Psalm 65
Order From Chaos
Let’s face it. Life on this earth tends toward the chaotic. After all, don’t we spend much of our time trying to either bring order or keep order in our lives. Why do we clean the house? To undo the dirt and disorder. Why do we schedule events and make appointments? To coordinate the uncoordinated movement of peoples. Why do we seek repentance? To undo the disorder and destruction of sin.
The Fall brought both humankind and the world from an ordered state of perfection to a corrupted state of chaos. Now, born into the chaos of a fallen state, we constantly face the tension between order and disorder. In Psalm 65, we glimpse the answer to our struggle with chaos.
This Psalm contains a song of praise to a Creator who restores the disorder of the Fall recorded in Genesis. It is a song of our Redeemer God. In this praise song, we are given a progression or ordered way of understanding His reordering work for the individual person, then the people groups, and finally the entire creation.
First, we see an acknowledgment that “to you [God] shall all flesh come” for the chaos is first personal (verse 2). The chaos of sin demands righting, and when our iniquities actually “prevail against us” (verse 3), God removes chaotic sin from us as individuals. After this removal, we are brought near to dwell with our God of order.
This reordering then expands from the individual to encompass the corporate chaos of peoples. He engulfs the “tumult of the peoples” to the glory of His name (Verse 7-9). From there, we see that God is also righting the general chaos of His marred creation . He not only stills the seas, but He has set forth patterns such as those of the morning and evening. The Psalm closes with a picture of His provision through patterns. These patterns bring abundant provision. An abundant harvest occurs because order has triumphed over chaos.
In all of this, God is extolled as the Redeemer. It is His work and his plan that accomplish the reordering. So, whether it is the chaos of illness in the body or the chaos of sin in the soul, though we use the means provided for removal of that chaos, God orchestrates the reordering.
Read Psalm 65. Ponder the beautiful picture of God’s chaos righting power. Meditate on His mighty works on behalf of a disordered creation. Rejoice that He is the one who accomplishes this reordering.
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
