HE

DEVOTION

PSALMS

Ps 105:8-45

HE

8 He remembers his covenant forever, the word he commanded, for a thousand generations, 9 the covenant he made with Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac. 10 He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant: 11 "To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit."

12 When they were but few in number, few indeed, and strangers in it, 13 they wandered from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another. 14 He allowed no one to oppress them; for their sake he rebuked kings: 15 "Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm."

16 He called down famine on the land and destroyed all their supplies of food; 17 and he sent a man before them — Joseph, sold as a slave. 18 They bruised his feet with shackles, his neck was put in irons, 19 till what he foretold came to pass, till the word of the LORD proved him true. 20 The king sent and released him, the ruler of peoples set him free. 21 He made him master of his household, ruler over all he possessed, 22 to instruct his princes as he pleased and teach his elders wisdom.

23 Then Israel entered Egypt; Jacob lived as an alien in the land of Ham. 24 The LORD made his people very fruitful; he made them too numerous for their foes, 25 whose hearts he turned to hate his people, to conspire against his servants. 26 He sent Moses his servant, and Aaron, whom he had chosen. 27 They performed his miraculous signs among them, his wonders in the land of Ham. 28 He sent darkness and made the land dark — for had they not rebelled against his words? 29 He turned their waters into blood, causing their fish to die. 30 Their land teemed with frogs, which went up into the bedrooms of their rulers. 31 He spoke, and there came swarms of flies, and gnats throughout their country. 32 He turned their rain into hail, with lightning throughout their land; 33 he struck down their vines and fig trees and shattered the trees of their country. 34 He spoke, and the locusts came, grasshoppers without number; 35 they ate up every green thing in their land, ate up the produce of their soil. 36 Then he struck down all the firstborn in their land, the firstfruits of all their manhood.

37 He brought out Israel, laden with silver and gold, and from among their tribes no one faltered. 38 Egypt was glad when they left, because dread of Israel had fallen on them. 39 He spread out a cloud as a covering, and a fire to give light at night. 40 They asked, and he brought them quail and satisfied them with the bread of heaven. 41 He opened the rock, and water gushed out; like a river it flowed in the desert.

42 For he remembered his holy promise given to his servant Abraham. 43 He brought out his people with rejoicing, his chosen ones with shouts of joy; 44 he gave them the lands of the nations, and they fell heir to what others had toiled for — 45 that they might keep his precepts and observe his laws.

Praise the LORD.  

NIV

It is not right to divide this all up, for everything here is about what he did. If we were to highlight those words, he did, which we did, it would be obvious this is an account of what God did for Israel. They are aware of the history of their existence and they are the chosen people God determined to reveal himself to as the one true God. Because God sent Jesus into the world to save whosoever believes, he did not choose Israel to be the only people he was going to save. They were chosen to be the people through whom he would demonstrate his supreme authority over all the earth and who he is, his character, his holiness, his righteousness and his justice. Still, this song relates much of their life before entering the Promised Land. It gives an account from Abraham, their beginning of being the chosen ones, to their entering and possessing the Promised Land. All because of what God did. Not because of them, but because of him. This should give us pause to consider how much of our life do we give credit to God. So often we use some personal pronoun in our conversation with others. I will do this, I did that, I went here, I got this or that, I am going to, I have decided, I want to give, have, do or whatever. It seems our life is all about us, what we are. How much time do we spend recounting all that God has done for us, in and through us? From the very beginning, as he knit us together in our mother’s womb, he foreknew that we would someday, in fact, he foreknew the exact day we would come to repentance and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. He did not predetermine that we would, but he did foreknow we would. So from the beginning he watched over us, he protected our life, for he knew what he was going to do for us, in us and through us. He guarded our life, he destroyed every foe that would do us harm, he brought us through some of the toughest moments of our life. He directed our path, even before we knew it was him making us to go or come someplace. He put all the right people in our life to bring us to the day he knew we would come to him. When we did make that choose, when we did accept Jesus, he began a whole new cascade of events, one after another, miracles, healings, provisions, directions, callings, and opportunities for us to serve his kingdom. It was as if he dropped manna from heaven, and send us quail and cause water to flow from a rock like a raging river in what was the desert of our life. Because of him, fruit spring forth from within us, we became a land flowing with milk and honey. He did so many things in our life, if we were to give an accurate account of each and every single move of his hand within our life, it would take a book to list them and therefore  give him glory. He has caused everything to be as it should be in our life. He has given us the best of life, Jesus. He has given us the best of companions, our spouse and blessed us with the fruit of her womb, children and their children, and their children. For women, he has blessed them with a spouse who is the man of God he should be, and the warrior who conquers, and works the land, to provide the sustenance which God ordained. As with Adam, man is to work all the days of his life, by the sweat of his brow, he should labor for his sustenance. How great is our God? He is the greatest God there is, for he is the only one true God of all mankind, yet he deals with each of us in such a loving and personal way. He cares for us as no one else will. He is due all our devotion, all our praise, all our thanksgiving for great is the Lord and greatly is he to be praised. Praise the Lord. It is all about him, about he said, he did, he spoke, he struck, he caused. It is just about HE.