“O give thanks unto the Lord . . . —Psalm 105
AS WE BEGIN our devotional look at Psalm 105, we would do well to examine another psalm that extols some of the same praiseworthy attributes of our Lord. Our psalm today, to begin with, addresses the faithfulness of God’s people—both the presence of that faithfulness and the lack thereof. Psalm 66:1-5 gives us many reasons and ways that we should be praising God: “Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth! Sing out the honor of His name; make His praise glorious. Say to God, ‘How awesome are Your works! Through the greatness of Your power Your enemies shall submit themselves to You. All the earth shall worship You and sing praises to You; they shall sing praises to Your name.’ Come and see the works of God; He is awesome in His doing toward the sons of men.”
And this is what is in view here: the awesome works of God toward the sons of men. Is God always faithful? Can we access the blessings of His faithfulness? The answer to both questions is yes! Here’s how we can we gain His blessings: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). That, very simply, is how we may appropriate the promises and faithfulness of God in our own lives.
Romans 8:31 asks the question: “If God is on our side, who can come against us?” Well, we need to ask ourselves, “Is God on our side?” And taking that up a notch, do we really believe this and act as if it is true? Do we really seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness? What would life be like if we lived according to God’s definitions of righteousness, obedience, and service, and made those our top priorities? What might we begin to see manifested in this life while we wait for the next? What might be “added” to us if we were to seek God first?
And why would we not want to seek Him? The Bible tells us of the faithfulness of God: “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself will always be faithful to us. He cannot do otherwise, because “He cannot deny Himself.”
So, as Romans 8:31 says, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”; and the promise that we see in 2 Chronicles 7:14 holds true: “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land,” and the similar admonition in the New Testament: “If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them,” then we can expect to see God’s faithfulness manifested in countless areas of our lives, and this is what we will be looking at over the next few days.
Are you ready to learn what it really means to say, “If God be for us, who can be against us?”
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