“For You, silence is praise.” The Psalmist opens acknowledging the limitation of words and yet, words flow in celebration of God’s grace- “Your paths drip with rich abundance” (verse 12). The human and the natural, the personal and the universal, the physical and the spiritual, commingle. God forgives the sinner and “stills the roaring of the waves and the uproar of nations” (verse 8). Consider the closing verse: “Meadows are clothed with flocks and the valleys are covered with grain; they shout for joy, yes, they sing” (verse 14). Whether the shouts for joy are by nature or humans is unclear, pointing to both simultaneously. Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz comments that yitro’ahu, a culminating verb, translates as either “shouts for joy” or “makes friends.” This “song” conveys a kumbaya awareness: celebrating a Godly world where needs are abundantly met- spiritual and physical; individual, communal, and universal; now and into the future.
