Remember the past

Slices

Prepare

Remember a time when God felt especially close to you in the past. Thank him for his faithfulness.

Bible passage

Psalm 105

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.

5 Remember the wonders he has done,
    his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,
6 you his servants, the descendants of Abraham,
    his chosen ones, the children of Jacob.
7 He is the Lord our God;
    his judgments are in all the earth.

8 He remembers his covenant for ever,
    the promise he made, 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 resided as a foreigner 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 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;
    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.

Praise the Lord.

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Explore

This psalm was sung when the Ark of the Covenant was brought back to Jerusalem by King David in approximately 1004 bc (see 1 Chronicles 16:8–16).

The focus of the psalm is on remembering the covenant relationship God made with Abraham. The psalm tells the history of this covenant from Abraham, through to Joseph, the captivity of God’s people in Egypt, the escape from Egypt led by Moses and the wanderings in the wilderness. Read verses 5–41 carefully and see if you can spot each phase of the history for yourself. Is there a story here that has been meaningful for you?

Now look back at verses 1–5, which are set in the psalmist’s present day. These verses are both an expression of praise because the Ark was finally returning to Jerusalem after many years’ absence and they praised God for his faithfulness to his people over many years.

Think for yourself: how does remembering God’s past faithfulness encourage you in the present and help you to praise him?

Verses 41–45 shift from the past to the future. The whole point of God being faithful to his covenant with his people in the past was so that they should praise him in the present and live according to this Word in the future.

Author
Ali Walton

Respond

Having begun with thanking the Lord for his faithfulness to you in the past, pray now that he will strengthen you to live according to his Word in the future.

Bible in a year

Read the Bible in a year: Isaiah 53,54; Psalms 108,109

Pray for Scripture Union

Pray that SU Timor-Leste’s Happy Wednesday children and youth programme will foster friendships through sports and activities and that many children and young people will come to know and follow Jesus through the sharing of the gospel.

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