God’s faithfulness to an unfaithful people never ceases to amaze me. As I read the Scriptures, I see so many examples of His grace and mercy toward people who don’t deserve any type of kindness whatsoever, let alone salvation from the Creator and Savior of the world.
But that’s the beauty of the God of the Bible, He doesn’t care about your past, all He wants is your heart’s commitment to follow Him.
Today’s lesson comes from Psalm 105, a chapter, among many others, with an excellent reminder of God’s faithfulness to His unfaithful chosen people, Israel. If you’re at all familiar with the stories from Genesis and Exodus, then you know that over and over again the Israelites begin by praising God when life’s good and then cursing Him when life gets rough.
Scripture:
Read Psalm 105.
Focus passages: Psalm 105:1-5, 40-45
1 Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name;
make known among the nations what he has done.
2 Sing to him, sing praise to him;
tell of all his wonderful acts.
3 Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
4 Look to the Lord and his strength;
seek his face always.
He spread out a cloud as a covering,
and a fire to give light at night.
—
40 They asked, and he brought them quail;
he fed them well with the bread of heaven.
41 He opened the rock, and water gushed out;
it flowed like a river 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.
Chapter Outline:
As I was studying this chapter, I decided to create my own outline of it to help break down the themes within it.
Verses 1-6:
Introduction, praise and thanksgiving, and reminder to always seek the Lord.
Verses 7-11:
A reminder of who God is and His promises to provide for Him and give them the promised land.
Verses 12-27:
The Psalmist recounts the history of Israel’s enslavement to Egypt and how God provided for them during that time.
Verses 28-36:
Remembering how God punished Egypt for denying Israel their freedom.
Verses 37-44:
Remembering God’s faithfulness in bringing them out of Egypt and providing for them in the wilderness despite their lack of faith and perpetual sin.
Verses 45:
Chapter conclusion stating why these events occurred.
A Deeper Look At God’s Faithfulness:
After reading the whole chapter, let’s take a deeper look at our focus passages.
Focus passages: Psalm 105:1-5, 40-45
Verses 1-5
In the first passage, the Psalmist insists that we begin with a heart attitude of praise and thanksgiving to God. This means that we aren’t thinking about what we can get from God because of our good works, but rather we are humbling ourselves to the reality that without Him, we’re nothing (John 15:5).
Praising God and being grateful to Him for the very breath we breathe should be a no brainer. After all He is our provider and our deliverer.
Furthermore, the introduction also encourages us to seek God always. Seek His will, His strength, His presence.
Why Should We Seek God?
As Christians, seeking the Lord’s will, guidance, and wisdom is all part of growing closer to Him. When we seek the Lord, we learn to depend on Him for our answers to life’s toughest questions.
Non-Christians—people who do not have a relationship with Jesus—who seek redemption and answers often find those answers by praying or talking to a mature Christian. It’s these types of conversations and prayers that can result in a person choosing to give their life to Jesus Christ.
Related:
Seeking the Lord is also part of how Christians discover their personal calling and purpose in life. I’ll talk more about this topic in another article, but for now, the main point here is that finding your true purpose—the thing that will bring you the most fulfillment and satisfaction in this life—requires a relationship with Jesus.
Verses 40-45
In the last passage, the Psalmist wants to remind the reader of God’s provisions throughout a time where the Israelites couldn’t help but be fickle. They couldn’t seem to make up their minds as to whether or not God should be praised because of His deliverance and provision or cursed because they were forced to live in the wilderness, virtually directionless and wandering.
Sometimes, in life, there are going to be periods where we just don’t know which way is up. We’ve lost our direction and can’t seem to recalculate our internal GPS’.
The good news, however, is that when we seek the Lord! We no longer need to rely on our own ability to find direction (Prov. 3:5-6). Instead, God gives us direction through Scripture and prayer. He’ll even use others to help us find our way.
More Bible Resources:
Closing Thoughts
Throughout the Bible, we are reminded of all the ways that God is faithful. Whether we’re wandering in our own personal wildernesses; feeling stuck in a place, job, or relationship that we’d just like to get out of; or needing reassurances that we will always have what we need—I want to leave you this promise:
God will never leave you nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5).
He will always provide for all your needs according to His riches and His glory in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:19).
You are never alone in this world. No matter how tough things may be right now, it will get better (Romans 8:28).
It’s easier said than done, but if you can put just a tiny ounce of trust in Him (Matt. 17:20), He won’t disappoint you.
Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” (NIV).
Remember that God blesses faithfulness.
You’ve got this, my friend! I’m here for you. Feel free to email me prayer requests to hello@daretothrive.co and I’ll be in touch!
