Earth Shouting For Joy (Psalm 65:8b)

 


Friday, 26 September, 2025


Psalms 65; 70

1 Kings 15:9-24

Matthew 8:5-22


Observance: Lancelot Andrewes, bishop of Winchester (d. 1626)


Earth Shouting For Joy (Psalm 65:8b)


You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.


One really has to appreciate why so many Christians feel an affinity with St Francis of Assisi, a saint known for his love of God’s creation. Whenever one needs a pick-me-up, one only has to go out into God’s universe and join in the rejoicing. If the Japanese call it “forest bathing” – when you leave the office and go spend time in nature – what might a cross-cultural, Christian version be called?


David covers just about every part of the human condition in his Psalms, all the way down to the depths and lower, and all the way up to the highest heaven. And quite often on his journey up to God, he finds himself stopping to enjoy the view. We really have to admire this musing in today’s verse for the day, that God makes the very day-night cycle to shout for joy. No matter how bad things can get in life, surely a quiet appreciation of the cycle of the earth around the sun can help even then.


Are you stuck in your head at the moment? How might hearing the morning and evening shout for joy help you get out of your head and into God’s world of joy and delight?


O God in Zion, you visit the earth and water it, abundantly watering its furrows, settling it with ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth. Crown our years with the bounty of your steadfast love, that the dew of your peace may settle our troubled souls.

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