A Word in Season: Brought into Riches (Psalm 66:12)

Trials, Tribulations, and the Church’s Pilgrimage

It is the typical experience of God's people on earth to be tried and to be troubled, to be tested in their pilgrimage. The apostle said we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God and it's good for us to remember that lest we should be swamped or bewildered by what happens to us.

But that doesn't mean that there are no seasons of triumph or conquest in this spiritual combat in which we are constantly involved. In psalm 66 the psalmist begins with a note of confident triumph, make a joyful shout to God or the earth, sing out the honour of his name, make his praise glorious.

He's directing our attention to the awesome works of God and the greatness of his power over his enemies. He wants people to turn their attention to what God has done and to show his excellent power and glory.

God Bringing His People Through Trials Into Triumph

And yet even when as we come into the heart of the psalm he's calling upon the peoples to bless our God and make the voice of his praise to be heard, it is not just because of the triumphs but because of the way that God has brought his people through trials into triumphs and so he reminds us that God has kept our soul among the living and does not allow our feet to be moved.

The experience of God's people is not one of seamless joy and expectation but rather it is being delivered, being kept, being brought from darkness to light, being brought through difficulties into delights.

And so he says you oh God have tested us, you have refined us as silver is refined, you brought us into the net, you laid affliction on our backs, you have caused men to ride over our heads, we went through fire and through water.

This language points back to a deep and grievous and painful experience or series of experiences. God has tested them, he has set out to prove their quality, they have been refined like silver, they've been put over the fire in order to remove the impurities, they've been brought into the net and affliction has been laid on their backs, they have been trapped and they have been troubled, they have felt the lash, men have ridden over their heads, this horrible imagery of people trampling upon them, we went through fire and through water, those symbols of a painful passage.

Brought Out to Rich Fulfilment

What then is the grounds for rejoicing? Where is this triumph coming from? What is this language of conquest? Why are we meant to be praising and blessing God? Because God brought us out to rich fulfilment there in verse 12.

Yes the testing was real and yes the pain was dreadful and yes the experience was miserable and there were many sorrows and sufferings through which God's people went, but God brought them out to rich fulfilment and the language there is one of those delightful expressions in which the the English tries to capture something that is open-ended in the original.

God brought us out into a rich place, God brought us out into rich things or richnesses, there's a an expansiveness there, yes the the sufferings were real but the blessings are equally real and even more abundant and that has to be then something to which the church of Christ continues to cling in our own day because there are such sufferings and sorrows for us, there are trials and tribulations in this present evil age and there are times when God's people are being tested in distinct ways, when they're being refined as silver is refined, times when they go through fire and through water, that may be true congregationally, it may be true individually, the present season in which we live seems to be one in which the church is under distinct pressure and faces particular difficulties and there are eruptions from within and there are assaults from without and what is our hope and our confidence that God is in control of everything that is taking place and that when he has done his testing work and when his refining for the time being is complete, when he has accomplished what he intends, when he has brought us through the fire and the water, he will bring us out into a place of richness and that spiritual favour, that is what we need to crave, it's what we need to wait for, it's what we need to pray for, it's what we need to work for, patiently looking to God in anticipation that after trials there will be triumphs for the praise and the glory of his grace.