"O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon His name: make known His deeds among the people. Sing unto Him, sing psalms unto Him: talk ye of all His wondrous works. Glory ye in His holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD."
Psalm 105:1-3
Part 1
Today: Thank the Lord!
“Give thanks to the LORD and call out to Him! Tell the nations what He has done!” (Psalm 105:1, HSB[1]).
“O give thanks unto the LORD.”
Psalms 103 and 104 encourage God’s people to “bless the LORD.” Praising the Lord does not end with “blessing Him.” We also need to “give Him thanks” for all that He has done for us. No one deserves our thanks like our LORD does. This Psalm points the Children of Israel to numerous things that Yahweh has done for them. Each of these wonders is worthy of great praise to Jehovah. As we think of what the Lord has done for us as believers, we need to thank Him for His goodness to us.
“Give thanks Refers to glad remembrance of Yahweh’s actions” [2] (FSB).
The meaning of the ancient word translated as “give thanks” is “to give thanks, laud, praise” and “to confess, confess (the name of God)” [3] (BDB).
Never forget what He has done for you, and tell others about it!
“O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth forever. O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy endureth forever. O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth forever” (Psalm 136:1-3).
“Now, therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name” (1 Chronicles
29:13).
“Call upon His name.”
We have the incredible privilege of calling upon His great name. And it is His name that we want to make famous on this earth.
“Call upon His name, or call Him by His name; proclaim His titles and fill the world with His renown” [4] (Spurgeon).
And His is the only name that we call upon.
“Call upon His name: This probably has the idea of calling upon Yahweh and not upon the idols of the nations. He alone deserves to be called upon to praise and to rely on” [5](EWC).
Call on Him like Abraham did (Genesis 12:8; 13:4). Abraham grew up in a home where foreign gods were worshiped. But he turned to Jehovah and trusted in Him alone. Forsaking the gods of his youth, he called on Jehovah and no other gods.
“… and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD” (Genesis 12:8b).
“And he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai; Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the LORD” (Genesis 13:3-4).
We, too, need to forsake all other hopes of salvation, except the name of the Lord. As we call upon Him and He saves us, we then share His name with everyone else so they too may be saved.
“And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD, call upon His name, declare His doings among the people, make mention that His name is exalted” (Isaiah 12:4).
“And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call” (Joel 2:32).
Calling all sinners! Please understand – there is no other name where you can find salvation!
“Neither is their salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13).
His is the name that saved us, and He is the name that we praise.
“Make known His deeds among the people.”
God is good, and He does good things to us and for us. His “deeds—or, ‘wonders’…” [6] (JFB) are remarkable to witness. We marvel at His goodness to us. As the recipient of His good deeds, we now are called upon to share these with others. Where do we share what He has done?
“Among the people—or, ‘peoples’…” [7] (JFB).
Go and tell others what he has done for you! Start with those closest to you and keep God broadcasting His good works to everyone you can.
“Make known His deeds among the peoples: David will recount the amazing deeds God has done in the sight of all peoples, and he encouraged all who heard him to do the same” [8] (EWC).
“I will sing of the mercies of the LORD forever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations” (Psalm 89:1).
“Declare His glory among the heathen, His wonders among all people” (Psalm 96:3).
“One generation shall praise thy works to another and shall declare thy mighty acts. I will speak of the glorious honor of thy majesty and of thy wondrous works. And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and I will declare thy greatness” (Psalm 145:4-6).
And when the pagans come to Christ in salvation, they too will join us in sharing His marvelous deeds with others.
“They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; To make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of His kingdom” (Psalm 145:11-12).
“I [king Darius] make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for He is the living God, and steadfast forever, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and His dominion shall be even unto the end. He delivereth and rescueth, and He worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions” (Daniel 6:26-27).
I don’t know about you, but I have so much to thank the Lord for them to share with others. Believers, let’s be good about thanking God and sharing what he is done with others.
Come back tomorrow as we talk about “singing to the Lord.” See you soon.
Quote: “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful” (Colossians 3:15).
[1] HSB is the Harvest Study Bible from Harvest Ministries in Guam.
[2] FSB, Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Ps 105:1–5). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press. The emphasis is theirs.
[3] BDB is Brown, Driver, Briggs. Brown-Driver-Briggs’ Hebrew Definitions, the electronic version in eSword.
[4] C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, the electronic version in eSword. Psalm 105:1.
[5] EWC is the Enduring Word Commentary, the electronic version in eSword. “A call to worship the LORD” (1-3).
[6] JFB, Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 1, p. 377). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc. The emphasis is theirs.
[7] JFB, ibid. The emphasis is theirs.
[8] EWC, ibid.