Chapter 105

2021 - 102 started with Hear my prayer, O Lord; 103 and 104 both started with Bless the Lord, O my soul...This one starts with Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name;

A reminder that God promised Canaan to His people from Abraham on.  Vvs 8-11.

When he summoned a famine on the land and broke all supply of bread, he had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave.

Psalms 105:16‭-‬17 ESV

I like this wording.  Sent ahead.

Then follows a history of Israel.

2021 - This verse:

25 He turned their hearts to hate his people, to deal craftily with his servants. [Psa 105:25 ESV].  To those who were Egypt's slaves at this time, it would have been very difficult to realize that the hatred of their oppressors was part of the plan to set them free.  It is so very difficult with our short lifetimes and  so our short time horizons, to discern the bigger picture of God's plans, which cover centuries, a thousand generations.  We don't have the perspective for this kind of analysis if we are in the middle of it.  What we can have is the faith to accept whatever comes, knowing that it IS a part of God's plan, and that He is making us a part of it.

Possible FB post.

2021 -

It is very interesting to put this psalm together with Psalm 89.  In 89, everything seems to be falling apart, but then 105 looks back and reminds the people of their freedom from Egypt, after many generations there, that likely seemed unending, and also seem to point to a powerless God.  But look how that one ended?  Look at the prosperity that abounded after that.  The nation has fallen not because God faltered, but because they have rebelled against him.  He still has the power to pull them out of their situation - even from captivity by arguably the most powerful nation on earth at that time.