RR Psalm 66:20 Part 10

Shalom,

Psalm 66:20 Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer, nor His lovingkindness from me.

While I haven’t checked all 150 Psalms lately, I don’t recall ever seeing one that doesn’t end on a positive note.  Here, Psalm 66 is consistent.  God is always listening.  As Psalm 121:4 begins in Hebrew, “Hine, Lo Yanum, V’Lo Yishan,” meaning “behold, (God is the previously mentioned subject in verse 2) He does not slumber nor sleep.”  God will never turn away from our prayers because of His lovingkindness (“Chesed”).  He loves us perfectly by His grace.

David previously celebrated his victory over sin….  Psalm 66:18 If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.  This is consistent with many other Scriptures….  Psalm 37:37 Notice the man of integrity and watch the upright—for the man of shalom has a future. 38 But transgressors will be destroyed altogether. The future of the wicked will be cut off.  

What David is saying here is that the hypocrite is not heard by God, but the one whose heart is in alignment with God’s righteous principles is always heard.  1John 5:14 Now this is the confidence we have before Him—that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have the requests we have asked from Him.

There is an interesting couplet in the Hebrew of Psalm 66, verse 20, “T’fi’la’ti V’Chas’do.”  The exact translation is “my prayer and His grace.”  What a combination!  As we sing on Yom Kippur, “Ki Ayn Banu Ma’asim,” meaning “for we have nothing in ourselves to make (our own righteousness).”  Every major king and prophet in the Bible knew this.  Daniel is a good example.  

Daniel 9:3 “So I set my face to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes. 4a I prayed to Adonai my God and confessed, saying:… 5a ‘We have sinned… 17 So now, our God, listen to the prayers and petitions of Your servant, and cause Your face to shine upon Your devastated Sanctuary, for the sake of my Lord.18b We do not present our supplications before You because of our own righteousness, but because of Your great compassions.’”

God has set standards of righteousness for those who follow Him.  Those same standards apply to God, Himself.  Moses heard this from the Lord, and right now, you can hear it too.

Exodus 34:6 Then Adonai passed before him, and proclaimed, “Adonai, Adonai, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness and truth, 7 showing mercy to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, yet by no means leaving the guilty unpunished, but bringing the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.”

Shalom shalom.

Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Tue     13-Oct-2026              2nd of Chesvan, 5787
Ge 7:17-8:14          Jos 10              Ps 10         Mt 8            (1 Pet 4)