This psalm opens with a call to remember and recite the mighty deeds of the Lord. It is itself a historical retrospect, made we may surmise from verse 45; with a view to encouraging obedience to the redeeming Lord. ‘Remembering’ was never a merely intellectual process in Israel’s worship; it had a moral purpose.
- Verses 1-5. List the imperatives used here. Think of appropriate times when you should obey them. Cf. Ps. 119: 164. Might it be particularly helpful to turn to these verses and this psalm when depressed?
- What reason is given in verses 7-10 and 42 for God’s intervention on behalf of the Israelites? Cf. Lk. 1-72-74. For what similar reason do we know that He will not fail or forsake us? Cf. Heb. 13:5b, 6, 20, 21.
- What may we learn from this psalm about the ways in which God protected, delivered, trained and provided for His chosen people? Will He do less for us? Cf. 1 Sa.12:22.
- Verse 2. ‘Tell of’: the meaning is ‘meditate on’; but the Israelites seldom meditated silently.
- Verse 28b. A difficult clause. The Lxx omits ‘not’; and this may be the original reading. Or the Hebrew (see mg.) may be a rhetorical question, ‘Did they not rebel?’5
