Grace, Gratitude, and Government Text: Psalm 105:42-45
Introduction: The Logic of God's Memory
We live in an age of historical amnesia. Our culture is desperately trying to forget where it came from, like a rebellious teenager who despises his family name. We want the blessings of liberty without remembering the bloody cost. We want the stability of law without acknowledging the Lawgiver. We want the fruit of Christendom without the root of Christ. But a people who forget their history are a people who have no future. A people who forget what God has done are a people who have no hope.
Psalm 105 is a magnificent historical recital, a national anthem of redemption. It is a call for Israel to remember. The psalmist sweeps through the patriarchal period, the Joseph narrative, the Egyptian bondage, the Exodus, and the wilderness wanderings, all to highlight one central theme: God keeps His promises. Our God is a God who remembers. This is not to say that God is ever in danger of forgetting, as we are. His memory is not a faulty cognitive function. When the Bible says that God "remembered" His covenant, it means that He was now acting publicly and powerfully on the basis of that covenant. It was a covenant that had been in His heart from all eternity, and now it was coming to fruition in time and space, in the sight of the nations.
The passage before us is the grand conclusion of this historical survey. It is the "therefore" to all that has come before. It answers the question, "Why? Why did God do all this?" Why did He choose Abraham? Why did He deliver Israel from Egypt with a mighty hand? Why did He give them the lands of the pagan nations? The modern evangelical answer is often thin, sentimental, and man-centered. We say He did it "because He loves us and has a wonderful plan for our lives." While true, this is a very small slice of the truth. It's like describing a battleship by saying it has a nice coat of paint. The psalmist gives us a far more robust and God-centered answer. God's grace in redemption is not a sentimental indulgence; it is a world-altering, culture-shaping, law-establishing reality. He saves us from something, yes, but He saves us for something. This passage shows us that God's grace is the engine, and grateful obedience is the destination.
The Text
For He remembered His holy word With Abraham His servant;
And He brought His people out with joy, His chosen ones with a shout of joy.
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 Yah!
(Psalm 105:42-45 LSB)
The Unforgettable Promise (v. 42)
The entire history of redemption hinges on the central reality described in verse 42.
"For He remembered His holy word With Abraham His servant;" (Psalm 105:42)
This is the foundation. Everything that follows, the joy, the exodus, the inheritance, is built on this bedrock. God's actions in history are not random, not arbitrary, and not a reaction to unforeseen events. They are the deliberate and faithful outworking of a promise He made centuries earlier to one man, Abraham. The word is "holy" because it is God's word, set apart, utterly reliable, and morally pure. It is a word that cannot fail because He who spoke it cannot lie.
Notice the relationship: "With Abraham His servant." The covenant was not a contract between two equal parties. It was a sovereign bestowal of grace from the Creator to a creature, a man called out of pagan idolatry in Ur of the Chaldees. Abraham was God's servant, His bondslave. And the promise God made to him was staggering: a people, a land, and a blessing that would extend to all the families of the earth (Genesis 12:1-3). The entire Old Testament narrative is the story of God keeping this one, multifaceted promise.
This is a profound encouragement for us. Our salvation does not depend on the fickleness of our memory, but on the faithfulness of His. He remembers His word. The new covenant, sealed in the blood of Christ, is the ultimate fulfillment of that word spoken to Abraham. Our security as Christians is not in our grip on Him, but in His grip on us, a grip established by His own unbreakable promise. When you are tempted to doubt your salvation, don't look inward at the state of your fickle affections. Look outward and backward to the cross, and see the God who remembered His holy word and sent His Son.
The Exuberant Exodus (v. 43)
Because God remembered His promise, the result was a deliverance marked not by grim duty, but by explosive joy.
"And He brought His people out with joy, His chosen ones with a shout of joy." (Psalm 105:43 LSB)
This is a picture of true liberation. They were not slinking out of Egypt under the cover of darkness, ashamed and afraid. They were marching out, plundering their enemies, with shouts of victory. The Hebrew word for "shout of joy" here is often used for the ringing cry of a trumpet blast or a victor's cheer. This was not quiet, private, respectable piety. This was loud, public, exuberant celebration. Why? Because their deliverance was not their own doing. It was a mighty act of God. It was pure grace.
This is what is so often missing in our modern Christianity. We have domesticated the faith. We have made it tame, quiet, and suitable for a library. But biblical salvation is a jailbreak. It is the storming of the Bastille. It is a D-Day invasion of enemy territory. And when the prison doors are flung open, the right response is not a polite golf clap; it is a shout of joy. When God saves a sinner, He takes a soul destined for eternal misery and grants him eternal bliss. He takes a rebel and makes him a son. He takes a corpse and makes him alive. If that doesn't make you want to shout, you need to check your pulse.
Notice they are "His people," "His chosen ones." Their identity is rooted in His election. He chose them not because they were better, smarter, or more numerous than any other nation, but simply because He loved them (Deut. 7:7-8). All true joy is rooted in the doctrine of election. If my salvation depends in any way on my choice of God, then my joy will always be fragile, because I know how fickle my choices are. But if my salvation depends on His eternal choice of me, then my joy can be as solid and unshakable as His sovereign decree.
The Unearned Inheritance (v. 44)
The deliverance from Egypt was not the end goal. It was a means to an end: inheritance. God brought them out so that He could bring them in.
"He gave them also the lands of the nations, That they might take possession of the fruit of the peoples’ labor," (Psalm 105:44 LSB)
This is a stark and glorious statement of grace. God did not lead them into an empty wilderness and tell them to start from scratch. He gave them a prepared land. He gave them "the lands of the nations." He gave them cities they did not build, wells they did not dig, and vineyards they did not plant (Deut. 6:10-11). They inherited the labor of others. This was not an injustice, because the Canaanites were not innocent homeowners being evicted. They were wicked idolaters whose sin had reached its full measure, and God, the owner of all the earth, was using Israel as His instrument of judgment.
But the primary point here is the nature of the gift. It was unearned. It was pure gift. This is a beautiful picture of our salvation in Christ. We do not work our way into a state of blessing. We are given the blessings that Christ Himself earned. We inherit a righteousness that is not our own. We are seated in heavenly places that we did not build. We partake of the fruit of His labor on the cross. We are the ultimate inheritors. We are given the nations as our inheritance (Psalm 2:8), not through military conquest, but through the irresistible advance of the gospel.
This verse is a direct refutation of all forms of legalism and works-righteousness. We do not labor in order to be accepted; we are accepted, and therefore we labor. We do not work for our inheritance; we work from our inheritance. The gift comes first, and it is a gift of staggering proportions.
The Ultimate Purpose (v. 45)
And now we come to the pinnacle, the ultimate purpose for this entire grand drama of redemption. Why the promise? Why the joyful exodus? Why the gracious inheritance? Verse 45 gives the stunning, God-centered answer.
"So that they might keep His statutes And observe His laws, Praise Yah!" (Psalm 105:45 LSB)
This turns our modern, antinomian sensibilities completely upside down. We tend to think that God saved us from the law. The Bible teaches that God saved us for the law. Grace is not the enemy of the law; grace is the only possible foundation for keeping the law. God did not deliver them from slavery in Egypt so they could be autonomous and do whatever they wanted. He delivered them from the tyrannical laws of Pharaoh so they could live in glad submission to the life-giving laws of Yahweh.
This is the logic of the gospel. Grace precedes government. Redemption precedes regulation. Justification precedes sanctification. He gives them the gift of the land so that, in that land, they might live according to His good statutes. The law is not a ladder we climb to get to God. The law is the pathway we walk with God after He has graciously come down to us. It is the architecture of the house that grace has built.
This is why the Ten Commandments are given after the exodus. The preamble is pure gospel: "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery" (Exodus 20:2). Because I did that for you (grace), therefore you shall have no other gods before me (law). Our obedience is the grateful response to His gracious initiative. It is the family resemblance of the children of God. We were not saved by keeping the law, but we were saved to keep the law. And this is not a burden; it is a delight. It is the very purpose for which we were made and remade. The final response to this glorious logic can only be "Praise Yah!" Hallelujah!
Conclusion: The Logic of Our Lives
This short passage contains the entire logic of the Christian life. It is the pattern of our past, present, and future. First, God remembered His holy word. For us, this points to the eternal covenant of redemption, the promise the Father made to the Son before the foundation of the world to give Him a people. That promise was fulfilled at the cross.
Second, He brought us out with joy. This is our conversion, our personal exodus. He rescued us from the domain of darkness, from slavery to sin, and He did it with the triumphant joy of a conqueror. Our initial salvation was a festival of grace.
Third, He gave us the lands of the nations. This is our inheritance in Christ. We have been given all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places (Eph. 1:3). We have been made co-heirs with Christ. We have been given the Holy Spirit as a down payment of the full inheritance to come, which is a renewed heaven and a renewed earth.
And what is the goal of it all? "So that they might keep His statutes And observe His laws." The ultimate goal of God's saving work is to produce a people who joyfully and gratefully obey Him. He is restoring us to our original created purpose, which was to be faithful image-bearers, reflecting His righteous and orderly character to the world. Grace does not abolish the law; it establishes it. Grace does not lead to lawlessness; it leads to a love for the law of God. The Christian who says, "I am saved by grace, so it doesn't matter how I live," has not understood the first thing about grace. He is still in Egypt. But the one who has been brought out with a shout of joy, who has tasted the unearned inheritance, will say with the psalmist, "Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day" (Psalm 119:97). And to that, all God's people say, "Praise Yah!"