This psalm reviews Israel’s history, beginning with the covenant He made with Abraham and continuing with Joseph and the deliverance from Egypt. It speaks of God’s provision for His people in the wilderness and concludes with them occupying the land of Canaan, which God had promised Abraham. This hymn or historic psalm reminded the people of God, their heritage, and the God of their fathers, who is unchanging. The people sang the first fifteen verses when David brought the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem, as recorded in 1st Chronicles 16:8-22.
It begins with exhortations to worship and trust the Lord. It is always appropriate to give thanks and praise for God’s works. God’s character, covenant-keeping, judgment, and deliverance remind us of the importance of reviewing His ways with us. To give thanks… call upon His name… sing unto Him… glory in His holy name… rejoice… seek His strength, and remember all His promises to put our lives in perspective. We can quickly lose our sense of purpose and direction if we limit our view of the present or our hopes for the future.
The appeals to remember God’s deliverance call us not to forget the miracles and answers to prayer we have received from our gracious Father. The actions God took on our behalf when we didn’t realize it at the time are good for us to recall and tell our family and friends. In old age, we remember times when God seemed distant, but it was the wise judgments He inherently had that brought us through unseen dangers. It is good to recount His dealings with us, and as we read the accounts in the Bible of how God met the needs of His people in the past, we will discover that He is the same loving God to us. He blessed the patriarchs and, generations later, the nation of Israel. He can do the same today when our faith in Him is genuine, not just words.
God’s unconditional promise to Abraham was a covenant of grace. The Lord remembers His covenants. When God gives grace, everything depends on Him and not on us. The emphasis of this psalm is on what God did, not on Israel’s failures and sins. He “remembered His covenant” that He made with “Mine anointed… My prophets.” That covenant was an unchanging decree. He made it with Abraham, confirmed it with Isaac, and then with Jacob. Covenants are important to God, who cannot lie. God’s character and His promises are always consistent. Israel was expected to keep the law and the statutes as part of the covenant.
The Lord took action to save Israel by His grace. The nation had begun with a wandering, defenseless tribe that moved from Ur to Canaan. Abraham “looked for a city, whose builder and maker is God.” He protected them and, when famine came, sent them to Egypt following Joseph, who had been taken there as a slave. The slave became a prisoner, having learned the discipline of service as a slave first, then learned the discipline of self-control when tempted by Potiphar’s wife. In prison, he knew the discipline of suffering when he was bound with irons on his feet. The sovereign God has sent him there to preserve the lives of His people.
God is in control of our destinies and uses evil, and cruelty is needed to bring the result He wants. Abraham and Moses were both His servants and were used by God in sinful places to do His will. Joseph’s rise to power followed famine, evil, and injustice, but it led to glory for God and the preservation of a tribe of people that had become a nation. The plagues following four hundred years of bondage had prepared a special people for what was ahead of them. They left Egypt as trained people, adapting to many skills imposed upon them.
The riches of silver and gold had been thrust upon them by the Egyptians. It was the blessing of God on Israel that was the cause of Egyptian hatred against them. The people of Egypt were glad when they left. All this was written in this psalm of history. Joseph’s wisdom would have been a well-known part of the history of the Jews. Then, following his forty years of training in the desert, Moses' leadership focused on a man who was prepared for challenging work. All of this history would have demonstrated to the people of David’s day that the power of God to redeem and care for His people was the same for them. God is not different today than He was in those ancient times. He redeems and cares for His people today and has the right to expect what He did for them from us.
Events in their history—training, slavery, freedom, and the wilderness—were all necessary for people to learn to depend on God for life, food, water, clothing, and protection. God supernaturally supplied the cloud and the fire for their guidance and protection. They had been delivered, protected, and finally brought to the land promised to the patriarchs. Everything was ready for them, prepared for by God. The summary of the psalm is in the words, “He remembered His holy promises.”
When we honor God and obey His laws, we will find our purpose in life rather than just living to please ourselves. His word gives us the direction to live in freedom and obedience simultaneously. God kept His promises to Israel and will keep His promises to us. What a wonderful promise is, “I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there will ye be also.” He has the right to expect us to keep His word, precepts, and laws. Like in the past, the appropriate response that begins with praise, prayer, and trust should lead to obedience in faith and action.