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66 Shout for joy to God, all the earth;
sing the glory of his name;
give to him glorious praise!
Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!
So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you.
All the earth worships you
and sings praises to you;
they sing praises to your name.” Selah
Come and see what God has done:
he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man.
He turned the sea into dry land;
they passed through the river on foot.
There did we rejoice in him,
who rules by his might forever,
whose eyes keep watch on the nations—
let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah
Bless our God, O peoples;
let the sound of his praise be heard,
who has kept our soul among the living
and has not let our feet slip.
For you, O God, have tested us;
you have tried us as silver is tried.
You brought us into the net;
you laid a crushing burden on our backs;
you let men ride over our heads;
we went through fire and through water;
yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.
I will come into your house with burnt offerings;
I will perform my vows to you,
that which my lips uttered
and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
I will offer to you burnt offerings of fattened animals,
with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams;
I will make an offering of bulls and goats. Selah
Come and hear, all you who fear God,
and I will tell what he has done for my soul.
I cried to him with my mouth,
and high praise was on my tongue.
If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened.
But truly God has listened;
he has attended to the voice of my prayer.
Blessed be God,
because he has not rejected my prayer
or removed his steadfast love from me!
(ESV)
The end of Psalm 66 highlights various ways in which we are to walk out the mercy of God in our lives. All of us who have believed have received grace from the Father in the person of Jesus Christ. In David’s time, those who believed walked out their relationship under the law with ceremonial rituals.
You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but You brought us out to abundance. 13 I will enter Your house with burnt offerings; I will pay You my vows 14 that my lips promised and my mouth spoke during my distress.
Psalms 66:12-14 HCSB
Note that David’s response to enter the Lord’s house with offerings is a response to the mercy of God. He writes, “You brought us out to abundance.” God delivered and David fulfilled his vow.
Under the new covenant of Jesus, Paul makes the same appeal based on the same mercies of God.
Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship.
Romans 12:1 HCSB
Again, “by the mercies of God” we must offer our entire lives over to Jesus. This is not only a sacrifice, but it is considered worship. These two responses are important to distinguish. If God’s mercy means something to you; if it has changed you in some way, then you will respond accordingly with praise and worship in the form of complete sacrifice.
“Someone might think: Why would God be interested in my body? It’s overweight, or underweight, wrinkled, blotchy, achy, diseased, impulsive, nervous, unattractive, lazy, awkward, disabled, near-sighted, hard-of-hearing, stiff, and brittle. What kind of sacrifice is that? The Old Testament demanded a flawless sheep. I don’t measure up.
The offering of our bodies is not the offering of our bodily looks, but our bodily behavior. In the Bible, the body is not significant because of the way it looks, but because of the way it acts. The body is given to us to make visible the beauty of Christ.
God doesn’t demand our bodies because he wants models for Mademoiselle or Planet Muscle. He demands our bodies because he wants models of mercy.”
John Piper
Let’s offer our bodies as models of mercy.