Psalm 105:1-45

God calls us to be thankful for all that He has done for us.  However, His focus on that which He has done is not limited in any way to our life time.  We are to be thankful for all that the Lord has done long before we were born. God wants us to recognize the value of His work in the past as it most certainly has a vital impact on what is going on in our lives today.  It is of great value in our lives to take time to remember the workings of God throughout all of history as well as in our lives.  The best way for us to demonstrate our gratitude is to open our mouths and make His work known to others.  We can sing praises to the Lord and in prayer express our gratitude to the Lord; but what truly demonstrates that we are impressed by God is when we do not contain His works to ourselves but proclaim His works to all people in all nations.  This Psalm recounts the history of the nation of Israel and demonstrates how God has sovereignly worked to make provision for Israel throughout their history.  This look back on history reveals several truths about God that we must never forget and for which we should always be grateful.

GOD KEEPS HIS PROMISES: God made a covenant with Abraham that He repeated to Isaac and Jacob.  This covenant was vital to the nation of Israel and was a part of God’s overall plan of redemption that would bring the Messiah into the world through the nation that God promised to create.  In the beginning, Abraham and His family were wandering from nation to nation as a small and insignificant family.  God kept His promise by giving this family favor in the eyes of the nations in which they were living.  Abraham and His family were not oppressed by these other nations.  God went ahead of this nation in the person of Joseph who was sold as a slave in Egypt but was eventually elevated to Prime Minister so that during a time of severe famine, God could make provision for the nation.  God keeps His promises and is working through the events of history to do so.  Some of those events might not look like we expect.  Just like we would never expect Joseph’s being sold into slavery and imprisonment to be a means through which God was keeping His promise.  We need to have complete faith in the Lord that He is working in our current circumstances to prepare us for the future that He has planned.

GOD SHOWS HIS POWER: When Israel was in Egypt, they became a large and powerful nation.  They were so powerful that the Egyptians decided to oppress them and eventually tried to destroy them.  Egypt had all of the advantages that were necessary to be successful in destroying the nation of Israel, but God’s power prevented it.  God raised up Moses to come and deliver the people from their enemy.  God showed His power over all of nature and all the nations.  The various plagues that fell on the nation clearly demonstrated that God was in control and that His power was greater than any power that is on this earth.  The insects, the animals, the water, the sky and the earth itself are all under the mighty hand of God.  He used His power to accomplish His will and to fulfill His promises.  The power of life and death are in the hands of God and we must never forget about His power and control over the events of this world.  When we face circumstances that are not to our liking, we must always remember that it is not because God lacks power.  He is fully able to do whatever He needs in order to bring about His will.

GOD GIVES HIS PROVISION: When Israel left Egypt, they did not leave empty handed.  The people of Egypt were so glad to see them God because of God’s power that they provided them with abundant riches in the form of silver and gold.  They had been a nation of slaves but became a very wealthy nation that was free to go take possession of the land that God had promised.  God provided all the food and water that the nation needed as well as the clear direction that they needed.  Eventually God provided them with their own land just as He had promised.  God is faithful to provide all that He has promised according to His power.  We can have complete confidence that God has and will provide all that we need in order to accomplish what He desires.  He provides all that we need in order to serve and live for Him.  These are truths for which we should always give thanks and about which we should always speak to everyone with whom we come in contact.