Ninth Sunday after Pentecost; Psalms, Psalm 33:12-22                             

Psalm 33:12-22

In church circles these days the word “vision” has become a buzzword. What is unfortunate so often is that words like vision, which is a biblical word (and concept) often are hijacked and given a meaning which is foreign to its true biblical one. And almost always the word vision in the church today has to do with the “seeing” if you will, of church leaders, pastors in particular. While it is important for our leaders to have open eyes to the surrounding time and culture, I want us to look at another “set of eyes” as we consider our Psalm this week.

Psalm 33 highlights the great love of God for His people. And one of the ways we know that He loves us is that He spends a good portion of His existence watching His people. And with them the people of all the nations. Our reading begins with the declaration, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD” (v. 12). 

God’s gaze in this psalm is first on the whole of humanity, “all the inhabitants of the earth.” But it narrows: “Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him (that blessed nation, my notation), on those who hope in his steadfast love” (v. 18). God’s desire-His whole-Bible desire-is that everyone ever made would find their way from the nations of the world into His nation, His people, becoming those who fear Him. And it is that vision, the scope of God’s love and desire for those He has made, that should capture our hearts and those of our neighbors. Again, the psalm we’re considering makes much of the love of God for those He has made. With the absolute clarity of God’s vision intact, I’m not sure we see His love for us clearly enough.