Daily devotional · September 30
A Year Crowned with Goodness
“You attend to the earth and water it; with abundance You enrich it. The streams of God are full of water, for You prepare our grain by providing for the earth. You soak its furrows and level its ridges; You soften it with showers and bless its growth. You crown the year with Your bounty, and Your paths overflow with plenty. The pastures of the wilderness overflow; the hills are robed with joy. The pastures are clothed with flocks, and the valleys are decked with grain. They shout in triumph; indeed, they sing.”
As September closes, this psalm looks at the earth like a gardener who has stepped back. God visits the land and waters it, enriches it, and prepares the grain. Furrows are soaked, ridges settled, the soil softened with showers. Then the psalmist steps back further and says God crowns the year with his bounty, and even wagon tracks overflow with abundance, as Psalms 65:11 pictures it. Hills and meadows are clothed and dressed with joy. It is a picture of gratitude as a way of seeing. Not every year feels crowned, yet if you look back over these months there are gifts you did not earn: people, meals, healing, protection, ordinary mornings. Today, write down five ways God provided for you since January. Thank him aloud for each one. If you can, share one with someone else, since gratitude grows when it is spoken.
Also read
“You crown the year with Your bounty, and Your paths overflow with plenty.”
Psalms 65:11
Prayer
Lord, you crown my year with goodness. Thank you for every gift, seen and unseen.