Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness.
Psalm 65:11 gathers the abundance of the preceding verses into one sentence of praise. God visits the earth, waters it, prepares corn, fills the ridges, settles the furrows, sends showers, and blesses the springing thereof (vv.9-10). The following verses show wilderness pastures, rejoicing hills, flocks, and valleys covered with corn (vv.12-13). Verse 11 stands in the midst of that plenty and gives God the glory for it: “Thou crownest the year with thy goodness.” This is thanksgiving sung to God for His providential care through the seasons. At any time of year it gives the saints a fitting confession: the days behind us were crowned by His goodness, and the days before us remain beneath His care.
“Thou crownest the year.” The first word gives God the honor. “Thou” identifies the One responsible for the increase described throughout the passage. Rain, seed, growth, harvest, flocks, and full valleys are not independent powers of nature. God visits the earth and waters it (v.9); God prepares the corn and blesses the springing thereof (vv.9-10). “Crownest” is in the present tense. God’s crowning of the year is His continual work; He does it year by year. His promise after the flood declares, “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22). A crown adorns and honors. David used the same language when he blessed God, “Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;” (Psalm 103:4). Here God adorns the course of the year with visible proofs of His care. The immediate subject is the agricultural year with its seasons, rains, growth, and harvest. Scripture likewise says, “A land which the LORD thy God careth for: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year” (Deuteronomy 11:12). Men divide time by calendars, but God rules every day. We did not carry ourselves through the year; He gave life, provision, strength, and preservation. “My times are in thy hand” (Psalm 31:15).
“With thy goodness.” The crown upon the year is God’s goodness. The verse does not praise the year as though time itself were generous. It praises God, whose goodness fills it. Earlier in the psalm, His goodness is seen in hearing prayer, purging transgressions, satisfying His people, stilling the seas, and visiting the earth with increase (vv.2-10). The same God who forgives also feeds. Goodness must therefore be traced back to its Source. James writes, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17). Men easily enjoy the gift while forgetting the Giver. Psalm 65 corrects such ingratitude: harvest should become praise, bread thanksgiving, and preservation worship. This does not mean every part of a year feels pleasant. A year may contain grief, sickness, loss, correction, or severe trial. Yet God’s goodness is not measured only by ease. The psalmist could say, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes” (Psalm 119:71). God can be good in giving and withholding, in comfort and chastening. Looking back, the saint should ask how God fed, preserved, corrected, taught, forgave, and kept him. His goodness is larger than our comfort.
“And thy paths drop fatness.” This is a metaphor of God passing through His creation and leaving plenty behind Him, as the earth drops abundance where He has passed. “Fatness” is rich abundance. Scripture says, “They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures” (Psalm 36:8). Isaiah likewise calls men away from spending themselves on what cannot satisfy and directs them to hear God and delight their soul in abundance (Isaiah 55:2). In Psalm 65 the figure is agricultural. Verse 10 has described God’s showers; verses 12-13 continue with pastures, hills, flocks, and valleys covered with corn. Wherever His providence passes, there are evidences of His bounty. The figure should keep man from worshipping the means. Rain falls because God sends it; fields produce because God gives increase; men work because He gives strength and opportunity. Paul told the men of Lystra, “Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness” (Acts 14:17). Providence should therefore produce gratitude rather than pride.
This truth also governs the year ahead. Men are tempted to speak confidently of plans, health, increase, and accomplishments as though the months ahead were already theirs. Scripture answers, “For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that” (James 4:15). We do not know what paths the coming days and years will take, but we know whose paths govern them. The God who crowned the last year with goodness has not surrendered His dominion over the next.
Jesus Christ, in His Godhead, is the Creator and Upholder. “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3), and concerning Him Scripture says, “And he is before all things, and by him all things consist” (Colossians 1:17). The rain, seedtime, harvest, seasons, food, and every created thing in Psalm 65 remain under His power. The goodness of God toward His people is seen most gloriously in Christ Himself: “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). The saint’s year is crowned with goodness because of Christ. Whatever the year contains, the greatest gift has already been given, and every lesser mercy comes beneath that immeasurable kindness.
Look back and give God the glory. Look ahead without boasting, for the coming year belongs to Him. “O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever” (Psalm 136:1). Go forward remembering whose goodness crowned the days behind you, and trust His hand for every path still unseen.
Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness.
Psalm 65:11 gathers the abundance of the preceding verses into one sentence of praise. God visits the earth, waters it, prepares corn, fills the ridges, settles the furrows, sends showers, and blesses the springing thereof (vv.9-10). The following verses show wilderness pastures, rejoicing hills, flocks, and valleys covered with corn (vv.12-13). Verse 11 stands in the midst of that plenty and gives God the glory for it: “Thou crownest the year with thy goodness.” This is thanksgiving sung to God for His providential care through the seasons. At any time of year it gives the saints a fitting confession: the days behind us were crowned by His goodness, and the days before us remain beneath His care.
“Thou crownest the year.” The first word gives God the honor. “Thou” identifies the One responsible for the increase described throughout the passage. Rain, seed, growth, harvest, flocks, and full valleys are not independent powers of nature. God visits the earth and waters it (v.9); God prepares the corn and blesses the springing thereof (vv.9-10). “Crownest” is in the present tense. God’s crowning of the year is His continual work; He does it year by year. His promise after the flood declares, “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22). A crown adorns and honors. David used the same language when he blessed God, “Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;” (Psalm 103:4). Here God adorns the course of the year with visible proofs of His care. The immediate subject is the agricultural year with its seasons, rains, growth, and harvest. Scripture likewise says, “A land which the LORD thy God careth for: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year” (Deuteronomy 11:12). Men divide time by calendars, but God rules every day. We did not carry ourselves through the year; He gave life, provision, strength, and preservation. “My times are in thy hand” (Psalm 31:15).
“With thy goodness.” The crown upon the year is God’s goodness. The verse does not praise the year as though time itself were generous. It praises God, whose goodness fills it. Earlier in the psalm, His goodness is seen in hearing prayer, purging transgressions, satisfying His people, stilling the seas, and visiting the earth with increase (vv.2-10). The same God who forgives also feeds. Goodness must therefore be traced back to its Source. James writes, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17). Men easily enjoy the gift while forgetting the Giver. Psalm 65 corrects such ingratitude: harvest should become praise, bread thanksgiving, and preservation worship. This does not mean every part of a year feels pleasant. A year may contain grief, sickness, loss, correction, or severe trial. Yet God’s goodness is not measured only by ease. The psalmist could say, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes” (Psalm 119:71). God can be good in giving and withholding, in comfort and chastening. Looking back, the saint should ask how God fed, preserved, corrected, taught, forgave, and kept him. His goodness is larger than our comfort.
“And thy paths drop fatness.” This is a metaphor of God passing through His creation and leaving plenty behind Him, as the earth drops abundance where He has passed. “Fatness” is rich abundance. Scripture says, “They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures” (Psalm 36:8). Isaiah likewise calls men away from spending themselves on what cannot satisfy and directs them to hear God and delight their soul in abundance (Isaiah 55:2). In Psalm 65 the figure is agricultural. Verse 10 has described God’s showers; verses 12-13 continue with pastures, hills, flocks, and valleys covered with corn. Wherever His providence passes, there are evidences of His bounty. The figure should keep man from worshipping the means. Rain falls because God sends it; fields produce because God gives increase; men work because He gives strength and opportunity. Paul told the men of Lystra, “Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness” (Acts 14:17). Providence should therefore produce gratitude rather than pride.
This truth also governs the year ahead. Men are tempted to speak confidently of plans, health, increase, and accomplishments as though the months ahead were already theirs. Scripture answers, “For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that” (James 4:15). We do not know what paths the coming days and years will take, but we know whose paths govern them. The God who crowned the last year with goodness has not surrendered His dominion over the next.
Jesus Christ, in His Godhead, is the Creator and Upholder. “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3), and concerning Him Scripture says, “And he is before all things, and by him all things consist” (Colossians 1:17). The rain, seedtime, harvest, seasons, food, and every created thing in Psalm 65 remain under His power. The goodness of God toward His people is seen most gloriously in Christ Himself: “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). The saint’s year is crowned with goodness because of Christ. Whatever the year contains, the greatest gift has already been given, and every lesser mercy comes beneath that immeasurable kindness.
Look back and give God the glory. Look ahead without boasting, for the coming year belongs to Him. “O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever” (Psalm 136:1). Go forward remembering whose goodness crowned the days behind you, and trust His hand for every path still unseen.