"Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name, make known His deeds among the peoples!” NKJV
Psalm 105 is a relatively long psalm about God’s relationship with His people, Israel. It tells of God’s faithfulness to His people in delivering them from Egypt. The psalm concludes with these words: “He brought out His people with joy, His chosen ones with gladness, He gave them the lands of the Gentiles, and they inherited the labor of the nations, that they might observe His statutes and keep His laws.” The psalm is a reminder to God’s people of all ages in a metaphorical sense that He has delivered us all from our “Egypt’s” into abundant life in Him. In this spirit, I saw in the first verse three priorities for all of God’s people of every age. The first priority that I saw in this verse was that God’s chosen people are to “give thanks” to Him. Of all people, we should be the most thankful people on earth. Throughout the Old and New Testaments we read of God’s faithfulness to His people – to the Jews first and then to believers in Jesus Christ. We should be thankful that God seeks a relationship with us, indeed, longs for a relationship with us. I’m afraid that just as Israel forgot about the blessings of God, we will do the same if we are not careful. The call of the world is strong, and Satan our greatest enemy, knows this and tempts us with the world’s goods. But God’s mercy and grace keep us and continually call us back to obedience. The second priority that I saw in this verse was that God’s chosen people are to “call upon His name.” Of course you know that this means we are to pray. Prayer is not a task that God has given us; rather, it is a privilege and a perpetual joy that He has allowed us. Those who know about such things say that communication between a husband and wife is of utmost importance in the fulfillment of the marriage relationship. The same is true of our relationship with God. Prayer should be a reflex, for lack of a better word, in the life of a Christian. It should be as automatic as breathing. We have God’s ear all of the time, not just on special occasions. In fact, it is when we are going through the most difficult of times that we should call upon the name of the Lord. If you haven’t already, make prayer a priority in your life. The third priority that I saw in this verse was that we should “make known His deeds among the people.” This means that in spite of the fact that many people today see religion as “only a personal thing'". Throughout scripture, we are reminded to tell other people about what God has done in our lives. Israel had many magnificent stories to tell about what God did for them in choosing them and delivering them. These are our stories as well, to which we can joyfully add that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Surely, each of us has stories that we can tell about what Jesus has done in our lives. This is what “make known His deeds” means. Keep in mind that these are your priorities too!!! Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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