Daily Bible Reading Plans to help you read and understand God’s Word

There’s a science museum near our town, and my kids love going. One of the interactive exhibits is a big plastic funnel that models gravity. You’ve probably seen them used with coins for donations at different places. You set the ball or coin on the top of a ramp and watch as it circles the funnel and spins further and further down until it reaches the bottom.

Psalm 66 follows a similar trajectory. It has 3 movements, and each is saturated with blessing from the center of God’s covenant with Israel: to the world (Isaiah 66:1–4), to Israel (vv.5–12), and to the psalmist (13–20). It moves down like a funnel, starting with the wide world and ending with a focus on the individual writer’s life.

Verses 1–4 are a hymn of praise. The whole earth is called to shout praise to God. This is the top of the funnel, the widest part because it includes all of creation. His works throughout history have shown His might. All of creation—not just people but every single created thing—sings praise to God. That song may be quiet now, but it will reach a crescendo at the end of time.

The middle of our funnel is verses 5–12, which are a song of thanksgiving. The mighty works of God displayed to all the earth are now exemplified in His people Israel. The psalmist recounted how God both brought Israel into slavery in Egypt and rescued them from that bondage. He tested and refined (v.10), and He brought them to abundance (v.12). In every circumstance, He is worthy of praise.

The final level of the funnel is a song of thanksgiving—for the individual psalmist. In verses 13–20, the scope is narrowed. What was a call to the nations to praise, and then the people of Israel, became something personal. “I will tell you what he has done for me” (v.16). The same God who guides history and moves in mighty ways also moved directly in the psalmist’s life. He rescued and redeemed a people, and He rescues and redeems each person therein.

Lent can carry us down the same funnel as we prepare our hearts to remember the sacrifice of Jesus. We can see Psalm 66 baked into the story. Jesus said when entering Jerusalem that if the people weren’t praising God in that moment “the stones would cry out” (Luke 19:40)—just like creation is commanded to do here. When Jesus taught in the temple during Holy Week, “all the people were captivated by what they heard” (v.48)—just like the people of Israel here.

And because of His obedience to death and His resurrection, we can personally know His grace, faithfulness, and love. With the disciples on the road to Emmaus, we can joyfully tell others about the Jesus we know (Luke 24:34–35).

This Lent season, may we be a people marked by thanksgiving to our God, who is ever faithful and worthy of praise for all that He has done through His Son Jesus Christ.

Written by Cameron Magby