Commentary

Bird's-eye view

Psalm 105 is a magnificent historical recital, a sermon in song, calling the covenant people of God to a particular kind of worship. This is not a worship of vague feelings or abstract principles. It is a worship grounded in the hard-as-nails facts of history, what God has actually done. The psalm will go on to recount the history of Israel from Abraham down to the Exodus, but these opening verses provide the liturgical framework. They are a series of commands that teach us the grammar of gratitude. The central theme is that true worship is covenantal remembrance, and this remembrance is not a quiet, private affair. It is public, vocal, joyful, and missional. God's people remember what He has done, not for their own sake alone, but so that all the peoples of the earth might hear of His mighty acts.

This passage establishes the foundational duties of the redeemed. Because God has acted, we must act. Because He has revealed Himself, we must declare Him. Because He has chosen us, we must seek Him. This is the logic of grace. The imperatives flow from the indicatives. God has done wondrous deeds, therefore we are to give thanks, sing, boast, and remember. This is the engine of the Christian life, a life of grateful response to the finished work of God in Christ, which is the ultimate "wondrous deed" that all the Old Testament miracles pointed toward.

Outline

1. The Public Nature of Covenantal Worship (Ps 105:1-6)
- a. The Outward Summons: Proclamation to the Nations (Ps 105:1)
- b. The Upward Summons: Adoration and Meditation (Ps 105:2)
- c. The Inward Summons: Holy Boasting and Joyful Seeking (Ps 105:3)
- d. The Ongoing Summons: The Continual Pursuit of God (Ps 105:4)
- e. The Foundational Summons: Active Remembrance (Ps 105:5-6)

Context In Psalms

Psalm 105 stands as a companion to Psalm 106. Both are historical psalms, but they approach Israel's history from different angles. Psalm 105 is a celebration of God's covenant faithfulness to His people, recounting His mighty acts of salvation on their behalf. It is overwhelmingly positive. Psalm 106, in stark contrast, is a confession of Israel's covenant faithlessness, recounting their persistent rebellion and sin. Read together, they provide a full-orbed picture of the covenant: God's steadfast love and man's persistent failure. This highlights the central truth of the gospel, that our salvation rests entirely on God's grace and His faithfulness to His promises, not on our own merits. Psalm 105 sets the stage by grounding our worship in the objective reality of God's redemptive work, which is the only thing that can bear the weight of our praise.

1 Oh give thanks to Yahweh, call upon His name; Make known His acts among the peoples.

Oh give thanks to Yahweh. The psalm begins with a summons to thanksgiving. This is not a suggestion, but a command. Gratitude is not an optional extra for the believer; it is the fundamental posture of the redeemed heart. And the object of our thanks is specific: Yahweh, the covenant-keeping God. We are not giving thanks to a generic deity, but to the God who has revealed Himself by name and by action.

call upon His name. This is more than just prayer. To call upon God's name is to invoke His character, His authority, and His promises. It is an act of deliberate dependence. In a world that trusts in chariots and horses, we are to remember and call upon the name of the Lord our God (Ps. 20:7). It is an acknowledgment that He is the one who acts, and we are the ones who are acted upon.

Make known His acts among the peoples. Here is the missional thrust, right at the outset. Our thanksgiving and our dependence are not to be kept within the four walls of the church. They are meant for export. The "peoples" here are the nations, the Gentiles. The great things God did for Israel were never intended to terminate on Israel. They were showcase miracles, demonstrations of Yahweh's power and glory, so that the whole world might know who He is. The Great Commission is not a New Testament invention; its roots are right here. Our worship has an audience, and that audience is the world.

2 Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; Muse on all His wondrous deeds.

Sing to Him, sing praises to Him. The command is repeated for emphasis. Worship is musical. God has designed the universe in such a way that human beings are moved by melody and harmony, and He commands us to enlist this faculty in our praise of Him. This is not about performance or professional quality, but about the heartfelt adoration of the redeemed. We sing because our hearts are full, and singing fills our hearts further.

Muse on all His wondrous deeds. This is the fuel for the singing. The word for "muse" or "meditate" means to talk or speak of, to ponder. Our praise is not to be mindless or content-free. It is to be a thoughtful reflection upon the specific, concrete actions of God in history. What are His wondrous deeds? They are His miracles, His interventions, His saving acts. For us, this means meditating on the cross, the resurrection, the ascension, and the promise of His return. You cannot have robust, joyful singing without deep, theological meditation. The heart cannot rejoice in what the mind does not know.

3 Boast in His holy name; Let the heart of those who seek Yahweh be glad.

Boast in His holy name. The Bible is very clear about what we are not to boast in: our wisdom, our might, our riches (Jer. 9:23). But it is equally clear about what we are to boast in. We are to glory, to boast, in the Lord. Specifically, we are to boast in His holy name. His name represents His character, and His character is holy, meaning it is utterly unique, set apart, and morally perfect. To boast in His name is to declare our allegiance to Him and to find our entire identity and security in who He is, not in who we are.

Let the heart of those who seek Yahweh be glad. Joy is not the goal of the Christian life, but it is the inevitable result of a life rightly oriented. And who are the joyful ones? "Those who seek Yahweh." Gladness is the fruit of seeking. It is not something we pursue directly. If you chase happiness, it will elude you. If you chase God, happiness will chase you. The seeking itself is the place of joy, because in seeking Him, we find Him, and in Him is fullness of joy.

4 Inquire of Yahweh and His strength; Seek His face continually.

Inquire of Yahweh and His strength. This is a call to a life of dependent seeking. To "inquire" means to seek with a purpose, to ask for guidance. We are to seek not only God Himself, but also His strength. We do not come to God armed with our own adequacy. We come in our weakness, seeking His power. This is the secret of the Christian life: not our strength for God, but God's strength in us. We are weak, but He is strong.

Seek His face continually. The seeking is not a one-time event. It is not a box to be checked. It is to be done "continually." This is the constant disposition of the believer's heart. To seek His face is to desire His presence, His favor, His fellowship. It is a relational pursuit. We are not seeking an abstract force or a set of principles. We are seeking a Person. And this pursuit is to be the very rhythm of our lives, day in and day out, without interruption.

5 Remember His wondrous deeds which He has done, His miracles and the judgments uttered by His mouth,

Remember His wondrous deeds which He has done. Here is the central command that undergirds all the others. To remember, in the biblical sense, is not simply to have a memory pop into your head. It is to actively recall, to commemorate, to allow the past acts of God to shape your present reality. We are a people constituted by memory. Our faith is not a philosophy we invented, but a response to historical events. We are commanded to remember because we are prone to forget. Amnesia is the native air of the fallen heart.

His miracles and the judgments uttered by His mouth. What are we to remember? Two things are specified. First, His miracles, or wondrous deeds. These are His acts of salvation and deliverance. Second, the judgments of His mouth. These are His words, His decrees, His laws, His promises, and His warnings. We are to remember both what God has done and what God has said. His Word and His works are inseparable. His works display His character, and His Word explains His works. To neglect either is to have a truncated and distorted faith.

6 O seed of Abraham, His servant, O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones!

O seed of Abraham, His servant, O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones! The psalm concludes this introductory call to worship by identifying the worshippers. Who is being addressed? The covenant people. They are the seed of Abraham and the sons of Jacob. This is a reminder that our relationship with God is not something we stumbled into. It is rooted in ancient promises, in a covenant God made with our fathers. He is Abraham's God, and Abraham is His servant. He chose Jacob. This is the doctrine of election, set to music. God chose us, we did not choose Him.

And for us who are in Christ, these titles are now ours. Through faith, we are the true seed of Abraham (Gal. 3:29). We have been grafted into the commonwealth of Israel. We are the chosen ones. This is not a basis for ethnic pride, but for profound humility and gratitude. We are called to remember, sing, and proclaim precisely because we are the undeserving recipients of a covenant love that began long ago and will never end.