Psalms 66:13 - Meaning and Application

The psalmist had already called on all people, and especially God’s own people, to bless the Lord. Now he turns that call on himself and resolves to praise God as well. He will do it, first, by bringing costly sacrifices, as the law required.

Not everyone could afford such offerings, and not everyone had the zeal to spend so freely in God’s honor. But David, because he can and because he is willing, says, “I will go into your house with burnt offerings” (Psalm 66:13). His sacrifices are to be public, brought to the place God chose for worship. In Christian understanding, Christ is the true temple, and we bring our spiritual gifts to God through him, where they are made acceptable.

He speaks of burnt offerings of fat animals, the best of the flock. He will not bring the weak or the cheap, but the best-fed and most valuable animals. God, who is the greatest good, should be served with the best we have. God feeds his people with rich provision, like “a feast of rich food” (Isaiah 25:6), and we should answer him with our best gifts.

He also says he will offer bullocks with goats, showing how freely he will praise God. He will not give what costs him nothing. He will bring gifts that cost him much, because God’s mercy deserves that. He adds “with the incense of rams,” meaning either the fat of the rams rising like incense in smoke, or rams together with incense. The incense points to Christ’s intercession, without which even our best offerings would not be accepted.

He also promises to keep his vows carefully. We do not truly praise God for deliverance if we forget the promises we made in distress. He says, “I will pay you my vows, which my lips uttered and my mouth spoke when I was in trouble” (Psalm 66:13-14). It is common, and good, to make vows in affliction or while seeking mercy, binding ourselves more tightly against sin and more firmly to duty.

But those vows must not be forgotten once the trouble is gone. They must be paid in full. It is better not to vow than to vow and not keep it. Our gratitude for God’s help should show itself in faithful obedience after the danger has passed.

The psalmist also speaks to his friends. He gathers other faithful people to hear his thankful account of God’s kindness: “Come and hear, all you who fear God” (Psalm 66:16). He knows they will join him in praise and help him give thanks. We should be just as eager to have the help of God-fearing people when we thank God as when we ask him for things.

He also knows they will be strengthened by what he tells them. The humble will hear and be glad (Psalm 34:2). Those who fear God will rejoice when they see his work in his life (Psalm 119:74). So he wants to speak, not to careless people who would mock holy things, but to those who fear God and can use the testimony well. He will tell them what God has done for his soul, not to boast, but to honor God and help others.

God’s people should share their experiences with one another. We should take every chance to tell each other the great and kind things God has done for us, especially the things he has done for our souls. These spiritual blessings should affect us most deeply, and so we should want them to bless others too.

One thing God did for his soul was to stir up prayer in him and enlarge his heart for it. He says, “I cried to him with my mouth” (Psalm 66:17). If God had not given us the Spirit of adoption, teaching us to cry, “Abba, Father,” we would never truly pray. It is a great mercy that God gives us leave to pray, commands us to pray, encourages us to pray, and, above all, gives us a heart to pray.

He adds that when he cried to God, he also praised him with his tongue. That means he was able, by faith and hope, to honor God even while asking for mercy. He praised God for mercy before he had fully received it. In that way, prayer itself gives God honor. He counts the humble prayers of the upright as something that honors him, and that is a great mercy. God has joined our good with his glory, so that in seeking our welfare we also seek his praise.

He may also mean, “His praise was under my tongue,” that is, he was already thinking how to magnify God’s name. When prayers are in our mouths, praise should already be in our hearts.

Another thing God did for his soul was teach him to fear sin, because sin is an enemy of prayer. He says, “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened” (Psalm 66:18). Some Jewish writers twisted these words to mean that only outward sins matter, but that is plainly false. Jesus taught that God deals with the heart as well as outward actions (Matthew 5).

The real meaning is simple. If a person loves sin, welcomes it, protects it, and keeps it close, God will not hear that person’s prayer with favor. Even if the sin is only in the heart, if it is approved there, it will spoil prayer. Such a person cannot expect peace from God in answer to prayer.

Sin held dear in the heart destroys the comfort and success of prayer. The sacrifice of the wicked is hateful to the Lord. Those who keep friendship with sin have no real share in the promise or in the Mediator, meaning Christ, the one who stands between God and sinners. For that reason, they cannot expect to prosper in prayer.

God had graciously given him a peaceful answer to his prayers. He could say, “Truly God has heard me” (Psalm 66:19). Even though he knew much was still wrong in him, and feared his prayers might be refused, he found great comfort in seeing that God was pleased to listen. God did this for his soul by answering his prayer. It was a sign of God’s favor and proof that God had begun a good work in him.

So he ends with, “Blessed be God” (Psalm 66:20). The two earlier verses are like the major and minor parts of a logical argument: “If I hold on to sin in my heart, God will not hear me.” That is the statement. “But truly God has heard me.” That is the proof. He could then have reasoned, “So I do not hold on to sin in my heart.” But instead of taking the comfort for himself, he gives the praise to God: “Blessed be God.” No matter what the reasons are, God’s glory must always be the final result. God has heard me, so blessed be God.

We should remember this: what we gain by prayer, we must return in praise. When God answers prayer, that mercy especially calls us to thank him. He adds, “He has not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy.” He says this to keep anyone from thinking the deliverance came because his prayer was worthy on its own. It was not his prayer that won the rescue, but God’s mercy that sent it. God does not turn away our prayer because he does not turn away his own mercy. His mercy is the base of our hope and the source of our comfort, so it should also be the matter of our praise.