Let us remember the works of God.

[Psalm 105]

There is a book by Henry Nouwen called “The One Who Reminds Us of Jesus.” In that book, we are encouraged to become “people who remind others of Jesus’ healing.” If we, as ministers, are people who remind others of Jesus, then “the first task is to approach the wounded memories of the past and provide a space where those memories can come into the light without fear. The great mission of the minister is to continually connect human stories with God’s story. Healing is revealed when we show that the wounds we experience are intimately connected to the suffering God himself experiences. Therefore, to vividly remember Jesus Christ is to reveal that our small sufferings are related to the immense suffering God endures in Christ. Healing is not fundamentally about removing pain. It reveals that our pain is part of a greater pain, our sorrow is part of a greater sorrow, and our experience is part of Christ’s greater experience, who said, ‘Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and enter into his glory?’ (Luke 24:26)” (Internet source).

As I reflect personally on this ministry of healing, two words have come to my heart while revisiting Henry Nouwen’s writing: “remember” and “commemorate.” What does it mean to remember? According to Henry Nouwen, “To remember is to bring past events into the present and to commemorate those events here and now.” Brevard S. Child said, “The act of remembering is to make the past present for generations that did not exist when the events occurred. Thus, people can intimately experience the great act of salvation. … Although in the past they were separated from the realm of God’s revelation by time and space, through remembering, that gap is erased and those who were excluded can once again share in the history of salvation” (Nouwen).

We must practice this discipline of remembering. By remembering the acts of salvation God has granted in the past, we commemorate those events in our present life. In doing so, even amidst adversity, suffering, and wounds, we can give thanks and praise to God by the grace of salvation, boldly rising and continuing to walk toward the heavenly homeland with assurance.

In today’s Scripture, Psalm 105:5, the psalmist says, “Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced.” He urges us to “remember the works of God.” What does “the works of God” here refer to? It refers to “all the marvelous deeds God performed to fulfill the promise made to Abraham to give him the land of Canaan” (verses 8-11). So, what are these marvelous deeds God performed to give Abraham the promised land of Canaan? We can find three in today’s passage from verses 12 to 44.

First, when the patriarchs of Israel who received this promise were living as sojourners in the land of Canaan, living scattered “from one people to another, and from one kingdom to another” (Psalm 105:12-13), God protected them in order to fulfill the promise He had given to Abraham (verses 14-15).

Look at Psalm 105:14-15: “He did not allow any man to harm them; he rebuked kings for their sake, saying, ‘Touch not my anointed ones, do my prophets no harm.’” God protected the small group of Israelites who could not settle but lived scattered in the land of Canaan, preventing the kings of Canaan from harming them. One example is the biblical story of how God protected Abraham and Sarah. In Genesis 12:10-17, when a famine occurred and Abram and his wife Sarai went down to Egypt, Sarai, being a beautiful woman, was said to be Abram’s sister out of fear that she might be killed. As a result, Pharaoh took Sarai into his palace. At that time, God sent great plagues on Pharaoh and his household so that Abram could take his wife Sarai back. A similar story is found in Genesis 20:3-7. There too, Abraham said Sarai was his sister when they were in Gerar, and when King Abimelech took Sarai, God appeared to him in a dream at night and warned him that he would die for taking another man’s wife, thus protecting and delivering Sarai. In this way, God not only gave the promise to Abraham but also protected and preserved Abraham and Sarah as He fulfilled that promise.

Second, to fulfill the promise given to Abraham, when the small group of Jacob, his children, and descendants could not settle but wandered about, God first sent one of Jacob’s sons, Joseph, ahead to Egypt, and then caused a famine in the land of Canaan, cutting off the food they relied upon (Psalm 105:16-17).

Isn’t it strange? How could God, who gave the promise to Abraham, not allow Abraham’s grandson Jacob and his children and descendants to live prosperously in the land of Canaan flowing with milk and honey, but instead bring a famine that made them poor? This is a teaching that is difficult to understand with ordinary reasoning. This is a mysterious providence of God to fulfill the promise made to Abraham. The providence is that God said in Genesis 15:13 that Abraham’s descendants, Israel, would be strangers in a foreign land, serve those nations, and be afflicted for 400 years. Now, to fulfill that prophecy, God caused a famine in the land of Canaan where the Israelites lived (Psalm 105:16). Also, Joseph was hated by his brothers and sold as a slave to Egypt (verse 17), but eventually Joseph became prime minister of Egypt (verses 20-21), and Jacob, his children, and descendants all went down to live in Egypt (verse 23), where God greatly prospered the people of Israel (verse 24).

Isn’t God’s providence amazing? The small group of Jacob’s children and descendants (about 70 people) who lived scattered in the land of Canaan (verse 12) were greatly prospered by God in Egypt through hardship. Look at Deuteronomy 10:22: “Your ancestors who went down to Egypt were seventy in all, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.” Ultimately, God promised Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the countless stars in the sky (Genesis 15:5), and He fulfilled that promise in Egypt amid suffering and hardship.

God allowed the small number of Israelites (Jacob) and his children and descendants to experience poverty through famine but eventually brought them all down to Egypt and caused them to prosper greatly amid the painful life of slavery, making them stronger than their enemies, the Egyptians (verse 24). This God was fulfilling the promise He gave to Abraham according to His providence.

Lastly, thirdly, in order to fulfill the promise given to Abraham, God rescued the Israelites—who had greatly prospered in Egypt—after 400 years through Moses (Psalm 105:26-43), and ultimately led the descendants of Abraham, the nation of Israel, into the abundant land of Canaan flowing with milk and honey, which He had promised to give them (verse 44).

When God made the Israelites prosper greatly in Egypt and made them stronger than the Egyptians (verse 24), the hearts of Pharaoh and the Egyptians changed, and they began to hate the Israelites (verse 25). Eventually, when the Israelites cried out to God in their affliction and persecution, God sent Moses and Aaron to Egypt and, through Moses, sent ten plagues. Because of this, the Israelites were finally able to leave Egypt “with silver and gold” (verse 37). God also led them through the wilderness by a pillar of cloud and fire (verse 39), and satisfied them with quail as food and water that flowed from a rock (verses 40-41).

The reason God did this is explained in verse 42: “For He remembered His holy promise, and Abraham His servant.” Because God remembered the holy promise He made to Abraham, He faithfully fulfilled that promise. Therefore, He rescued the Israelites from Egypt. Not only did He rescue them, but He made them leave Egypt joyfully, singing as His chosen people (verse 43).

So, why did God fulfill the promise He made to the Israelites? What was the purpose? The purpose is stated in verse 45: “To make them keep His statutes and observe His laws.” By giving the promise to Abraham and fulfilling it, God caused his chosen descendants, the Israelites, to obey His word.

Reflecting on these three amazing works God performed to fulfill His promise to give Abraham the land of Canaan, I have come to this application: In the process of fulfilling the promise given to our church, Seungri Presbyterian Church, in Matthew 16:18, I am confident that God is surely protecting and watching over each of us. Furthermore, the reason why the promise of protection and care gives us great comfort and strength is that, in Jesus Christ, God is leading us into the true land of Canaan—the heavenly kingdom—while we live as pilgrims in this wilderness. I also believe that the Lord is still fulfilling Abraham’s promise by making Abraham’s spiritual children, who live in this wilderness-like world, as numerous as the stars in the sky through heavenly suffering.

God, who cuts off all things we rely on through such hardships to make us depend fully on Him, is the God we must trust and keep walking toward the promised land—the kingdom of heaven.

Dear beloved, God has bestowed upon us the grace of salvation. What is the purpose? It is to obey the word of God. We are God’s chosen people saved from the kingdom of the enemy, like Egypt. And now, we are pilgrims walking through the wilderness toward God’s kingdom. While longing for a better homeland, we must obey God’s word. We must live according to the Lord’s word without turning to the right or to the left. In this way, I pray that we, like the psalmist, give thanks to God (verse 1a), sing and proclaim His salvation (verses 1-2), seek His face and power, and move toward the heavenly city (verses 3-4).

After praising “To That High Place” (Hymn No. 543) during the Wednesday prayer meeting,

Pastor James Kim shared
(Hoping to be led by God’s promise)