves with it shall be sore wounded; and all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it. 4 In that day, saith Jehovah, I will smite every horse with terror, and his rider with madness; and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the peoples with blindness. 5 And the chieftains of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in Jehovah of hosts their God. 6 In that day will I make the chieftains of Judah like a pan of fire among wood, and like a flaming torch among sheaves; and they shall devour all the peoples round about, on the right hand and on the left; and `they of' Jerusalem shall yet again dwell in their own place, even in Jerusalem. 7 Jehovah also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem be not magnified above Judah. 8 In that day shall Jehovah defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of Jehovah before them. 9 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. 10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they shall look unto me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born. 11 In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. 12 And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; 13 the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of the Shimeites apart, and their wives apart; 14 all the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart. Chapter 13 1 In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness. 2 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith Jehovah of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered; and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land. 3 And it shall come to pass that, when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of Jehovah; and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth. 4 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he prophesieth; neither shall they wear a hairy mantle to deceive: 5 but he shall say, I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the ground; for I have been made a bondman from my youth. 6 And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds between thine arms? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. 7 Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith Jehovah of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered; and I will turn my hand upon the little ones. 8 And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith Jehovah, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. 9 And I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people; and they shall say, Jehovah is my God. Chapter 14 1 Behold, a day of Jehovah cometh, when thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. 2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. 3 Then shall Jehovah go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. 4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the mount of Olives shall be cleft in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, `and there shall be' a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee by the valley of my mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azel; yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah; and Jehovah my God shall come, and all the holy ones with thee. 6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that there shall not be light; the bright ones shall withdraw themselves: 7 but it shall be one day which is known unto Jehovah; not day, and not night; but it shall come to pass, that at evening time there shall be light. 8 And it shall come to pass in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. 9 And Jehovah shall be King over all the earth: in that day shall Jehovah be one, and his name one. 10 All the land shall be made like the Arabah, from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; and she shall be lifted up, and shall dwell in her place, from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananel unto the king's wine-presses. 11 And men shall dwell therein, and there shall be no more curse; but Jerusalem shall dwell safely. 12 And this shall be the plague wherewith Jehovah will smite all the peoples that have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their sockets, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. 13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from Jehovah shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor. 14 And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the nations round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance. 15 And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in those camps, as that plague. 16 And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, Jehovah of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. 17 And it shall be, that whoso of `all' the families of the earth goeth not up unto Jerusalem to worship the King, Jehovah of hosts, upon them there shall be no rain. 18 And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, neither `shall it be' upon them; there shall be the plague wherewith Jehovah will smite the nations that go not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. 19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations that go not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. 20 In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLY UNTO JEHOVAH; and the pots in Jehovah's house shall be like the bowls before the altar. 21 Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holy unto Jehovah of hosts; and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and boil therein: and in that day there shall be no more a Canaanite in the house of Jehovah of hosts.