He has remembered His covenant forever.

Psalm 105 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

The Lord’s Wonderful Works

Oh give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples.
² Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; Speak of all His wonders. ³Glory in His holy name; Let the heart of those who seek the Lord be glad. ⁴ Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face continually. ⁵ Remember His wonders which He has done, His marvels and the judgments uttered by His mouth, ⁶ O seed of Abraham, His servant, O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones! ⁷ He is the Lord our God; His judgments are in all the earth.

⁸ He has remembered His covenant forever, The word which He commanded to a thousand generations, ⁹ The covenant which He made with Abraham, And His oath to Isaac. ¹⁰ Then He confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, To Israel as an everlasting covenant, ¹¹ Saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan As the portion of your inheritance,” ¹² When they were only a few men in number, Very few, and strangers in it. ¹³ And they wandered about from nation to nation, From one kingdom to another people. ¹⁴ He permitted no man to oppress them, And He reproved kings for their sakes: ¹⁵ “Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm.”

¹⁶ And He called for a famine upon the land; He broke the whole staff of bread. ¹⁷ He sent a man before them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. ¹⁸ They afflicted his feet with fetters, He himself was laid in irons; ¹⁹ Until the time that his word came to pass, The word of the Lord tested him. ²⁰ The king sent and released him, The ruler of peoples, and set him free. ²¹ He made him lord of his house And ruler over all his possessions, ²² To imprison his princes at will, That he might teach his elders wisdom. ²³ Israel also came into Egypt; Thus Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. ²⁴ And He caused His people to be very fruitful, And made them stronger than their adversaries.

²⁵ He turned their heart to hate His people, To deal craftily with His servants. ²⁶ He sent Moses His servant, And Aaron, whom He had chosen. ²⁷ They performed His wondrous acts among them, And miracles in the land of Ham. ²⁸ He sent darkness and made it dark; And they did not rebel against His words. ²⁹ He turned their waters into blood And caused their fish to die. ³⁰ Their land swarmed with frogs Even in the chambers of their kings. ³¹ He spoke, and there came a swarm of flies And gnats in all their territory. ³² He gave them hail for rain, And flaming fire in their land. ³³ He struck down their vines also and their fig trees, And shattered the trees of their territory. ³⁴ He spoke, and locusts came, And young locusts, even without number, ³⁵ And ate up all vegetation in their land, And ate up the fruit of their ground. ³⁶ He also struck down all the firstborn in their land, The first fruits of all their vigor.

³⁷ Then He brought them out with silver and gold, And among His tribes there was not one who stumbled. ³⁸ Egypt was glad when they departed, For the dread of them had fallen upon them. ³⁹ He spread a cloud for a covering, And fire to illumine by night. ⁴⁰ They asked, and He brought quail, And satisfied them with the bread of heaven. ⁴¹ He opened the rock and water flowed out; It ran in the dry places like a river. ⁴² For He remembered His holy word With Abraham His servant; ⁴³ And He brought forth His people with joy, His chosen ones with a joyful shout. ⁴⁴ He gave them also the lands of the nations, That they might take possession of the fruit of the peoples’ labor, ⁴⁵ So that they might keep His statutes And observe His laws, Praise the Lord!

The psalmist says:  Oh give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples. Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; Speak of all His wonders. Glory in His holy name; Let the heart of those who seek the Lord be glad. Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face continually. Remember His wonders which He has done, His marvels and the judgments uttered by His mouth, O seed of Abraham, His servant, O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones! He is the Lord our God; His judgments are in all the earth. He has remembered His covenant forever, The word which He commanded to a thousand generations, The covenant which He made with Abraham, And His oath to Isaac. Then He confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, To Israel as an everlasting covenant, Saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan As the portion of your inheritance,”    The covenant God made with Abraham was that he would become a nation and He would give the nation a land.   Over and over the people did not remember. They did not give thanks to God and seek Him. They did not walk in His ways, and so they were taken out of the land or held in captivity by their enemies.    In Jeremiah 31:33-34 & 32:28-29 God said:  For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more …  I will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely. They shall be My people, and I will be their God; then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them.   In Ezekiel 37:21-23 He said:  I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land. And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.  All that God wanted; all that He wants is a people who know Him as God. The Israelites were unable to abide by the terms of the covenant, to follow and obey the Lord so they were unable to abide and dwell in the promise of the covenant. Since the people would not change, God changed the covenant.

In Matthew 26:26-28, when Jesus shared the lest Passover meal with His disciples it says:   While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.”   In Luke 22:19, in his account, he records a few additional very important words:  “Do this in remembrance of Me.”   You see, the psalmist encouraged and exhorted the people to remember all the deeds and the wonders of God; and also to remember the judgments of His mouth. It was their forgetting, their lack of following which caused them to lose their inheritance. Our inheritance is more than a piece of land. For us, because of the blood of Jesus, our inheritance is the kingdom of heaven. It is eternal life according to John 3:16:    “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”   But, it is also living in the promise of the kingdom now. In Luke 17:21 Jesus says:  “Behold, the kingdom of God is within you.”   Like the covenant before, if we are to walk in the promise of the new covenant, we must believe, we must remember what Jesus did because of the love of God. In John 14:15 Jesus says:  “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”

The psalmist ends saying:  He remembered His holy word With Abraham His servant; And He brought forth His people with joy, His chosen ones with a joyful shout. He gave them also the lands of the nations, That they might take possession of the fruit of the peoples’ labor, So that they might keep His statutes And observe His laws, Praise the Lord!    God never forgets His promises. He keeps His covenants forever. We need to believe, remember and obey.   Praise the Lord!   

Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit that Your covenants are forever. You never forget Your promises. Thank You that all that You will forget and not remember is my sin. Because of the blood of Christ, You no longer remember my sin. May I never forget what You have done. I believe and by the indwelling Holy Spirit may I be obedient to Your commands, following You in all I do; that I may inherit Your promises.    Amen.