What would you say reveals that someone cares about you? Spending time with you? Reaching out to you? Finding ways to help you? Being willing to say things to you that you do not want to hear? My guess is that the first things that popped into your mind to answer this question did not involve someone showing they care for you by revealing themselves to you. However, relationships will not thrive unless there is a two way street of self-revelation. Those who care most about us are those that are willing to reveal who they truly are to us. But there is a problem with self-revelation between human beings. Given the fact that all of us are sinners, self-revelation necessarily involves sin in that self-revelation. This is the case because revealing ourselves involves revealing aspects of our sin. In addition, we can easily sinfully reveal ourselves (e.g. through pride). This of course is not true with God. God cares for His people and one of the great reasons we have as God’s people to bless the LORD for His care is that He has revealed Himself to us corporately as His people.
We have seen we are to bless the LORD for His characteristic personal benefits (1-5) and are also to bless the LORD for His characteristic corporate benefits (6-18). One such corporate benefit to bless the LORD for is His beneficial care toward the oppressed (6). Today we are going to consider His beneficial care through His self-revelation to His people.
He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel (Psalm 103:7)
If in fact we are children of God we should bless the LORD that He has revealed himself to us like He did to Moses and Israel. Verse 7 says God “made know His ways” and I am saying that refers to God revealing Himself. Consider Psalm 98:2 where “made known” and “reveal” together to refer to the same thing:
The LORD has made known His salvation; He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations (Psalm 98:2).
So when did God’s have such beneficial care to Moses by revealing His ways to Him? Consider Exodus 33:12 – 34:9. After God had revealed His ways in the law (the Ten Commandments) the people were already breaking them. Moses became angry and shattered the two tablets. Subsequently Moses interceded to the Lord so that His presence would go with the children of Israel and Moses was to meet the LORD on the mountain again and bring two new tablets of stone for the law. It was then that the LORD revealed Himself, the hub of which is found in Exodus 34:5-7:
5 The LORD descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the LORD. 6 Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; 7 who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”
Psalm 103:7 also says the LORD revealed His acts to the sons of Israel. When did that take place? Consider the plagues of the Exodus, the crossing of the Red Sea, and the provision of manna and meat to eat in the wilderness to name just a few.
Why should we bless the LORD? According to Psalm 103:7 because He cares for us as His children. Specifically He has revealed Himself to us which is foundational to our relationship with Him. The great advantage that the nation of Israel had according to Romans 3:1-2 was the revelation from God.
Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? 2 Great in every respect. First of all,that they were entrusted with the oracles of God (Romans 3:1-2).
Of course much of Israel was externally God’s people, but not internally. Yet they too had the advantage of access to God’s revelation. Maybe you are reading this and you are not actually a child of God through faith in Jesus. And yet, you are right now reading something about God’s Word and you live in a country that affords you the opportunity to read and know the revelation of God in the Bible. What an advantage you have! However, only those that had truly trusted in the LORD in Israel could genuinely bless the LORD for His revelation. The same is the case today. Only if we are born again through faith in Jesus can we bless the LORD for access to His Self-revelation as well as having eyes opened up to the truth of God’s Word.
What if God had not made known His ways and acts? We would be left in the darkness of our hearts and this world. We would not know of Jesus who perfectly reveals the Father and who came to bring us back to God through the cross and resurrection. But God has revealed Himself and He has displayed His care for us by doing so. Another question that might be even more presently penetrating might be this: What if God has beneficially cared for us by revealing Himself to us, but we have not given ourselves to His self-revelation? Such a situation would result in two travesties. First, we would be unable to truly bless the LORD for His self-revelation. Second, we would be cutting ourselves off from His beneficial care as His people. Do you recognize the beneficial care that the LORD has given you through His Word? Are you daily giving yourself to that beneficial care by feasting on the Spiritual food of God’s Word? Bless the LORD for He has revealed Himself to us in His Word and in so doing has deeply cared for us.
