Psalm 105

Here, Israel is urged to sing praise to God for all he has done, and to tell of these things!  Think about it and rejoice in what He has done!  Continue to seek Him and rely upon Him.

He is our God!

The history of God's people, Israel is recounted, not as a simple historical record, but as the great work of God.  It is He who has made them His people and a mighty nation.

He covenented with Abraham, made an oath to Isaac, and confirmed it to Jacob, that He would give his descendants Canaan as their homeland.  This was a big promise to a people few in number, foreigners in the land, who wandered about.  But God was with them, and allowed no nation or people to harm them.  He brought them, sojourners in the land, through many confrontations with those around them.

He prepared the way for Joseph to be sent ahead to Egypt, preparing to save His people from the famine in later years.  And Joseph, after many hard, hard years, was able to say, "What you meant for evil, God meant for good.".  He saw the hand of the Lord in it all!

Through this, He brought Israel to Egypt and greatly increased them there.  Eventually they outnumbered the Egyptians and were made slaves in the land.

God raised up Moses and Aaron to lead them, and worked great wonders through them.  Remember the plagues He brought upon Egypt and the mighty way He led them out by a cloud and fire.  He even allowed them to plunder the Egyptians peacefully.

In the desert, He provided bread, meat and water by miraculous means, bringing them to the Promised Land, and establishing them there as His people.
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Wow.  So hard to go through this and not get into all the wonderful sub-stories!  I love the OT historical books! So much more could be said about what God did in each and every situation.
But the purpose is to get a general overview of the greatness of God.  Israel is His people, simply because He did it.....there is no other way!

I love the individual stories over against the big picture, though, because these 'greats' of the OT were as human as you and I.  They sinned, suffered consequences, were forgiven, experienced God's great mercy, and didn't turn from the faith they had in their God.  All during that 'big picture' period of time, individuals were living their lives, probably not fully aware of the 'big picture' they were a part of.  God had a plan, and was executing it. How encouraging for me, when I get into the doldrums of life......feeling like I am going nowhere, waning to see God move in big ways.  I, like them, must live life serving Him daily, knowing that He has a plan, and is executing it.....whether I see it or not.

I noted, also, that this psalm doesn't mention the sins of Israel; how they tried God in the wilderness, and how various ones were punished for their sins.  Then I looked ahead to Psalm 106..........