Topic: Seek and Rejoice (Psalm 105)
Psalm 105:3 “Glory in His holy name; let the heart of those who seek the Lord be glad.”
King David possibly wrote this whole Psalm, and he certainly wrote the first 15 verses. David did that in a time of great thanksgiving for the Kingdom of Israel. For the first time in history, God's holy Ark of the Covenant was bought to stay in the City of Jerusalem. The Ark was built at God's command during the days of Moses. By David's time, the Ark was about 400 years old. It was a gold-covered box about 4 feet long, 2 feet wide and 2 feet high. The Ark contained a golden pot of the miraculous food called manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the Ten Commandments written in stone by the finger of God. The Ark was so holy that if you improperly touched it, God would strike you dead. For 400 years, the Lord had manifested His glory over the Ark. But it had never been brought into Jerusalem. And now it was. (I Chronicles 15-16). With this as background, Psalm 105 calls us to seek God and rejoice with thanksgiving.
David encourages us to seek God through calling on His name (vs. 1). God wants us to tell Him thanks. But also notice that He wants us to call on Him even when we're not thankful. God knows we get sad and mad. God knows we have setbacks and disappointments. He knows that we sin, and fall short of the glory of God. He knows that we have terrible tragedies in life. And God wants us to take all of our troubles to Him (Psalm 13 & Philippians 4:7). David urges us to speak to God (vs. 1,2). He also urges us to speak to other people about God.
The end of vs. 1, David said: "Make known His deeds among the peoples." And at the end of vs. 2, David urges us to: "Talk of all His wondrous works." The more we think about and speak about how much God has blessed us, the more thankful we will be. Thanksgiving is contagious. God wants us to give it to each other. Here in the rest of Psalm 105, David looked back to the blessings of God on His people, the Children of Israel. David spoke of the covenant the Lord made with Abraham. Then David went into detail about how God rescued His people from slavery in Egypt.
David tells us that a seeking heart sings to the Lord (vs. 2). This is part of God's message for us in vs. 2, where David urges us to: "Sing to Him (Sing to the Lord), sing psalms to Him." Singing is a wonderful gift from God, and God wants us to sing to Him. The Bible talks about us singing to God over a hundred times! Singing praise to God can help us take our hearts off our problems, and put them back on our Provider. Singing praise to God can help us shake off the blues, and begin to appreciate what God has done for us.
Continue to read Psalm 105 with a notepad to list the other thoughts on seeking God and rejoicing with thanksgiving.
See you Sunday!
Dr. Scott Kallem