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my shout

Psalm 66:13-15 (JDV)

Psalm 66:13 I will enter your house with burnt offerings; I will pay you my vows –
Psalm 66:14 the ones my lips promised and my mouth spoke during my distress.
Psalm 66:15 I will offer you fattened sheep as burnt offerings, with the fragrant smoke of rams; I will sacrifice bulls with goats. Selah.

my shout

When I lived in New Zealand, if a friend invited me out for a meal or snack, he would always say “my shout” — meaning he wanted to pay for it. The meal tasted so much better when it was being offered to me as a sign of friendship. And when it was my shout, it gave me the opportunity to show my appreciation as well.

The psalmist had just admitted that all the hardships his nation had gone through were meant by God to refine them like silver is refined. He considered himself more valuable as a result of having gone through some of that distress.

He also remembers the things he promised God he would do if God ever rescued him from those hard times. Now it was his term to pay. His vows would be paid by acts of worship, the sacrifice of costly animals from his flock.

Lord, show us how to show our appreciation for all you have done for us. Our shout.