You Crown the Year with Your Goodness

Humor me today with a little poetry exposition, okay?

The Midday Psalm (Psalm 65:6–14)

You make fast the mountains by your power;* they are girded about with might.  Wow, what an image.  It is God's power that roots and supports the mountains! You still the roaring seas,* the roaring of their waves, and the clamor of their peoples.  "Be still and know that I am God." Those who dwell at the ends of the earth will tremble at your marvelous signs;*  This makes me think of tsunamis and earthquakes and the Northern Lights. you make the dawn and the dusk to sing for joy. This reminds me of the characters in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader who are really stars who sing at dawn and at dusk. I bet C.S. Lewis had this verse (among others) in mind. You visit the earth and water it abundantly; you make it very plenteous;*  We've had so much rain here in Wisconsin this spring that it's good to reminded that it is a sign of fruitfulness and blessing. the river of God is full of water.  What an image of abundance!  We often use the expression "dry" to refer to our spiritual lives when we have failed to replenish ourselves regularly from the Source of all we need, and this image of a river, FULL of water, reminds me that God is never lacking. You prepare the grain,* for so you provide for the earth.  This reminds me of Isaiah 55:  "As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth.  It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." Rain and grain are achieve God's purposes just as His word does! You drench the furrows and smooth out the ridges;* with heavy rain you soften the ground and bless its increase.  I grew up on a farm, and I have seen cracks in the ground when a field is very dry.  I have seen the softening effect of rain as it smooths out ridges and as it pools in the furrows.  When I am feeling "dry," I imagine God's love raining down on my cracked and barren heart and softening it in a similar way. You crown the year with your goodness,*  This struck me.  He doesn't crown nature or creation, but "the year."  What does that mean?  The seasons? The life-cyle?  Harvest time?  It is clear that his goodness to us or to the earth is a great honor and blessing. and your paths overflow with plenty.  Even when God's paths take us through places of trial or suffering, He is more than we need. May the fields of the wilderness be rich for grazing,*  The "wilderness" image in the Psalms usually implies a place of danger or trial, so this statement seems to remind us that even in the difficult places, God's provision and abundance are to be found. and the hills be clothed with joy. May the meadows cover themselves with flocks, and the valleys cloak themselves with grain;* let them shout for joy and sing. I love these images of nature putting on garments of praise and abundance!  I find it whimsical to imagine a cloak made of grain, or a covering made of sheep or cattle. Also, this whole section seems to keep pointing to God's provision of food for the earth as something we should praise and worship him for--and yet we so often take our daily bread for granted. Yet it is God who sustains everything and everyone, whether they worship Him or not.  What a love He has for us all....