Psalms 66:5

My Notes

What Does Psalms 66:5 Mean?

The psalmist issues an invitation: come and see. Not come and hear about. Not come and study. Come and see the works of God — with your own eyes. The evidence is visible. The works are observable. The invitation requires your presence, not just your attention.

The word "terrible" (nora — awesome, to be feared, awe-inspiring) describes God's works toward people. The terror isn't cruelty. It's the overwhelming impact of divine activity on human experience. When God acts among human beings, the appropriate response is awe. The works are too big, too precise, too powerful to produce any other reaction.

"Toward the children of men" — God's works aren't performed in isolation. They're aimed at humans. The terrible things He does are done toward us — for our benefit, our judgment, our formation. We're the audience and the recipients. The works have a target, and we're it.

Reflection Questions

• 1.Are you experiencing God's works firsthand (come and see) or secondhand (hearing about others' experiences)?
• 2.Does 'terrible' (awe-inspiring, overwhelming) describe your experience of God — or has familiarity removed the awe?
• 3.What work of God could you 'come and see' right now — what evidence is visible if you look?
• 4.How close are you willing to get to the God whose works produce terror?

Devotional

Come and see. Don't just hear about it. Come see what God does. It will terrify you.

The psalmist doesn't invite you to a lecture about God. He invites you to a viewing. Come and see. Bring your eyes. The evidence is visible. The works are tangible. The God being described doesn't operate in the abstract. He acts in the observable world. And what He does is terrible — in the original sense: awe-inspiring, overwhelming, too big for comfortable comprehension.

"He is terrible in his doing toward the children of men" — God's works among humans produce terror. Not the terror of cruelty. The terror of encountering something so far beyond your scale that your body's only response is awe. The Red Sea parting. The walls of Jericho falling. The sun standing still. Each one: terrible. Each one: toward the children of men.

The invitation — come and see — assumes proximity is available. God's works aren't locked in a museum. They're happening. The terrible things He does are being done right now, toward the children of men who are alive right now. The invitation is present tense: come. See.

The problem isn't that God's works are invisible. It's that most people never come and see. They stay at a distance. They hear reports. They read about what God did somewhere else, to someone else, in another time. And the psalmist says: come yourself. See with your eyes. The terrible, awesome, awe-inspiring works of God are visible — if you'll come close enough to look.

Are you coming? Or are you content to hear about it secondhand?

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture