Sunday, June 1, 2014 pm
STUDIES IN PSALMS
Make Known His Deeds
Psalm 105
This psalm recalls early events in the life of Israel from the promise
made to Abraham to his descendants entering the Promised Land.
Its message is one of proclamation.
It is a moderately length psalm, but its message is pretty
straight forward. It is the
first of 3 psalms in a row that begins with, “O give thanks to the
Lord.”
a.
IN these first few
verses we find practical admonitions that describe our manner of life.
b.
Give thanks to the Lord
– always begin with gratitude.
WE frequently in the psalms visit this reminder.
We are even told in scripture, “In everything give thanks.” (1
Thess. 5:18, Phil. 4:6)
c.
Call upon His name – Let Him be the one that our thanks is directed toward.
NOTE: In this psalm we see gratitude for God fulfilling His word.
Let us be reminded to “call upon His name” during both the good
times and the bad.
ALSO: In the NT, this expression is often associated with our salvation
– turning to Him for salvation (Rom. 10:13, 1 Cor. 1:2) – in these texts
it is not merely prayer, but turning to Him for salvation
d.
Make known His deeds
among the people
– don’t keep His message to yourself.
In this expression we find a call to declare God to everyone.
Certainly, we have a responsibility to seek to tell others about God.
And it ought to be something we WANT to do (not just because we
have to) – David continually declared God to others – we have it
recorded in the psalms.
I am reminded of the Samaritan woman in John 4 who left her water pot
and told everyone about Jesus (John 4:28-30)
Like the blind man that Jesus healed (John 9) willingly proclaimed
Jesus.
Acts 3:8 – like the lame man healed by Peter went into the temple
leaping.
While many accounts in scripture involve miracles, others are simply
salvation from sin (such as Cornelius – Acts 10, Lydia – Acts 16, etc.)
– and those involved determined to share the good news with others.
In Acts 8:4, even after persecutions in Jerusalem, they went everywhere
preaching the word. They did
not keep it to themselves.
Neither should we!
THIS should begin with our families – a study of the Old Law includes
the repeating of this message within the family.
A part of the Passover meal was the telling of its purpose to
your children and thereby teaching them of the wonderful work and grace
of God (Exodus 12:26-28).
Deut. 4:9-10, 6:6-9, 11:18-21, etc. – continually they were reminded to
“pass it on”.
e.
Sing psalms to Him
– singing IS teaching – Eph. 5:19, Col. 3:16.
f.
Talk of all His wondrous works
– not just preaching, but also talking.
This emphasizes more about proclaiming this.
In this point I see that one way, perhaps one of the best, to
teach others is simply to talk about the Lord and what He has done in
your life.
Furthermore, it ought to be on our minds continually – do we talk about
spiritual matters with our family, friends and neighbors?
Even among our brethren, what is the direction of our
conversations? When
together, how often does the Bible come up?
NOW I do not believe that everything has to be about God and His word –
there are other subjects to address – but a pretty good spiritual
indicator focuses on how much we focus on God!
g.
Glory in His holy name (3) – speak with hope and rejoicing.
First – do it yourself.
A healthy exercise for us is to consider the grace of God in our
lives. We are saved by His
grace (Eph. 2:8). Our hope
lies in His mercy and love for us.
That does not discount our need for obedience (cf. Rom. 6:1-12),
but the better we understand His part in our salvation the more we will
glory in Him. The more we
will serve Him with reverence and godly fear (Heb. 12:28-29).
It will also be the source of our REJOICING in Him.
Second – do it before others - 1 Cor. 1:29, Gal. 6:14
h.
Seek the Lord (4)
– when we rejoice, we are going to strive to seek Him.
I am reminded again of 1 John 4:19, “We love Him because He first loved
us” and Colossians 3:1-2
And lest we forget, that which we are seeking FIRST is the kingdom of
God and His righteousness – Matthew 6:33
Our psalmist said, “Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face
evermore.”
i.
Remember His marvelous works (5-6) – our trust in Him is NOT without foundation.
Physically, Israel had witnessed so many wonderful things which
God had done for them.
IF this psalm was penned by David, the he has seen God keep His word in
ways that directly applied to him, and all Israel.
THIS expression is expressed in the rest of this psalm – namely in God
keeping His covenant, even in what was seemingly hopeless situations –
it turns out they were a PART of God’s plan!
a.
He is the Lord our God (7) – First and foremost He is MY God!
Personal. You might
ask the question: “Who is YOUR God?”
The psalmist (and Israel proudly proclaim Jehovah their God).
b.
He judges all the earth
(7) –
here is the TRUTH! Many
worship many different gods, but there is only ONE TRUE God.
He is the one in control of the world.
c.
He remembers His covenant forever (8)
– In the rest of this
psalm, the psalmist will recall many things God has done!
This sets Him apart from the other gods who are not.
Isaiah 41:21-24, etc. Our
God has proven Himself – something that cannot be definitively said of
other gods and religions.
d.
The covenant of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob (9-12)
– an everlasting covenant –Genesis 12:1-3 is the beginning.
AS you proceed through Genesis you see this promise develop –
Genesis 15 – promised repeated to Abraham calling for patience; to Isaac
– Gen. 26:3-5; to Jacob – Gen. 28:13-15.
In these passages you also find the land promise.
It was promised when they were few in number and strangers in the land.
e.
He protected them until
the promise - 13-15
- as the patriarchs wandered about they were protected.
Even when they had to
go to Egypt (Genesis 12:9-20) and in Gerar where Abraham and Sarah were
protected from Abimelech (Gen. 20), and later Isaac too would be
protected from Abimelech. (Gen. 26)
f.
He saw to their protection away from the corruption of the land – in Egypt
(16-25)
i.
He called for a famine – recall that Joseph was brought to his position of
prominence by interpreting dreams from God.
Genesis 41 describes Joseph interpreting Pharaoh’s dreams about 7
years of good followed by 7 years of famine.
BUT, after this Genesis 42 find Jacob and his 11 sons in Canaan when the
famine hits. Most of his
sons are sent to Egypt where there is grain.
This is where Joseph sees his brothers many years after their
devious efforts. that which
brought them into the land (16)
g.
Joseph sent BEFORE them –
i.
Joseph was sold in to
Ishmaelites who sold him into slavery in Egypt – Genesis 37.
Vs. 18 describes Joseph as being in fetters.
Genesis 39:20-23 records him being put into prison after
Potiphar’s wife lied and framed him.
This verse gives details we are not told in the original text.
Vs. 19-20 describe how in time “his word came” and he was tried.
I believe to be a reference to the dreams he interpreted
throughout his time in Egypt, and even his dreams to his brethren that
led to their jealousy and selling him.
Joseph’s work was God’s
providence (17-22) – from prison to the king’s house
20-22 - Joseph He was made ruler over the people.
He went from prisoner to 2nd in charge answering only
to Pharaoh (Gen. 41:40-41)
ii.
23 – Israel (Jacob)
dwelt in Egypt and increased his people – as a result of all that God
did with Joseph. Genesis 45
-46 recounts Jacob going to Egypt and they are given choice land to
dwell in.
iii.
24 - While there the
people increased greatly.
When the company of Jacob moved to Egypt they were 70 in number (Gen.
46:26-27) – about 400 years later they would emerge the nation that
would inherit Canaan.
iv.
25 – Egypt turned
against Israel – which leads to the book of Exodus.
h.
Moses (26-41)
i.
Moses and Aaron sent to
Pharaoh to bring Israel out of bondage in Egypt – we are told in Exodus
3 & 4 of Moses meeting with the Lord at the burning bush.
Though he resists at first, Aaron joins him and together they
confront Pharaoh (Ex. 4:14-17)
ii.
They performed signs
(27) Exodus 7 records their
first encounter with Pharaoh.
Aaron has a rod that when he casts down it turns into a serpent.
They also had other signs they could use.
iii.
He sent plagues (28-36)
–
1.
Darkness – the 9th
plague – thick darkness over the land of Egypt but not in the dwellings
of the children of Israel.
Exodus 10:21-29
2.
Water to blood – the 1st
plague – Exodus 7:14-25. All
the waters of the land of Egypt were turned to blood for 7 days and the
fish died in the river.
3.
Frogs – the 2nd
plague – Exodus 8:1-15.
They were everywhere.
When they died they were gathered into heaps and the land stank
4.
Flies – The 4th
plague – Exodus 8:20-32. The
land was corrupted because of the flies.
5.
Lice – The 3rd
plague – Exodus 8:16-19.
Aaron struck the dust of the land and it became lice everywhere on both
man and beast.
6.
Hail – the 7th
plague – Exodus 9:18-28 – it was strong and destroyed their crops.
Hail with fire and thunder (Ex. 9:23).
It broke their vines and trees.
7.
Locust – the 8th
plague – Exodus 10:12-20.
The locust devoured what was left after the hail did its damage.
They devoured everything on the ground as well as their herbs.
8.
The firstborn – the 10th
and final plague – Exodus 12:29-30.
All the firstborn of Egypt died, both man and beast.
Israel was driven out.
They left with all sorts of treasure and with complete strength
(Ex. 12:35-36). Our text
says there was not one who was feeble among the tribes.
Egypt was glad they were gone.
iv.
In the wilderness (39-41
1.
He protected and
sustained them in the wilderness (39-41).
A cloud by day and pillar of fire by night.
Think of this – EVERYDAY there was a reminder of God sustaining
them, even for the whole 40 years.
Exodus 13:21-22 describes this protection.
2.
He feed them with quail
and manna. Exodus 16:11-16.
But in this He gave them instructions.
3.
He gave them water
miraculously – on many occasions.
There are at least 3 recorded in the wilderness wanderings.
The one mentioned in this text is Exodus 17:1-7 where Moses was
commanded to strike the rock and it brought forth water.
i.
Why? (42-45)
i.
Why did God do all these
things? The simple answer is
He had a plan. BUT He also
made a promise to Abraham and He kept it – even generations after his
departure from this earth.
ii.
He remembered His holy
promise – Exodus 2:24 describes Israel suffering in Egypt and He
remembered His covenant with Abraham.
iii.
He remembers His servant
Abraham – much of what God did was because of the faith of Abraham and
God’s promise to him.
iv.
They were delivered with
joy (both from Egypt and when they entered the land) – when they were
finally in the wilderness and across the Red Sea, there was rejoicing
(Exodus 15 records a song of rejoicing.
Exodus 14:30-31 tells us the people also feared the Lord and
believed Him.
v.
He gave them the land of
the Gentiles (Canaan) – just as He promised.
Joshua 11:23 tells us “So Joshua took the whole land,
according to all that the Lord had said to Moses; and Joshua gave it as
an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes.
Then the land rested from war.”
Joshua 21:44-45 says, ““The Lord gave them rest all around, according
to all that He had sworn to their fathers. And not a man of all their
enemies stood against them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into
their hand. Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had
spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.”
vi.
So that “they might observe His statues and keep His laws.”
– God mad all the provisions possible so that they could observe His
laws. God made it possible
for them to do. He provided
everything they needed and protected them.
The history of scripture tells us He did this over and over.
j.
God’s plan for us
– Having discussed this, what is the lesson for us.
We are told in Romans 15:4,
“For whatever things were written before were written for our
learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures
might have hope.”
God has made many promises to us if we remain faithful to Him.
He promised us His protection - that we will be able to endure
whatever comes our way, that Satan will not snatch us out of His hands,
access to Him through Jesus, and ultimately a home in heaven when this
life is over. Read Romans
8:28-38 as one example.
How do we know He can
keep His promises to us? May
I humbly suggest – READ the 105th psalm.
And what is left when we consider these things?
Just as the psalmist concludes, may we say with a wholesome heart,
“Praise the Lord!” Think
about it!