Paul W. Manuel: Thanksgiving (Ps 67)

THANKSGIVING:
A Reason for the Request (Ps 67)

Dr. Paul Manuel—2003

We all have reasons why we do things a certain way, and we should be prepared to explain our rationale.

Jack and Mary visited their newly married daughter, who was preparing her first Thanksgiving dinner. Mary noticed the turkey thawing in the kitchen sink with a dish drainer inverted over the bird. When she asked why a drainer was covering the turkey, her daughter said, "Mom, you always did it that way." "Yes," Mary replied, "but you don't have a cat!"

We all have reasons why we do things a certain way, and we should be prepared to explain our rationale. That may apply to preparing a dinner for guests, and it certainly applies to submitting a petition before God. We must be ready to give Him A Reason for the Request.

The bulletin insert includes a translation of Ps 67, our text for the message.¹ In each stanza of the poem, the psalmist makes a request, gives his reason for asking, then indicates what God's response should be.² Ps 67 was probably a hymn used in congregational worship (see the frequent references to "us" and the repeated refrain). Except for one line, this could be a song for any occasion, but the first part of v. 6 distinguishes it as a hymn celebrating the harvest,³ and includes a request for future harvests as well.⁴

The poet leads up to that request indirectly, though, first by considering God's grace and God's government. That puzzled me. What do they have in common with the harvest? After some reflection, I realized that all three are aspects of God's providential care, ways in which He acts behind the scenes to work out His purposes and to benefit His people, not just once but on a regular basis:

Divine grace—in the constant outpouring of His favor,
Divine government—in the ongoing administration of His sovereignty, and
Divine goodness—here, in the annual provision of His bounty.

As Israel celebrates its thanksgiving, the author of this psalm has the congregation make three requests. His example can show us how we should pray when we celebrate our Thanksgiving, as well as at other times.
In the first stanza, the psalmist considers...

I. The Effect of God's Grace (vv. 1-3)

The request the psalmist has the congregation make in v. 1 is familiar.

Ps 67:1 May God be gracious to us and bless us;
May He shine His face on us,⁵

This petition is similar to what God instructs the priests to make as a benediction to the temple service (Num 6:24-25).

May the LORD bless you and keep you;
May He shine His face on you and be gracious to you.

Essentially, the psalmist is asking God to grant...

A. Request: Favor to His people

...by giving them success.

Yet the reason he has the congregation offer that God should do this is not what we expect.

Ps 67:2 To make known Your way in the earth,
Your salvation in all nations.⁶

They do not say, "Bless us so we may benefit;" they say, "Bless us so others may benefit." That is not the way we generally pray, and it reminds us that God is not limited by the scope of His peoples' requests. When He blesses them, His grace may overflow to others as well.⁷ More important, however, is that God's favor to those who know Him can be a means of revelation to those who do not. It can result in...

B. Reason: Knowledge to the peoples

There is something else here. Notice what the congregation prays: "God be gracious to us so that others will know about You." Israel is appealing to the way the LORD's answer will reflect on His reputation. One commentator put it this way (Leupold 1959:486):

[W]hen God's people fare poorly, their lot leads the nations to believe that [He] cannot provide for them. If, on the other hand, they are blessed, this fact serves as an indication to the nations...that He is well able to provide for His people....

When we petition God, sometimes we do not give Him a reason to answer and, when we do, it usually pertains to us or to the person for whom we are praying. It is not that we have no concern for others but that we do not generally think very broadly. Our particular request is limited, and we are quite satisfied if God confines His answer to the scope of our prayer.

When you pray for your own concerns, do not view God's answer as limited in its benefit to your situation alone. He may use it to influence others as well, and you can bolster a request—giving Him even more reason to answer—by appealing to the way it will enhance His reputation among others, especially unbelievers. If you do support your petition by appealing to God's reputation, though, you had better be prepared to give God credit when others find out and ask. Like the psalmist, you should hope for the right response, that there might be...

C. Response: Praise from the peoples

...as the psalmist indicates in the refrain of v. 3:

Ps 67:3 May the peoples praise You, O God;
May the peoples praise You, all of them.

In this first stanza, the psalmist has the congregation consider the far-reaching effect of God's grace. Worshipers ask the LORD to favor their efforts with success, not for their sake alone but so that God may make Himself known to others and receive their praise as well as ours.

In the second stanza, the psalmist considers...

II. The Effect of God's Government (vv. 4-5)

The first stanza's request was fairly typical, but the reason was unexpected. In this second stanza, the request the author has the congregation make is itself strange in that it is not for them at all (the "us" of v. 1) but for those outside the covenant community.⁸ He asks for...

A. Request: Joy among the peoples

Ps 67:4 May the peoples rejoice and shout with joy,

Why should they do that? What reason could the psalmist have in mind that would make people happy who do not know God? Look at the rest of v.4.

Because You judge the peoples uprightly,
and You lead the peoples in the earth.

This continues the idea in the first stanza. In the Bible, the LORD deals especially with Israel, but He does not deal exclusively with Israel. Those from among the nations who turn to Israel's God can receive His blessing as well, here, in the form of...

B. Reason: Justice among the peoples

The term "judge" in v. 4 can mean "to decide a legal case" or, more generally, "to govern." If we only had the line—"You judge the peoples uprightly"—we could not be sure if the psalmist meant that God occupies the bench in a heavenly court or that He acts more broadly to direct human affairs. The second, parallel line—"You lead the peoples"—points to the more general usage, which is why I titled this section "The Effect of God's Government."⁹

The psalmist sees here a progression in people's relationship with God. By observing Israel and God's grace toward His people, the nations see how He works. They learn about His salvation, and they recognize that He is a great God. That is what the first stanza is about.

Israel's testimony also peaks the interest of some who want to know more about God. In the second stanza, the psalmist describes the effect of something we call "lifestyle evangelism." When others see the difference that knowing God makes in our lives, they want to know God too. Here, inquiring gentiles look for additional evidence of God's activity and find it in the way He administers creation or, perhaps, personally in the way God leads them as they establish their own relationship with Him and experience firsthand the benefit of His leadership. This is why the psalmist calls them to rejoice, because though God works especially with Israel, non-Israelites can and do experience His favor as well.

How do you pray for your unbelieving friends and relatives? Depending on their degree of unbelief, just asking God to save them may be too general a request, because it ignores the intermediate steps that many people take in coming to a knowledge of God. When you came to God, was it a sudden revelation or a gradual process: an awakening to God, then a few tentative contacts, and only later a commitment. That is how it is for many people.

When you pray for unbelievers, consider adopting the psalmist's two-stage example:

Make your first petition that God would reveal Himself to them through what He does for you, so they can admit, "He is a great God."
Then make your second petition that they would reach out to God and rejoice because of what He does for them, so they can say—with a bit more assurance—"He is a great God."¹⁰

If you do ask God to work through you, though, be prepared to take advantage of the opportunities He will surely open to model your faith. You should pray and live in ways that encourage the right response, that there might be...

C. Response: Praise from the peoples

...as the psalmist indicates in v. 5.

Ps 67:5 May peoples the praise You, O God;
May the peoples praise You, all of them.

In this second stanza, the psalmist has the congregation consider the far-reaching effect of God's government. Worshipers ask the LORD to grant others the joy of His leadership, for when people have God to direct them—as Israel does—they have reason to rejoice and praise.

In the third stanza, the psalmist considers...

III. The Effect of God's Goodness (vv. 6-7)

We expect the author to begin this section as he did the previous two, by having the congregation make another request. Instead, he breaks the pattern with a
statement.

Ps 67:6 THE EARTH HAS GIVEN ITS PRODUCE.

Should he not have said: "May the earth give its produce," as one commentator suggests? ...Apparently not, because the request comes in the next line: "May God bless us..."

This kind of shift is common in Hebrew poetry. The writer establishes a pattern to build the expectation of his audience only to subvert that expectation by changing or interrupting the pattern at a crucial juncture in the composition. The effect is to draw our attention to what is often the focal point of the poem.¹¹

Having gotten our attention with this interruption, the writer continues the
pattern by having the congregation make the next request.

May God bless us, our God;
Ps 67:7 May God bless us,

Because it follows the statement, "The earth has given its produce," this likely means: "May God bless future harvests as He has blessed this year's harvest," and the worshipers state it twice for emphasis. This is the high point of their prayer and the occasion of their celebration together, as they request God's...

A. Request: Provision for His people

Just as with God's grace and government, the psalmist indicates that God's goodness in providing food can do more than fill our stomachs. In fact, the writer does again in v. 7 what he did in v. 2; he has the congregation base its petition on the positive affect God's answer will have on other people, which he states in the last line.¹²

That all the ends of the earth may fear Him.

At this point in the psalm we expect to see the refrain again:

May the peoples praise You, O God;
May the peoples praise You, all of them.

But it is not there. Did the poet forget? Did it fall out in the transmission process? Probably neither, for there is no evidence the psalm ever had a v. 8 that duplicated vv. 3 and 5. Apparently, he omitted it intentionally. In the first two stanzas, vv. 3 and 5 are the response the writer expects to each of the petitions. In the third stanza, he makes the reason and the response the same, that God's provision may elicit...

B/C. Reason/Response: Fear from the peoples

It may not be immediately evident to us how the LORD's providing food for Israel could make other people fear Him, until we consider the connection between agronomy and theology. Most farmers in Canaan could not irrigate their crops. They had springs and wells but no way of getting the water into their fields: so they depended largely on rainfall.¹³ Consequently, among the pagans of the region, who worshiped a number of deities, the storm god Ba'al was the most popular, for they believed that he determined when and how much rain would fall each year.

Israelite farmers also needed rain for their crops, and although the LORD promised to supply that need,¹⁴ there was the temptation to appeal to Ba'al. Besides, the Canaanites had real fertility rites. By visiting a pagan shrine and consorting with one of the temple prostitutes, a farmer demonstrated to Ba'al that he wanted his fields, livestock, and family to be fruitful. All a farmer ever got to do in Israelite ritual was offer a sacrifice and wave some branches. Big deal.¹⁵

This theological tension between Canaanite and Israelite understandings of the harvest may lie behind the third stanza. We could read between the lines this way:

Ps 67:6 THE EARTH HAS GIVEN ITS PRODUCE.
May God not Ba'al bless us,
our God and not the god of the Canaanites;

Ps 67:7 May God bless us because He alone is responsible for the harvest
That all the ends of the earth, those who trust in pagan gods,
may fear Him as He demonstrates His power through us.

Here, as in v. 2, the writer supports his petition by appealing to the broader affect God's answer could have on others. More important, however, is that the psalmist does not advocate a holding action by having the congregation pray that God would restrict the number of those in Israel who defect to Ba'al. Instead, he has the congregation go on the offensive by asking that those loyal to Ba'al would see the power of the true God and respond accordingly.¹⁶

Perhaps this is an aspect you should be adding to your petitions. When you pray for a long-standing issue, something you bring to God on a regular basis or over an extended period, take the offensive in the spiritual battle against the forces of evil¹⁷ by giving as your reason that others may note God's faithfulness to you in this matter and fear Him.

In this third stanza, the psalmist breaks the pattern of his composition to remind his audience of the reason for their celebration and then to have them consider the far-reaching effect of God's goodness in providing the harvest. Worshipers ask the LORD to bless future harvests not for their sake alone but so that God may demonstrate His power to others and instill in them a sense of dread and wonder.

As Israel looks to the next agricultural season, the people join their request for God's goodness to other requests about His grace and government which, like the harvest, benefit the nation year round. What sets these requests apart is that the people ask God to reply because of the beneficial effect His answer will have on others.

With Thanksgiving approaching, no doubt some of you are already thinking about all the food there is to eat. Others are thinking about all the food there is to fix. In either case, we should be thankful for God's bountiful goodness. We should also take this occasion to give thanks for other blessings from which we benefit year round, such as His grace and government. As you sit at the table together to bless God for His goodness and to ask that He continue that goodness in the coming months, give Him A Reason for the Request: that others will take note of His care for you and give Him praise as well.