Pausing in the Presence of God

Psalm 105. We've kind of gotten to do some long

psalms. We hit a few off and on here and there.

Most of the ones we've gone through to this point

have been pretty short, but now we've kind of

got into some that are a little bit longer, so

we won't be able to do the whole psalm on these.

We'll just do a little piece of it. We'll work

our way through some of these next few psalms.

Psalm 105. We'll start in verse 1. It's taken

us a lot of years, but we're two -thirds of the

way through the book of Psalms. We're over the

two -third mark, so we're going to finish it

up one day. By the time we get through, you go

back and listen to the ones online from Psalm

1. I'm going to sound a lot younger than I did

when we get on Psalm 50. Years have passed. All

right, Psalm 105. We'll pray, and then we'll

get started. God, we come to you. We thank you

for a good day. I pray that you would help us

just to look at these words, that we would just

recall the blessings that you have poured out

in our life and the promises that you have kept

and that we are reminded of how faithful you

have been, not just to the people in Scripture,

but to us, dear Lord, and to those we know. And

I pray that we too would just praise you as well,

just as we see in this psalm. And I ask these

things in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, it is believed

that David wrote this psalm, and for good reason.

If you look in 1 Chronicles chapter 16, starting

1 Chronicles 16 · chapter mention

in verse 7, you'll see that from verse 7 to verse

22, that those 15 verses are the same as the

15 verses that we're going to look at tonight.

And so we see that psalm of praise taking place

when the Ark of the Covenant is being brought

back to Jerusalem. And David leads that psalm,

leads that praise in 1 Chronicles chapter 16.

1 Chronicles 16 · chapter mention

And so that gives us a little context of what

was going on, at least when this first part of

the psalm was written. Psalm 105 verse 1 says,

Psalms 105:1

Give thanks to Yahweh, call on His name, proclaim

His deeds among the peoples. Sing to Him, sing

praise to Him. Tell about all his wonderful works.

Now, I just mentioned that what we see in 1 Chronicles

16 is just a praise in the Lord, the Ark of the

Covenant, just praise in the Lord for all he's

done, that there was something that had taken

place that was worthy of praising God. But what

about in our life? Is there anything that takes

place that's... worthy of praising God well I

suspect that there is there's probably a lot

more things in our life that we should praise

God for than we do we ask God for a lot of things

and we seek God for strength and help and that's

great we should do that God is there for us to

do that but but maybe we should we should pay

attention to these psalms because we kind of

see this same idea. A lot of the things that

we see are just kind of repeats. A lot of the

things that I say are repeats because we kind

of see this theme bounces back up from time to

time of praising the Lord. We see that a lot

in the Psalms. Now, we see a lot of beautiful

things in the Psalm. We see cries for help and

pleas for God to hear us and not abandon us in

our sinfulness. We see those kind of things,

but we also see praise. And I think that... We

see a good balance of that in the Psalms, and

we should see a good balance of that in our lives

too. And maybe that's good medicine for us. Maybe

that is something that will kind of cheer us

up. When we start to focus on the things that

overwhelm us, it's easy for us to just kind of

forget about everything else that's going on.

And under the weight of the world and our stress,

I think sometimes we forget to praise God. Not

that we don't thank God as good and we're not

appreciative for what he does, but maybe it's

good for our heart to just pause for a moment

and just thank God. Say, okay, God, you know

what? There are some bad things and things could

be worse, but even in the bad things, maybe there's

praise. Maybe whatever situation it is, maybe

it could be a lot worse or whatever. there's

lots of opportunities for us to just pause and

think, you know, God, you have blessed me in

a lot of ways. And maybe there are some things

that I desire or some things that are harder

than what I really want to go through. But God,

you have been good to me and you've blessed me.

You've blessed me with a job, even if it's a

job I hate. You've blessed me with this, even

if it's something that's difficult. You've blessed

me in this way or in that way or whatever it

is. There's lots of ways that God blesses us

that... that even in the bad ways sometimes we

need to realize that, you know what, we got it

pretty good. Sometimes maybe we eat food that

we don't really like, but even in that we should

praise the Lord because there's a lot of people

that ain't got food to eat at all. So even when

we have to eat something we don't like or do

something we don't enjoy, maybe even in those

things we can see some blessing, and maybe that

changes our mindset and our heart. And so we

see in the psalm this idea of, Praising God because

he's good, because of all he's done, because

he's worthy of our praise. And maybe we need

to do that in our lives as well. Verse 3. Honor

his holy name. Let the hearts of those who seek

Yahweh rejoice. Search for the Lord and his strength.

Seek his face always. Boy, that's a good command

for us there. Search for the Lord and for His

strength. Seek His face always. Oh, that's good

advice. Are we searching for the Lord in our

life? Are we seeking the Lord? Are we seeking

His strength? Are we seeking His face? What are

we looking to? Now, there's a lot of things in

this world that we may be tempted to look to

for strength, but it's the Lord who is our source

of strength. We need to make sure that we are

those who search for the Lord, that we're always

looking for the Lord, that we're looking to grow

in the Lord, and we're looking for the Lord to

work in our heart. That's good instruction for

us. Verse 5. Remember the wonderful works he

has done, his wonders and the judgments he has

promised. Again, I call to remembrance here,

okay? Why is David... praising the Lord? Well,

because he remembers the Lord. He knows that

the Lord is good. Now, David's life wasn't always

good, and a lot of that was his own fault, so

we can kind of relate to that. Our life isn't

always good, and it's not necessary that everything

that happens is our fault, but sometimes we may

be like David, get ourselves in some bad situations,

but Even then, we see that David gets to experience

the grace and the mercy of God, and David is

delivered from situations that weren't any of

his doing, but just enemies that were coming

against him in hard times, and he saw God work.

David had experienced the grace and the mercy

of God. He had seen him work. been delivered

by him. He had seen all the mighty things that

God had done. He had seen enemies defeated, and

David knew the stories of God of the Old Testament

before David even came onto the scene. And so

we see in this passage a call to remember what

God has done. We need to do that. Sometimes we

need to not just thank God for the blessings

that we see now, but maybe we just need to take

a moment and just... And just remember that God

is good, that God cares. And think about the

times in the past that God has been with us,

the times in the past that we thought, man, this

is too hard, this is too stressful, I don't know

how I'm going to get through this. And somehow,

God gets us through it. And looking back at it

now, we say, man, that wasn't so bad. But in

the moment, things do seem bad. And so if we're

in the moment of something that seems bad today,

then maybe we need to remember the things that

God has done in the past. He's delivered us in

the past and delivered many we know in the past

and delivered countless people throughout the

scripture so we can remember that we serve a

good God who keeps his promises. Continuing on

in verse 6. You offspring of Abraham, his servant,

Jacob's descendants, his chosen ones, he is the

Lord our God. His judgments govern the whole

earth. He remembers his covenant forever. the

promise he ordained for a thousand generations.

The covenant he made with Abraham swore to Isaac

and confirmed to Jacob as a decree and to Israel

as an everlasting covenant. I will give the land

of Canaan to you as your inherited portion. Okay,

so he's going to start kind of going back through,

and he's starting with Abraham here, and we're

not going to get to it tonight, but eventually

we're going to move into Moses. But he begins

to not just say, remember the Lord, but he starts

to give examples of how we can trust the Lord.

And he starts with Abraham. And what did God

say to Abraham? He said, I'm going to bless you,

and all nations are going to be blessed through

you. Now, that was the promise. And part of that

promise was Israel was going to get the land,

and they did. They certainly got the land, and

God blessed them. But the bigger part of the

promise was further looking than just the bloodline

of Abraham. What God was really going to do was

bless all nations through Abraham. And we see

that clearly spelled out for us when we get to

the New Testament, that it tells us who the sons

of Abraham are. Now, God promises that the descendants

of Abraham, the sons of Abraham, are going to

be blessed. And by the time we get to the New

Testament, when we get to Galatians, it tells

us that the sons of Abraham are those who have

faith in Jesus Christ, that those are the children

of God, that those are the people of God. It's

not a people with a certain bloodline. It's not

just descendants of Abraham. But the New Testament

explains for us that the promises of God are

yes and amen in Jesus Christ. And everything

was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. All that was talked

about, that the nations were going to be blessed,

that the descendants were going to be blessed,

that all of this was going to happen, this promise

to Abraham, all of this was fulfilled. All of

this has already been accomplished through Jesus

Christ. And so we know that God... is a God who

keeps his promises. He had promised in the Old

Testament to give his people the land, and he

did. And when we get to the end of the book of

Joshua, it says that every promise that God had

made to the people, he had kept those promises.

But there was a further reaching promise. It

was not just for the people going to the land

at that time. It was pointing us toward Jesus

Christ, the Messiah who was going to come through

the bloodline of Abraham. But the real sons of

Abraham are those who trust in Jesus Christ.

And we see that spelled out throughout the Old

Testament because there were many of the Pharisees

and those who were against Jesus, and they thought

it was something special. Well, we're Jewish,

and Jesus said, well, look, you're not really

sons of Abraham because you're not following

God like Abraham did. Abraham was a man of faith,

and so the sons of Abraham are those who have

faith in Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ is the

one who brings forth the promises of God. For

the promises of God are yes and amen in him,

Paul says in the New Testament. And so David

says here, hey, we can start and we can go all

the way back to the beginning at Abraham. Now

in David's day, he hadn't seen the fulfillment

of all those prophecies and the promises of Jesus

Christ. He had seen the fulfillment to some extent.

but he hadn't seen the ultimate fulfillment that

came through Jesus Christ. But even still, David

is rejoicing. If David is rejoicing over the

things that he saw in his life, and he only got

to see a few things, how much more so should

we rejoice now that we have got to see all of

God's promises fulfilled in Jesus Christ? That

we have got to see all these things in the Old

Testament, they're accomplished, they're done,

even in things in David's life. Even the things

that were prophesied about him, we see fulfilled

in Jesus Christ. That Jesus, the son of David,

was going to be the Messiah. And so we see that

God is faithful and true to his promises. And

for that, David says, we need to be those who

rejoice. We need to remember what God has done

so that we can know what God will do. He will

be with us. He will strengthen us. And David

says he's worthy of being praised. And we need

to do that. Maybe that's a good homework for

us this week. Is to say, you know what, if I

don't already, and maybe you do, but if you don't

already, just set aside some prayers this week

to say, I'm just going to praise the Lord. I'm

just going to praise Him for being good. I'm

just going to thank Him. I'm just going to go

through the list of all the things that are...

that are good in my life. I'm going to go through

it. I'm going to thank Him because He's worthy

of praise because He's blessed me and He's good

to me. And man, that may be the difference in

changing our heart from a good day to a bad day.

Because life is hard and life is stressful, but

man, just a minute, just pausing for a minute

in the presence of God and just praising Him,

maybe we don't do it enough. Maybe all of our

attitudes would be better if we did. And I think...

That's what we see in the Psalms. I think that's

what we see here in Psalm 105. Let's pray. God,

we thank you for your good words, and we thank

you for being good. And God, your word is full

of examples of you being good and faithful, of

you making promises and keeping promises and

even fulfilling the greatest promise, that is

Jesus Christ, dear Lord. You promise you won't

leave us. You won't forsake us. You promise to

be our strength. You promise to carry our burden,

dear Lord, if we'd bring them to you. And so,

dear Lord, I pray today that we would hold on

to your promises, that we know that you're a

God we can trust, that we recall the things that

you've done in our life and throughout Scripture,

and help us just to see the blessings that we

have, dear Lord, even in the midst of all the

tough things that may go on in our life. Let

us rejoice in the blessings. And I ask these

things in Jesus' name. Amen.