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The Sovereign LORD Keeps His Covenant Promises

Here we have a psalm, or a hymn, which is all about the LORD and His covenant faithfulness. The basis of this wonderfully encouraging faithfulness is the LORD's sovereignty – He has the necessary power to do all that He has promised to do.

And it is important for us to take note of the fact that the LORD when He makes His promises does not forget that to which He has committed Himself.

Twice in the Psalm we are told that LORD is active in remembering what He has promised, and this should encourage His people:

v.8 "He remembers his covenant forever…"

                  v.42 "For he remembered his holy promise."

The people of God in this psalm are themselves encouraged on their part to remember things to – they are not to overlook or to forget what the LORD has done in fulfilling His covenant commitments:

v.5 "Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered,"

We might very briefly summarise this Psalm as follows:

"God remembers His covenant and acts on behalf of His people. His people remember what it is that God has done for them and respond, firstly with praise (vv.1-6) and, secondly with the obedience for which He looks (v.45)."

There is much in this psalm to help and to encourage us if only we would take it seriously. So let's move on to analyse the text more closer.

When we're faced with a long psalm it is not always immediately obvious to us just how it all fits together. So let's take some time to break the psalm up into more manageable units which will enable us to more readily follow the flow of thought it contains.

vv.1-6

The opening verses contain a series of imperatives, or commands, which the Psalmist addresses to God's people.

vv.7-11

After the exhortations of the opening verses the psalmist directs us immediately to what must be the focus of our praise – the LORD Himself!

The LORD is a personal God, He is our God and He remembers His covenant obligations.

vv.12-15

             The psalmist begins an historical review which will continue until v.44.

He begins by showing how God dealt in grace with the patriarchs.

vv.16—22

             Joseph precedes Israel in Egypt.

vv.23-36

             God takes Israel to Egypt and intervenes there on their behalf.

vv.37-44

Deliverance from Egypt and provision is made for the people on the way, en route for the Promised Land.

v.45      The psalmist describes why the LORD did all this and concludes with a call to worship!

1.       vv.1-6

If we are to understand the Bible then we need to pay careful to what we read. We need, for example, to whether the words we're reading are addressed to us or to some other group of people.

Well the psalmist makes it very clear to whom he is writing. He is writing to God's people. This we can clearly see in v.6 where he addresses them as the "offspring of Abraham… the children of Jacob, his chosen ones".In v.3 he describes them as those who "seek the LORD" wholeheartedly.

Does that description fit you? Are you a member of His people and are you seeking Him wholeheartedly in your life? The exhortations in this opening section of the psalm are addressed to such as these but not to all and sundry.

The exhortations that the psalmist gives are intensive given the sheer number of them in these opening verses:

The people of God are called upon nine times in just 5 verses:

1.        to give thanks to the LORD v.1.

2.        to call upon His name v.1.

3.        to make known His deeds v.1

4.        to sing His praises v.2

5.        to tell of His wondrous works v.2.

6.        to glory in His holy name v.3

7.        to seek Him v.4

8.        to seek Him again v.4 (different words are used)

9.        to remember what He has done on their behalf v.5.

How easy it is to race on by without taking seriously what the psalmist is at pains to underscore! But all these exhortations should really make us stop and think – what is he so excited about?

2.       vv.7-11

Well the Psalmist is all caught up with the LORD and in particular with the fact that the LORD has freely made promises to His people.

Do you notice the repetition of the word covenant – in vv.8, 9 +10? To this we could add the further mentions of the "word that He commanded" of a "sworn promise" or "oath".

And for the Psalmist what really is special about all this is not just that the LORD made promises but that He kept them! He doesn't quickly forget the engagements He has entered into – "a thousand generations" and an "everlasting covenant" both expressions teach the same thing – the LORD made promises that He meant to keep and promises that He does keep!

The particular promise that forms the focus of this psalm is to be found in v.11. The psalmist is reminding himself of the promise of land. Perhaps the psalm was written when God's people were actually in exile away from the Promised Land; if this were the case then what an encouragement it would be to them to be reminded of just how the LORD had brought them into the Land in the  beginning.

3.       vv.12-15

The historical section opens with grace. The LORD had chosen His people – here it is the patriarchs who are in view ie. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. They weren't chosen because of anything about them – they weren't numerous and they weren't important when God chose them. But chose them He did and committed Himself to an undeserving group of wanderers. He led them, He protected them and defended them against others who would do them harm. And all this because it pleased Him to do so.

Grace is to found throughout the Bible and it is truly a wonderful subject. Grace is God being good to those who don't deserve such goodness. Indeed grace is yet more than that: it is God being good to those who ill-deserve such goodness.

For you and me as beneficiaries of grace in Jesus Christ it isn't simply that we don't deserve to benefit from His coming into the world we actually actively deserve to experience God's wrath and anger.

Grace is a humbling matter when we understand it properly. God chose us because He chose us. He saw no goodness in us but He chose us. And neither did He see some potential for goodness which led Him to choose us. If we're ever tempted to think that somehow we are better than the next man or woman because we have been chosen by the LORD then we are simply straying from grace and trying to attribute to ourselves what belongs to Him and to Him alone. He declares that His glory He will not give to another

4.       vv.16-44

The rest of the historical section develops the thought that the LORD has sovereignly and providentially directed the affairs of history in favour of His chosen people. God is indeed active in history according to this psalm and it is a cause for great joy and for our encouragement to know that He is.

However having said this does mean that the people of God always understand all the intricacies of just what He is doing. It is easier to trace His hand in our lives looking backwards than it is to discern His hand in our present. We are called to walk by faith and not by sight! The psalmist is however concerned that his hearers be left in no doubt that the LORD is trustworthy – as we "see" His actions in the past we should be encouraged to face the present and future with confident trust.

a)       But while God operates sovereignly to "cause all things to work together for good" for His people this does not mean that everything is always easy and straightforward. Indeed there are times when appearances seem to indicate the exact opposite.

b)       Before the covenant promise concerning land can be fulfilled Joseph must be sold by his brothers into slavery. He goes down to Egypt where he experiencing unjust treatment and has a hard time of it. But God is at work getting His man into the right place for the right time.

c)       Instead of possessing the land Jacob and his sons are exposed to famine and are forced to look to foreign Egypt. The land of promise wasn't looking very promising.

d)       And yet… salvation is brought. Joseph has been tested and formed and is now in a position to provide for his own people. But this "salvation" is away from the Promised Land and before the people will arrive in that land they must pass through a lengthy period in a land which becomes increasingly hostile towards them.

e)       And yet… the LORD greatly increases them in number until He is ready to raise up a new liberator, Moses.

f)        Through Moses the LORD operated a number of significant signs and miracles – we know them as the Plagues of Egypt. This was the way the LORD chose to work in order to deliver His people and prepare them for the journey to the land into which He had promised to bring them. As the people finally leave Egypt to head for home they leave with singing and with great riches.

g)       Before the people are able to enter the land however there is the small matter of the wilderness period. And through the years of wandering (the psalmist passes over the disobedience that prolonged that wandering from a matter of weeks to 40 long years) the LORD continues to provide for His people – His own presence, meat and manna, water. He responded to the need of His people though even blessings can at times be mixed: the people craved meat and the quails brought a measure of distress. The LORD provided water for His people but on one occasion when Moses thought he was free to secure water by relying on his own ideas it led to him not being allowed to enter the Promised Land but only to see it from a distance.

h)       Through all these twists and turns the LORD was steadily pursuing His purpose of bringing His people into possession of the land. I wonder whether the people really realized it at the time – I somehow think not.

And what of us? Are we prepared to trust the LORD when things don't seem to conform to our understanding of how everything ought to be? For we in the church of the NT era have seen greater works of God than all these mighty acts described in this psalm. We have an understanding of what God has done for us in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Our position is in some ways akin to that of the patriarchs waiting for the promise of land to be fulfilled, only our land is not an earthly one – we are awaiting for the promise of a new heavens and a new earth.

And reading or hearing this psalm should enable us, as we look back over what the LORD has already done, to contemplate the future with a confident expectation!

Surely our response to our wonderful Lord is to be no less than that expected of our OT brethren – we too are to praise and worship and gladly serve the covenant LORD who remembers His promises and fully keeps them.

To God be the glory.