God Cares for His People
Open Your Bible
Psalm 103:1-22, Psalm 105:1-45, Psalm 106:1-48
BY Bailey T. Hurley
Book IV
Book IV is a response to the despair of Book III. With only two psalms attributed to David, this section anchors the worshiper outside the reign of David, all the way back to creation, the exodus, and the early history of the nation of Israel.
Every summer, my church pauses its curriculum to study the book of Psalms, and I clearly remember one of our teaching pastors describing Psalm 103 as a sandwich. Psalm 103 begins with a call to worship and concludes with a call to worship. But the meat inside the sandwich is all the many ways God loves and cares for His people. The three different psalms from our reading struck me in this way: when I recount God’s enduring and saving love, my only response is to praise.
Unfortunately, we are more like Israel who “did not grasp the significance of [God’s] wondrous works or remember [His] many acts of faithful love” (Psalm 106:7).
We can talk easily about the things we love: a new beauty product, a movie we saw, or a podcast we listened to. Many of my conversations involve me excitedly recounting a recent episode of my favorite reality show or a book I have just finished. Yet, how often am I talking about God’s goodness? How often am I intentionally remembering and sharing the ways He cares for me?
Psalm 106 describes all of Israel’s forgetfulness and rebellion toward God. As I read through it, it doesn’t sound much different from how I rebel against God. Do you see it too? We exchange the glory of what God has given us for temporary satisfaction. We doubt His promises when things don’t go according to our plan. When we forget God, we fall prey to despising Him because we are blind to all the ways He protects and cares for us.
In Psalm 103, David recognizes this human frailty: “As for man, his days are like grass—he blooms like a flower of the field; when the wind passes over it, it vanishes, and its place is no longer known” (Psalm 103:15–16). Then gives credit to the only One who could save us from our flawed state. “But from eternity to eternity the LORD’s faithful love is toward those who fear him” (vv.17).
God’s faithfulness presses on. We couldn’t possibly count all His mercies. We deserve the crown of thorns but instead God gives us a crown of “faithful love and compassion” (v.4). There are so many reasons to praise the Lord.
When we are walking in relationship with God, seeing His wonder and works, then we will not fall into temptation to forget Him. We will see our sin and His holy works and find ourselves filled with praise. Instead of only talking about our favorite new trend, we will tell of His endless love for us.
48 thoughts on "God Cares for His People"
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The app isn’t showing a devo but it is on the website.
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My study Bible has this highlighted in the margins “Hard hearts lead to judgment and unrest, but worship leads us to jot and eternal rest”!! Sisters I pray that we spend more time on gratitude than grumbling! Let’s remember how the Israelites were in Exodus and how God still delivered on His promises!!!
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So thankful that God is faithful in all of his promises. He loves his people and never stops pursuing them. ❤️
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Yesterday the Lord did something amazing for me. As I scrambled to print my son’s name on the sticker label for his school supply list, the printer stopped. Maybe the roller could not pick up paper from the tray, and the error light was on. And I am not a mechanic oriented person by any means. I did all I could, googling manual, trouble shooting advice from the printer’s website, none worked. I prayed and tried again. Nothing. It was a mini crisis. I was on my way to read about a new HP printer on sale on Staples website, calmed myself in the process as this name labels were required the next day, and here we were on Labour day, what to do, fast forward, an hour later, it suddenly worked again. So don’t give up if something does not work at first. It worked just like nothing happened, and that saved me a ton of legwork of running around alone with 3 kids. God came to my rescue. Glory be to the Lord. There are moments small or big that God comes to our rescue, because He cares about the quality of our day, He cares about the positive emotions His touch will bring, He cares about our mental health. Remember the Lord when you hit an obstacle. He cares. And even if it doesn’t work just yet (the way we want), He is still worthy. “It is well with my soul”. Be blessed dear sisters.
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“My soul, bless the Lord, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. My soul, bless the Lord, and do not forget all His benefits.” May this be my prayer each day, all day! Amen.
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Many of your comments as well as the the Scripture and devotion have really helped me today. I’m having to process a lot. I’m turning it all over to God, Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Sisters, be blessed and turn EVERYTHING over to God, Christ and the Holy Spirit.
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Cristina, yes Elaine updated us on Saturday I believe and they were able to stabilize Amber and stop the bleeding thankfully!
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In these psalms, we see how God cares for His people.
-Our King forgives His people because of His faithful love and compassion (Psalm 103).
-Our King is faithful to fulfill His promises (Psalm 105).
-Like Israel, we are unfaithful to our King even when our King continues to remain faithful to us, His people (Psalm 106).Psalm 105-106 is like one big comparison. Psalm 105 shows how God made a covenant to Israel’s fathers and fulfilled that covenant through Joseph and the Exodus. Psalm 106 shows Israel’s response to God’s faithfulness. They were unfaithful to Him by rebelling against Him.
Book IV shows me that we must worship our Eternal King by being faithfully obedient to Him. Our loving obedience is in response to His faithful love and compassion toward us. However, when we disobey and stray from His ways, we can praise Him and thank Him for His merciful and gracious forgiveness.
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